Posted on 07/04/2008 5:58:22 AM PDT by kellynla
NAPOLEON, Ohio - Doug Pelmear has lots of secrets beneath the hood of his black 1987 Ford Mustang on which the only outward hint of individuality is a series of stickers.
But looks can be deceiving. Mr. Pelmear's 21-year-old pony car has enough technological innovation to quadruple the classic Mustang's original gas mileage while almost doubling its available horsepower.
That's 80 miles per gallon and 400 horsepower, folks. And the 48-year-old electronics engineer and master mechanic is not done yet.
The third-generation automotive tinkerer hopes that next year his Mustang - more specifically its engine - will help him win the $10 million Progressive Automotive X Prize: a "race" to find an affordable, marketable automobile that gets at least 100 miles per gallon, or its equivalent.
"I'm an optimist, and I think people need to know there is hope out there," Mr. Pelmear said. "That's why I decided to enter the X Prize race. I could have sold this [technology] off, but then people might not have seen it.
"It's not about the money. Our country really needs this."
The Progressive Automotive X Prize is sponsored by the X Prize Foundation to focus attention on and improve technology for real-world fuel economy.
(Excerpt) Read more at toledoblade.com ...
ping
First, it is claimed to get only 80 mpg.
Second, why do journalists never do anything silly like ask whether the inventor’s claims have been independently verified?
There is no way he can get 80mpg AND 400 Horsepower
And a happy 4th to you! LOL
cuz journalists don’t have common sense
and they’re educated at “j-schools” in universities
which are separate colleges.
so, they do not take rigorous courses such as math, physics, chemistry, engineering, law, latin or even rigorous history classes.
they take easy j-school classes.
400HP AND 80 MPG... Ahhh YUP.
Can anyone do the numbers?
It looks like he is getting more energy out of a gallon of gas than there is in a gallon of gas.
A case of 110% or better efficiency?
"We redesigned a lot of different things on the [engine] block," the engineer said.
"It's still a rod-and-piston engine; it just has a lot more electronics on it."
Mr. Pelmear said that traditional gas engines operate "at a very low efficiency, like 8 to 10 percent, and our engine is like at 38 percent efficiency."
That is total crap. From WikiPedia Modern gasoline engines have an average efficiency of about 25 to 30% when used to power an automobile.
This is nothing. Send me $25, and I’ll send you maps that may help you locate an engine that gets 25,000 mpg...suppressed by Dick Cheney and Big Oil!
(Actually, in the 70s I had a neighbor who spent his free time searching farms in the belief that such an engine existed and that it was hidden by Big Oil - proof that the stupid will always be with us).
Maybe I should send the map to Larry P. Vellequette at: lvellequette@theblade.com - I could be a super-engineer as well!
And they are kept in the same “undisclosed location” that Cheney was spirited off to during the 911 attacks.
There is no way he can get 80mpg AND 400 Horsepower
Maybe with a small steam turbine attached to the drive shaft and a steam generator attached to the exhaust manifold.
Sure there is, go to the top of the mountain, head down hill, put car in neutral and coast........now up hill and 80 mph with a 400 hp engine, that's a different deal.
Sounds like what this "genius" did was take a 1987 carburetted engine and create his own micro processor controlled precision fuel metering. Gee, why didn't the major car companies think of that??!! /sarcasm
There is a reason Mustangs don't get 10 miles per gallon any more... Fuel injection.
In that article he claims 110 MPG, 400HP, 500 ftlbs torque, 0-6 in 3 seconds. That’s absurd.
He’s using some kind of supplemental power source and not counting it into his MPG figures, but he is counting it into his horsepower figures.
Like a tank of compressed air, or compressed hydrogen, or a storage bank of batteries.
There’s a simpler way to achieve a similar goal.
Water injection.
If you run an engine hard and at higher temps, then inject water along with the fuel, the water flashes to steam and adds additional chamber pressure to drive the piston down. Also, the water-to-steam process absorbs heat, lowers engine temps, and reduces waste energy lost to the cooling system and out the tailpipe. Reducing heat also allows you to run higher compression ratios without risk of detonation.
Drag racers used to use this trick.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_injection_%28engines%29
The six stroke diesel cycle takes this concept to another level.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crower_six_stroke
yup... he's up on youtube
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