Welcome RQ Riley (the man, the myth, and the legend!)
Thank you for your tireless work over the years and being a positive influence in my life and likely thousands of others!
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I was months away from High-School graduation and was blown-away when the Centurion made its appearance on the cover of Mechanix Illustrated in 1982. Now, just over 32 years later (52 project cars, one diesel motorcycle, a human-hybrid lithium rocket trike, and disconnecting from the grid), I've registered my personalized version of a Centurion for the 2014 Toyota Green Grand Prix at Watkins Glen International (
thank you Mr. Gillespie)! Should everything go without a hitch on Friday April 11th, 2014, this very low-tech project will be put to the test against some very stiff high-tech competition.
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Win, lose or draw, history will be made in the arena of green gladiators. Whilst others take note of the winsock, connect their GPS, and painstakingly monitor their NASA grade instrumentation, the X1/9 Centurion will simply blast off using all 850cc's of Kubota diesel and the cockpit will be filled with
"Brunhilde's Battle Cry" !!! (I've never met my co-pilot/navigator sheepdog44 - I hope this doesn't scare him off!)
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Giving credit where it's due, many thanks Mr. Riley and any input/thoughts/guidance from your decades of expertise is very welcome and very usuable to the forums here at ecomodder.com
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Ultimately, if the younger crowd will build off the work of those before them, then that work was not in vain, and they are the winners!
Your work lives on. 
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~CrazyJerry
Quote:
Originally Posted by rqriley
Gentlemen, I was happy to run across your thread on Centurion. I am one of two original designers of Centurion - built at my former design firm in Phoenix AZ, Quincy-Lynn Enterprises. I was responsible for the engineering and participated in the styling and the actual build. I can confirm that the figure of 128 mpg is accurate for our vehicle. We tested for mpg on a little used highway north of Phoenix. We disconnected the fuel line from the tank and ran a hose to the fuel pump from a beaker inside the cabin. The beaker held enough fuel for about 5 to 8 miles. The roadway was on a slight grade, so we ran up the grade until the beaker was empty, filled the beaker, and then turned around and ran down the grade. It was just a slight grade. We ran five or six times in both directions and recorded the distance until fuel had been used in each direction. We then averaged fuel consumption and distance and calculate the result at slightly over 128 mpg. Each run included one acceleration to speed, and then a steady-state run at 35 mph until the beaker was empty. That's where the 35 mph fuel economy figure came from.
I don't have a clue why that other Centurion was only getting 45 mpg. In my opinion it would be virtually impossible to get fuel economy that poor with a Centurion built according to plans. Something must be costing him lots of energy with that vehicle. If you first take care of aerodynamic drag and vehicle mass, and make sure the brakes aren't dragging, then the key to high fuel economy is to be able to load the engine into its region of lowest bsfc (brake specific fuel consumption). That normally happens with a diesel engine when it's loaded to about 60 or 70 percent of full load. You do that with tall gearing, and then down-shift for acceleration.
I noticed some discussion about parasitic drag - water pump, alternator, etc. We did not do anything in that regard with the original Centurion. We left the parasitic drag alone - just as Kubota had designed it. We did use low-viscosity lubricants, however - to avoid too much churning in the transmission and final drive.
And if you can afford it, I'd recommend experimenting with turbocharging. Diesels love turbocharging, and it normally results in more power and lower fuel consumption.
I'm glad to see that you are taking it up a notch with the details. There were lots of things that we did not do with that original vehicle - we knew what they were but we just did not do everything we knew.
Good luck. And I'll try to come by again. My biggest problem is that I seem to be always overloaded with work.
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