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Old 07-24-2012, 11:56 AM   #6 (permalink)
jime57
Master EcoModder
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Mid-Atlantic
Posts: 491

OurInsight - '06 Honda Insight
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MetroMPG View Post
And.. Dyno??? A mystery project to post about later on EcoModder?
I have an old friend who has a shop which is partially devoted to race cars. He has a nice chassis dyno and years of experience using it. He gets highly repeatable results - no small task with a chassis dyno. Not sure that he would be interested in branching off into this line of work for "street" cars. I'll talk more about this after the initial testing is done.

I want to baseline the power curve on my two Insights and try to discover any power differences. For hypermilers, it is the ICE which really counts. Most actually use the IMA very little. Frequently well used engines will actually produce more power than newer engines, if the rings and valves seal well.

I'm also interested in increasing the ICE power output slightly. There is a trade-off between cruising speed, lean burn, engine output, and ultimately fuel economy. It kinda looks to me that Honda didn't quite get enough power for U.S. driving conditions. A major determinate on fuel economy is maximizing the time the engine is in lean burn. I would like to get to unconstrained lean burn at 55 MPH. Aero will help, but so would a very slight increase in engine power. As is, the car will do 55 MPH and stay in lean burn, but throw even a slight hill at the car, and it is a major challenge to stay in
5th and lean burn.
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