Quote:
Originally Posted by supermileage
I am part of a team creating a supermileage vehicle for a collegiate competition. For the competition we are given a Model 9 Briggs and Stratton engine. This is an L Head or Flat Head engine. We would like to convert this to a overhead valve and possibly an overhead cam engine. I was wondering if anyone has seen this done or has done this? Or if anyone had tips on how to do this? We would like to know if we need to make a custom head or if there is an existing head that we could adapt for this use. I would also like to hear tips and suggestions on other things we can do to improve our mileage. We have the carbon fiber aerodynamic body under control, but would like to hear other ways of improving efficiency.
|
You don't mention how the vehicle is to be driven... EPA course? P&G acceptable?.. etc.
If you're P&Ging then rotational losses on the engine aren't going to be soooo problematic, clearly you want as much preformance as you can get so an atkins cycle is good, you can tune the exhaust and inlet to just one narrow rev range making the engine run easily at that point etc. but if you have to run near tickover then parasitic losses will suddenly dominate, in which case I'd be concidering going electrical on everything and regulating.. i.e. electric oil pump, electric coolant pump etc. then pop in a permanent magnet 'alternator' some DC-DC electrics and then everything can be run as little or much as you need.
just 'brain-dumping'
Derek
(Ususally working on ultra low power radios, i.e. 3mW transcievers.. that's 3mW power consumption, not radiated power, hence my interest in low power vehicle electronics)