[gtkid2002]

Metromizer - Yeah, I'm still here. I'm just out of the country right now visiting friends I don't see too often. And earlier I was helping my mother move from WA to CA, so I've been lurking really. It's interesting to read the debates on everything, and the fact that there's still so much life in such an old car style. I'm guessing all of the talk of vents and such would be different if the body style was different.

But I still think 80mpg is possible with mostly stock equipment. I'm not sure if ripping out two cylinders still renders it "stock" (might be a little cheat there), but I still think the initial goal is achievable. If it's possible to build the body around a roll/crash cage, awesome and all the better. If it's possible to use most of the original glass, also good. I'm still trying to sketch up and think of little things to add to this. One of them was using an electric peltier to generate power from waste heat from the exhaust for either battery trickle charging, or to even power small things like cabin lights. Hackaday had an article about a candle heat recycler using one. I've kicked around the idea of playing with one before, but that's the first time I've ever seen one used on a high power (4W I think) LED. Which wouldn't be bad if I used several of them.

I think another goal of this that I'd like to hit should be to incorporate as many small ways to recycle waste energy as possible. Unless it takes an extravagant amount of time to get a watt or two saved, then I think the route should be taken.