Hey all,
I've been driving inefficient vehicles for too long now. I consider myself too much of an efficiency guru to get less than 30mpg.
I'll be purchasing a more fuel efficient car over the summer (most likely a Civic) to use as a platform for some of the more involved methods of extracting more miles out of each gallon.
As of right now, I'm looking at boosting a stock Civic motor and leaning out the fuel in favor of higher efficiency. To combat detonation, I'll be running water/alcohol injection and a small intercooler. The turbo will most likely be something small, common, and inexpensive. I like the old Ford Probe/Mazda MX6 IHI VJ11 turbo and it's been adapted to Honda motors before.
I also like VW's Twincharger system that allows the Golf GT 1.4TSI (1.4 L engine) to make 177lb ft of torque while achieving 39/48 mpg.
More info on that here. That's a lot of power coming out of such a small engine. The basic concept is to use the blower at low rpm and turbo at high. Neat idea.
Weight reduction will also come into play. Also, I've done my share of fiberglassing and will most likely add some aero to lower the Cd as much as is possible. I'll be lowering the car and fabbing some sort of belly pan.
Here's the catch: This will be my daily and I will be maintaining A/C (FL gets hot) and the vehicle will be pleasing to the eye.
Now, I just need to get me a vehicle. lol. I just need some place to put my ideas down and hear critiques.
Matt
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