Did anybody see this last week? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Othe...017QQitemZ270267940776QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW Built in 1973, this chopped and modifies 1959 opel station waggon uses it's original engine to achieve this incredibly high mileage by utilizing a "fuel vaporization" device. It held the guinness worlds record for fuel economy for over 30 years.
I remember seeing it's mate in an older thread on here. apparently there were a few high mileage experiment cars. Had to do with superheating the fuel if i recall..
This is the same car, I think. It was found at Talledega Race track in the junk yard, had Smokey Yunick's DNA on it.
Not exactly hamb friendly, but here's something worth thinking about. A modern C-5 mill with a 2.70-3.20 rear gear would lope down the X-way @ ~1800 rpm, and has the potential to return 40 mpg if done right.
According to the US Patent Office this is a true deal. This is straight from the Patent: The chemically correct air/fuel mixture for total burning of gasoline has been determined to be 15 parts air to one part gasoline or 15/1 by weight. Changing this to a volume ratio yields 8000 parts air to one part gasoline or 8,000/1 by volume. The system of the present invention vaporizes liquid fuel before the fuel enters the engine. Theoretically, a homogenous mixture can yield gas mileage in excess of 300 miles per gallon. The world record for auto gas mileage was sent in October 1973 by a 1959 Opel station wagon with a highly modified engine. The car traveled 376.59 miles on a single gallon of gasoline during a Shell Oil Co. contest at Wood River, Ill.
hmmmm indeed....all a patent does is let you sue someone, it does not imply that your invention actually works the way you say it does. There's a LOT more to this car than just "fuel vaporization".
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2007/05/01/big-oil-conspiracy-376-mpg-opel-uncovered/ that's the site i remembered seeing.
It looks like it has no transmission and it's chain drive with no differential gears. Sort of like a bicycle with a tiny engine.
I'm pretty sure they used the accelerate and coast driving technique. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eco-Marathon Current record for mileage is 12,665 (yes that's TWELVE THOUSAND miles per gallon) so 376 is ok, but nothing to write home about these days. Neat stuff! and lots of folks still believe that the oil companies somehow are in cahoots with the car companies to keep this "technology" off the market. But seriously, would you drive this thing in traffic? remember you have to accelerate up to about 35 mph, shut off the engine, then coast down to about 25 then start it up and accelerate again, etc. to get this kind of mileage.
Wow i thought i would have to change the gear ratio that came with the Maverick rear end.It is a 2.79 ratio.That ratio with my 518 overdrive trans should give me a 1.93 final drive.I hope i can get at least 150 mpg out of the 1969 340 engine i am using in my 1934 Plymouth coupe.Of course i am using 29 in tall tires so that will help.
That is true, but the patent does mention the record in the "Description of Prior Art", which is a legal description of the invention being patented, and these issues are verified by a Primary Examiner and attorney so they are usually accepted as fact.
Don't think you can get 40... I had a 98 new as a Daily Driver, It would get 29 MPG on the highway with 3.15 gears and the OD 6 speed. Put that in a Hamb friendly car, and its gonna weigh more, and be less aerodynamic. Not saying its a bad engine, and 29 MPG from a 5.7 V-8 is pretty damn good, with a couple of bolt ons I was able to break into the 12s in the 1/4 too. But expecting 40 MPG is a little unreasonable.
Ok so in a practical world of actual road driving with super hard lowtraction tires, and the comfort and convenience of the light weight bowling alley chair. Looks to me like a scooter would be a beater deal.
I cant access that link from where i am, but there was an engine i read about maybe 15 years ago that superheated the fuel by routing it through a slot around the exhaust seat, to the intake valve seat, where it came out spray holes as the intake valve came off the seat. -rick
Not as big a deal as it sounds(for a vehicle under strict laboratory testing) but could you jump in it, drive to the tavern, quaff a brew and get back in it, to start right up and go to the next honkytonk? Since it was sponsored by a major petroleum company, I smell a rat. That opel could be tuned using normal procedures to get over 80 mpg(AVERAGE), start, stop, shutdown, repeat, etc., sooooo in a controlled, one shot, no repeat, no requirements to DEFINE the downsides, motor longivity(did it burn the valves up after each tankfull of gas, etc,, etc,, etc,,??................. Want to get unlimited gas mileage? Pedal power. I'll stick with my hot rod. Burnin' up gas for the fun of it.....
I remember reading stories about people competing in the Mobil economy runs back when they did them and the things they did to get the high mileage out of the cars. Some of those things like shutting off the engine and coasting down hill are not legal these days and not practical in regular daily driving. Just driving habits alone can make the biggest difference. In July 1969 one of my buddies and I got out of the Army at Ft Hood Tx and headed for So Cal in my 69 Cutl***. When he drove it got right at 18 mpg and when I drove it got right at 15 mpg. He didn't get any tickets though.
Back when this was in the news, the uncle and cousin of a close friend of mine who lived near here, were doing some experiments with super heated fuel atomization to run a small engine in their garage. One died in the blast, the other suffered for days in the hospital before dying from the burns.
The Jalopy Journal
