Quote:
Originally Posted by freebeard
Isn't an airplane conversion outside the remit from the Original Poster?
As I said in August, I'd drop the weight of the Prius (100s of lb?) by pulling the complete drivetrain and swapping in a 36hp VW boxer and transmission. You could even put it in the front, using parts from The Blackjack ZERO. You'd wind up with equivalent-to-stock mpg; but that isn't disallowed by the remit, right?
I'll go further. Convert the boxer 4 to a Miller cycle compressed air hybrid, and use GSXR 600 throttle body or port injectors and crank-fired ignition.
Performance would approximate a diesel Prius, would it not? |
One of the problems is Prius is constantly turning the engine On and Off, and as a way of explaining it to start the engine it bump starts it as it doesnt actually have an electric start or even an accessory drive. When the car is stationary it uses one of the two electric motors.
Which is presumably why they chose Atkinson cycle as opposed to Otto cycle for the engine and avoided diesel.
Changing the transmission may be a lot more problematical than it first appears.