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Outside the box
Two items of outside-the-box pondering here. Not sure how practical these ideas are (and that may depend on the make/model of the car and how much room is available in the engine bay).
1. ALTERNATOR DELETE/UN-DELETE, ON DEMAND.. How about mounting the alternator drive pulley on an electrically activated clutch, with the alternator mounted on the back side of the clutch? The clutch could be controlled either by a manually activated switch or a purpose-made controller that is connected to appropriate ECU inputs or outputs. The alternator could be automatically engaged when the battery reaches a particular voltage state, for example, but otherwise be disengaged. And in addition the automatic engagement could be activate when the engine reaches a particular range of load and RPM (in combination) in which using the alternator would contribute to a relatively high BSFC (brake specific fuel consumption), but would be disengaged at times when BSFC is low.
2. USING WASTE HEAT FOR FASTER WARM-UP, IN COLD WEATHER. A small heat exchanger (a small cabin-heater core from a junkyard?) could be placed in a air box. When coolant temperature is low, a fan would blow air from the vicinity of the exhaust manifold through the heat exchange. Thermostats would control whether coolant flows through the heat exchanger and whether the fan is on. This would be a particular advantage for those who make primarily short trips, where inability to warm up quickly or completely is a big impact on MPG. The airbox could possibly include a WAI air filter, in which case the fan may not be necessary (although the pressure drop across the heat exchanger may be adverse for engine breathing in comparison to power a fan would draw -- I don't know).
Just some thoughts for discussion, for anyone who thinks there may some theres there.
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