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MGB,
I can tell you that military test pilots in WWII did work on extending the range of a variety of aircraft by various techniques, mostly a matter of getting a high manifold pressure reading and then leaning the mixture out until the EGT and/or CHT approach max allowable temperature. These were obviously cruise settings rather than climb/performance or combat settings. Some aircrews in the Pacific were suspected of getting in sight of the field in Australia and leaning things out to the point that pistons were burned, resulting in a longer stay for them in Australia before returning to some of the truly primitive settings in which they operated.
The problem with this approach is that the airplane, unlike an automobile on public highways, held a constant altitude and used a fixed throttle setting. In the real world an automobile seldom has the same throttle setting for long due to changes in the roadway or traffic.
I recently got an UltraGauge and installed it on my '99 Accord (4 cylinder, automatic trans). It was eye opening, at least to me, how large a change in the instantaneous fuel consumption/mileage even the smallest of throttle settings made. Such changes make establishing the optimal fuel air mixture and volume of additional fluids a complex and frustrating effort. If a computer controlled fuel injection system can do no better than it does, I have to wonder just how complex the problem of additional systems must be.
Just what sort of figures are you getting so far in testing?
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