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Old 04-19-2016, 07:54 PM   #566 (permalink)
changzuki
Changfa diesel + Suzuki
 
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Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Northern, NY
Posts: 527

Centurion - '74 FIAT X1/9 Centurion Full Race DNA
Last 3: 143.5 mpg (US)
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With a few more pics to work from (all in this set are courtesy of Redneck), we can take a closer look at the vehicles!
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The boat-tail Civic:
mloveland78 constructed this out of emt and aluminum. Lexan/plexiglas makes a full length rear window, and a bit of expanding foam tops it off. Redneck spoke of how sturdy his came out on the Geo and this one isn't going anywhere either. Enroute from Delaware, the Civic was able to glide at an impressive 79+- mpg. This is a very similar figure that Redneck's boat-tailed Geo attained when traveling from South Carolina to New York. Imagine the fuel savings over the life of the vehicle especially if there were a lot of highway travel. The following pics of the Civic are at the line up just outside the track on the false-grid just prior to the event:
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The Aerostang:
UltArc arrived at the lodge with a couple of ideas for the Aerostang. One was some rocker skirts which filled in the gap between the factory rockers and the pavement. Installed, this left approx 3 inches of ground clearance along each side. Where this story get a bit more interesting is from the additional piece transported by UltArc which was to fasten to the underside of the front airdam to effectively make it lower. The question was whether the cardboard foam construction would indeed last ~100 miles (the duration of the event). There was discussion and the consensus was, it could be much better, and, be fabricated on-site. The following morning Redneck convoyed himself and UltArc in the Big Moby Cummins to LOWES for aero-supplies covering roughly 34 round trip miles of non-highway roads. Inspection for the afternoon fuel economy challenge was that morning from 11:30 to 12:30 so this project needed to move along. Redneck is well versed with foam fabrication and in no time a pattern around the Aerostang's lower airdam was traced then precision cut. It fit very, very well! With time to spare, the transition from the outer edges of the airdam up into the front wheel wells was created. Time started to become a factor but the two ecomodders working as a team prevailed, and made it to registration on-time, with an Aerostang ready for a real track test!!
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Dodge 3500 dually with Cummins 5.9 Litre Turbo Diesel:
So, when we think of Redneck here on ecomodder, we usually associate him with the boat-tail Geo Metro. And when we found out he would be entering the Green Grand Prix, well, it was a fair assumption (lol) that we'd see the Geo... Ummm, not quite.. Instead, we got the biggest beast of all: ~8600 pounds of dual wheel, aero-less work truck! The cow-catcher on the front is reported to weigh in at a scant 350 pounds! Redneck is spot-on when he made the comparison using the "Scales of Justice" and on one side is the 5.9 liter Cummins diesel engine and nothing else, and on the other side is Centurion as she sits. The Cummins would be firmly sitting on the ground and Centurion would be vaulted up into the tree tops. The truck looks like it hasn't been out of a garage for most of it's life but the approx 270,000 miles says otherwise. If this work truck was going to see any eco-acknowledgement at the end of the day, then Redneck was going to have to pull off a really fancy piece of driving!
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Centurion:
Starting 2 weeks after the 2015 Green Grand Prix the following changes were made:
- 8 Speed removed and rebuilt due to failure
- Replaced 30 pound cast iron bellhousing with 7 pound aluminum
- Elimination of 80% of exhaust and associated 28 pounds of weight
- Added bedliner to underside to clean up aero
- Nano grade WS2 in engine, transmission, rear differential, and wheel bearings
- Aluminum Radiator upgrade and reposition
- Replace 25 pound lead acid battery with 5.8 pound lithium version
- Add rear wheel 3/4 skirts
- Add wheel disc covers
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I have no info or a photo at this point of the Insight Bruce Pick is driving but he's in the ecomodder mix.
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At this point we are lined up on the false grid and awaiting the start of the 12th Annual Green Grand Prix!!
If anything is incorrect - please let me know - I'm posting all of this from memory.
(More to come as info is released!)
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~CrazyJerry

Last edited by changzuki; 08-03-2018 at 10:15 PM..
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The Following 8 Users Say Thank You to changzuki For This Useful Post:
elhigh (04-20-2016), GreenHornet (04-20-2016), HHOTDI (04-20-2016), Joggernot (04-20-2016), RedDevil (04-20-2016), redneck (04-20-2016), skyking (04-19-2016), UltArc (04-19-2016)