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My Saab 96 is from 1975 and has carburettor but I'm planning to build myself a fuel computer. (been planning that for a year...)
My previous crazy-eco-project was a little Fiat 127 from 1980 from which I removed two of it's four pistons and saved 10-15% fuel without changing my average speed. The engine was quite worn out, produced 48 hp as new so my guess is that it gave no more than 23. Compared with how it was geared, my driving style and marching speed I roughly estimate the engine put out 17hp most of the time. That car weighted perhaps 150 kilos less than the Saab but I soon found that weight is not a major factor. I suppose the aerodynamics of the Saab is superior to the Fiat so my final guess is that the Saab could do quite well with only 20-25hp to reach my wanted 80 km/h.
12hp will defininitely NOT keep the car at 80, the interesting thing to find out is if it will extend the coasting time enough to make P&G less annoying and reduce total fuel consumption enough to compensate for the awkward driving...
I definitely think that the little diesel can be used for city traffic and if I can reach the maximum speed limit of 50 km/h or only 35 doesn't matter so much. A hydrostatic transmission (or any other CVT) can possibly make stop & go driving in dense traffic a lot nicer.
My first test will however be to see how much the diesel can help P&G in higher speed. It will be quite easy to build such a prototype to hang from the rear bumper. I don't think it's worth only the fuel savings in city traffic to have about 100 kg extra in the trunk all the time.
A little turbo would be nice!
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