Posted on 06/25/2009 4:25:58 PM PDT by Boiling point
For those interested in such things. Freepers that have farm experience are aware of how efficient diesel tractors are. I put five gallons in mine and bush hog all summer. Here is a link to some guys that convert vehicles to tractor power and have gotten as much as 50mpg from a full size pickup! http://www.shadetreeconversions.com/
when I lived in southeastern WI and was forced to emission test my 74 Nova, I simply ran the tank down to about an 1/8 and then put in a whole bottle of gas line antifreeze a block from the testing center...passed easily, then immediately went to the gas station...worked everytime no matter how bad the car was...:)
Probably a Deutz.
The county I live in NE Pennsylvania is exempt from emission testing . Does that mean I can use a newer vehicle ?
The Perkins was a common transplant in the late 70’s. I worked with a guy that had the 4 cyl in a ~’70 C20 Chevrolet and claimed it got in the lower 30’s.
I saw a small English truck at a car show that had a small Kubota diesel and the owner was claiming 40’s or 50’s.
There are quite a few of us doing or have done Cummins conversions that hang out on the turbodieselregister.com and fordtrucks.com.
I decided against the Perkins due to scarcity and price of parts not to mention it is more difficult to hotrod.
I am running a 6bta Cummins in a ‘78 F250 at over 400hp and getting 20mpg.
We had some German friends come over about 12 years ago. They were taking about four months and touring North America, from the Canal Zone to Alaska. When they started planning the trip, they thought they would rent a motor home here. However, after looking at the difference in gas mileage between their German motor home and a U.S. motor home, and how much more they would have to pay for fuel, they decided it was more economical to ship their own motor home across the Atlantic.
A smashed PacMan?
the emission testing thing is an issue only because some of the states require that a vehicle that is tested have its original engine or one exactly like it installed...those of us in freer parts of the country can do as we please...:)
“and it has beavers under the hood rather than squirrels”
LOL. I was expecting horses. Beavers sound interesting though.
The next level of EPA regs for diesels are very stringent.
The only way to meet emissions with an on-road diesel for 2010 is massive egr (which kills fuel econ and adds to the heat load bigtime) or moderate egr and urea injection.
Both of these strategies require diesel particulate filters which have to do a “burn off” cycle occasionally (called regeneration) which uses additional fuel injected downstream of the engine to “burn off” the particulates. More loss of fuel efficiency.
So while it sounds like a great idea, diesel fuel economy is going to degrade under the weight of clean air regs. And the cost of all this added hardware is stunning, not to mention service issues due to immature designs.
Actually at least one of the vehicles they show in the video does have a turbocharger added to the diesel.
Also, it sounds like they run the engine pretty hard in the demo video. My guess is that you can get away with a less than 100HP diesel if you are (a) willing to find a transmission with a lot of gears, and (b) don't mind running it hard. Those engines tend to develop a lot of torque quickly as they rev up, and most folks driving around don't use anywhere near the full horsepower of their engines. (Except when towing heavy loads...)
I have driven the old 40HP VW vans, and they can accelerate pretty quickly up to highway speeds if you really stand on it. I have also driven 500+ HP cars and they can accelerate way faster than the local police want you to. I've also driven plenty of vintage pickups with 100HP or less.
Lighter, but not necessarily smaller, lower horsepower vehicles are a good way to improve mileage.
Yep, in CA it used to be any vehicle 25 years or older, then they changed it to a set year, 1974 or older, so that they could still screw over the residents.
A class 8 truck with a GVW of 80K lbs has maybe 500hp but due to the engine’s long stroke they put out massive torque. Divide that hp and weight and a full sized 3/4 ton pickup would be what 60hp? Mileage would be great but I doubt many folks would like 13 gears and a splitter for every day driving.
Mahindra 4 banger, diesel pickup gets 30 mpg. (Made in India) Kind of looks like an old Toyota HiLux
you have probably seen this, I don’t know if I seen it in a car mag or on a site. someone took a late nineties caravan and put an isuzu turbodiesel out of a box truck in it. if you seen the site give me the link. I know davesfarm(youtube) converted a late 80’s caravan with a vw diesel.
“Remember what Deep Throat said, “Follow the money.”
We are obtaining U.S. patent copyrights on the plans to our vehicles and we will make them available for a nominal amount.”
Ahhh yez.
That’s basically what my old dodge truck with the Cummins is. The same engine was in a lot of farm and other equipment. and no it does not get 50 MPG but it is fairly economical for a three ton truck and will get out of its own way when you get the turbo going.
But... if we burn 30-50% less fuel, then wouldn't that balance out the supposed increase in pollution? Wouldn't burning less fuel decrease the so-called "greenhouse" emissions?
I remember the first brand new vehicle I every purchased - a 2000 Dodge Ram 1500 QuadCab with the 360. Was a good truck. But about 6 months after I bought it, there was a recall. Apparently, the computer was tuned in such a way, that emissions were just a hair over regulation. So - after they reprogrammed the computer, not only did the engine make less horsepower (enough you could tell when pulling a load or simple hard acceleration), but I lost nearly 2 mpg in all-around driving. I tried to get the dealer to "undo" the program - but they said it would be illegal.
A member of our previous church bought a brand new Dodge Ram 2500 with the Cummins. Great truck, but got 4mpg LESS than the one it replaced that was just two years older. When he asked the dealer why - they should have been essentially identical - the dealership said that it was due to the new emissions regulations.
I just don't get it... make engines LESS efficient, so the pollute less per gallon of fuel burned...
Although its hard to comprehend that burning less fuel could produce more combustion by products, but the composition of those by products can indeed be more harmful. The higher combustion temperatures create a lot of otherwise less viable NH3, NOX and hydrocarbon compounds.
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