Fuel Efficient Engine Builders?

[Davo53209]

If you were to read any hotrod magazine, what you would usually find were ways to modify either a big block or a small block engine, so that you could maximize the hourse power needed to burn down the quarter mile in the shortest time.

During the hotrod era's earliest developments, there were a lot of backyard mechanics(i.e. similar to us FE fanatics), who were tickering with stock autombiles, intent on getting the most speed and performance out of their engines. In time, the techniques towards engine building needed to achieve that end, evolved from the backyard into speed performance shops.

My question to this forum, is to ask whether or not there's any shops, builder, garages, etc, who are dedicated to the building of engines, for the sole purpose of high fuel efficency? The parallel that I see, is like to early hotrod builders, the members of this forum are trying just as hard to get the maximum performance out of our vehicles, but in the opposite direction. What we want is tweaked out fuel efficiency. Rather than buring down the quarter mile, I rather burn fuel at a rate of over 50+ without paying over $20,000 for some ridiculous hybid.

If it doesn't exist, then frankly if I had the skills, then that's just what I would do. Thank You.

[MetroMPG]

The only builder I know of who makes performance efficiency parts is Mike at 3Tech: http://www.teamswift.net/3tech/

He deals with the Suzukiclone market.

He offers: cams that mimic the XFi profile; shaved heads (increased compression = more torque = more bang per unit of fuel); cam timing sprockets (increase low end torque with a standard cam & cylinder pressure).

[DRW]

There are also mods that reduce internal engine drag, such as a knife edged crank, windage trays, dry sump lube systems, lighter pistons+rods. These are mostly used to improve high rpm power, so they might not have much effect at low rpms. HTH.

[diamondlarry]

This guy is into the performance/economy thing. He is under the impression that economy and performance don't have to be mutually exclusive. He is also the guy that did the work on my Saturn's.
http://powrehaus.com/about/

[cfg83]

diamondlarry -

Originally Posted by diamondlarry

This guy is into the performance/economy thing. He is under the impression that economy and performance don't have to be mutually exclusive. He is also the guy that did the work on my Saturn's.
http://powrehaus.com/about/

Fantastic stuff !!!! My brain is reeling!

CarloSW2

[cfg83]

diamondlarry -

Originally Posted by diamondlarry

This guy is into the performance/economy thing. He is under the impression that economy and performance don't have to be mutually exclusive. He is also the guy that did the work on my Saturn's.
http://powrehaus.com/about/

I did more reading on the website and it looks pretty cool. Did you get the full "16 valve cylinder head porting" from him? How much did it cost and what is your estimate of the FE gains?

CarloSW2

[diamondlarry]

Originally Posted by cfg83

diamondlarry -



I did more reading on the website and it looks pretty cool. Did you get the full "16 valve cylinder head porting" from him? How much did it cost and what is your estimate of the FE gains?

CarloSW2

I did get the "works" from him. Unfortunately, as I've mentioned before, I never got to drive the car before he did the work to it. I bought it from a dealer in Paramus, NJ and, since he was closer and was actually going out that direction, he picked it up for me since I didn't have the time to take off from work. Because of that I don't have any before FE stats for before the mod.

As for the cost, we never really talked about it since he didn't charge me anything. He basically did it for free so he could get his work "out there" and get results coming in since I was one of the first ones. He did mention that he would probably charge in the $600-$800 range. It is very possible that he has lowered it since then so you would have to contact him for pricing.

[Davo53209]

Originally Posted by diamondlarry

This guy is into the performance/economy thing. He is under the impression that economy and performance don't have to be mutually exclusive. He is also the guy that did the work on my Saturn's.
http://powrehaus.com/about/

Yes! This is just the person that I was looking for! Someone who is dedicated towards building engines for the purpose of maximum FE. In fact, it's the whole reason why I started this post. The apparent bonus here is that he claims to add hp into the equation too. Frankly, I would rather settle on fuel efficiency(i.e being that I have a 3-cylinder in mind).

The price that he seems to be offering is very reasonable. I can honestly say that it is far less than what I was expecting; but finally, someone who is able to quote a price for the labor, without guessing on the cost.

Additionally, I am happy to hear that he did your engine for free just to get the word out. That tells me that he believes in what he is doing, and hopefully his work will catch on. If you happen to have anything else to add to your experience, or know anyone else who's had work done, please feel free to tell us more. In the meantime, I plan to make contact with this gentlemen, and hopefully get him to post on this site. Again Thanks. http://powrehaus.com/about/

[diamondlarry]

I'm glad I was able to help. I can say that Mike will work very hard to make sure it's right. I actually helped him when he was installing the head and I can say that he is very conscientious about doing things right. For him, good enough is not good enough; it has to be right. We worked until it was dark outside and then we worked some more with a drop cord until we decided to call it a night and come back out in the morning. Good luck trying to get him to post here. He's been very busy lately.

[GasSavers_DaX]

I investigated sleeving my engine down to a smaller displacement about a year ago, but the cost would be high. The companies that typically make cylinder sleeves have the blanks cut at a size larger than I would want, so I'd have to get custom sleeves made, then I would have to pick a smaller diameter piston but with all the rest of the dimensions the same, or else get custom pistons made. It would have been nice to drop from a 1.5L to a 1.0L or something comparable, but I estimate the cost to be over a few thousand dollars, and I'm not willing to invest that kind of money on that project.