Releasing the research Pt. 3 - Fuel Injection, pt. 2: Spreading it / reconquering the US
We’re still in 1978, and we’re far from done.
Because fuel injection going production ready meant the whole FAAL lineup will take advantage of it. Engine updates. New versions of cars. Everything.
The Foreia 1.8 saw a fuel injected version, which increased the power by 12hp: The 184S18ME
The Klinos inherited of the two 2.3 L6s of the FAAL Coupe with respectively 115hp for the N/A and 155 for the turbo.
The turbo version, though, found its way in a new trim.
The almightly
1978 Klinos Excellence
beautiful mesh style wheels. Chrome everywhere. Power everything. Cushioned and heated red leather interior. Sunroof. It had it all.
And quite frankly, the 236S23MTE was more meant for that car than the turbo coupe, as it was much more linear than it was sporty. Especially with the 4 speed automatic with overdrive that came with the Excellence.
0-100 in 11 seconds, 197km/h top speed. That seems like laughable performance, but the Klinos Excellence was all about that comfort, which was on par with premium brands. … That being said, it had a premium price tag to go with that…
The Klinos Excellence was also the flagship of the fleet of cars and variants FAAL sent overseas to try and reconquer the US, now that they had decent engine choices.
1978 Klinos Excellence - USDM
The beauty of FAAL’s engines is that with their hypereutectic cast pistons and general design, they were compliant of US emission regulations. No change was made to the 155hp turbo engine.
The car, though, had a “federal law friendy” makeover, including 5mph bumpers and round uncovered headlights…
Front and rear sidemarkers…
And taillights that got rid of the ember blinkers.
okay that was it for the halo car, but the US also saw cars people could actually buy:
1978 Olympia
Yeah, issa USDM FAAL Coupe. The exact same car, safe for the automatic seatbelts and imperial gauges.
There’s of course those big 5mph bumpers, sidemarkers and USDM taillights.
This is a turbo, but both it and the N/A were available.
And to bottom up the list:
1978 USDM Mesaia
This car was very different from the european model, though, both in conception and in target audience. It was cheaper, yet “sportier”. Think “slow car fast”. See, the problem is that the european Mesaia was fully, one hundred percent built to european standards. Their engines were unfit for the US market, and so were their performance. Miss me with that “unsafe for highway use” sh*t.
So the USDM Mesaia was sold in two trims:
A base model, called simply the 1.3, featuring a 3 cylinder single point EFI 133S13Spi-US engine developing 65hp at 6000rpm that was found on no european FAAL
And a more upscale 1.6 CLI, with a 184S16ME-US engine developing 80hp. This was both available with a 5 speed manual or a 3 speed auto because American buyers demographic. Apart from that the recipe was the same, plus alloy wheels and a better stereo and better materials inside.
Tfw I have one more post to go to cover 1978
