economy mods for tafe assignment

[VLACS]

I got an assignment for tafe and i need to know mods that make CARS IN GENERAL more economical.

cheers

[VT-565]

well, i dont know if you could call them mods, but basically if you make sure your car is in good running order, it will make it more economical in the long run....compared to a car that is let go, it might run for a while, but eventually it will need a rather large sum of $$ thrown at it to fix whatever was neglected....air filters, engine oil and filters, fuel filters, gearbox and diff fluids, sparkplugs, leads etc.....but if you are talking proper mods, you have to look at what you consider economical for the vehicle in question and go from there.....a mod that will make it go faster might use more fuel so on and so forth.....the most economical mod of all......take the 4 pounds of lead out of your right boot...lol

[michaelw]

Turn the question around. Where does all the energy from the petrol go? How much actually makes it to the wheels? How significant are the aerodynamic losses? I have been involved in building a car that had a 1kW motor and could easily do 100km/hr so why do modern cars need a 100kW+ motor?

Once you know where the losses are, how to fix them becomes much more easy.

Mike

[andyman4444]

Hoi hoi
Yes i have a VL Wagon and i want to make it more economical!! i get 380 to 400 km and that is driving it like an old man and im 18 *sobs* yeah so obviously im a P' plater and want to drive like i do with the ladies.... (sure its costs extra but come on)
So how are we going to make this work!! Fuel Pump?, Fuel Lines?, basically make everything shmick and that will help, but after u have done that whats next?? I will offer help but im not going to be much use, hopefully we should see other people offering more advice as well

[rimz81]

Ive heard water injection can improve economy,theres a web page that shows how to do it.

[Daza]

If you are chasing better economy for an exercise here are a few ideas
Lightest possible oil you can get away with 10-30 5-30 0-30. There would be some very light winter grade oils available if you dare. On oil perhaps a smaller oil pump volume or even a larger relief port to enable the flow when not required to be dumped with less energy consumed. If you used roller bearings the volume of oil needed is slashed there for smaller oil pump with less energy consumed. See if you can find any internal motor pics of a 30's era bugatti engine these used roller bearings on the big ends.
Any chains used in the motor consume energy(To much friction), convert to gears. Keep them light as to reduce the rotating mass as this will help conserve energy.
Make every part in the engine that has to move as light as practice (Hollow Crankshaft, hollow camshaft even lightened harmonic balancer)
Use a bearing in every moving pivot (Rockers and tips) less oil required and less friction when contact occurs.
Cut the pistons down and use the smallest ring pack you can get away with (Single low tension compression ring and Very narrow low tension oil control rings) This will cut down on bore friction and give the energy back to the crank shaft.
Lighter valves and springs will also not rob as much power from the engine as most are designed for rev ranges that exceed normal use.
If you really wanted to go the hole hog you could set the engine up for a single set rpm range on a governor. Once done a transmission with a constant variable ratio (Like a DAF with the rubber band drive) could be used. As the engine sits at a constant RPM range things like valve timing, compression and porting can be set up for optimum effency. All the stuff mentioned previously can be optimized quite a bit as they will only need to function within a much smaller range.
There are a many more things that can be done this is only a start.
Cheers
Daza

[seventh path]

anything that takes load off the engine and helps make the air go in easier and exhust go out easier.......to make the petrol burn more efficiently.....even things like taking the air-con belt can help........putting thermal fans on and stuff like that....even a turbo improves economy even though a lot of people think it's only for a power gain....

[michaelw]

Go off and search for the "mileage marathon" those guys get some crazy distances on one litre of fuel.

Mike

[VT-565]

you gotta be careful though if you are going to switch to a lower viscosity oil and then use a smaller delivery oil pump and less and lower tension oil control rings....thats a recipe for bearing failure and oil consumption if not done right. an electric water pump would be a bit of a power saver too, as would disconnecting the air con and convert to a manual steering rack. i think that was a stock thing on the early vl's anyway.....lightening the car, running a higher tyre pressure, get a tune and lean it back a little...all things you can do...