[elhigh]

"plus they'll be fried when the EMP happens."

"When," not "if?" You're losing me. At this point I'm beginning to fear you may be a nut. The mention of "underunity" engines makes me fear even more that you may be a nut, because it suggests you might hold out belief that there can be such a thing as "overunity" engines.

It ain't so. Not with physics as we know it.

You came with a practical problem and proposed a couple of wildly impractical solutions. Others - some with experience almost directly in line with your paradigm - proposed highly practical solutions with reasonably achievable goals.

A different carb would give you a level of tunability you do not currently have. You could come close to a lean burn operating regime, at which point your vehicle would cruise with previously unheard of economy. These carbs are not hard to find.

A TBI or MPFI setup would give you a much, much more reliable setup than the current carb, which by your own admission is not getting the job done. Another poster even suggested - and I thought this was sheer genius - that you retain a carb as the throttle for your injection setup. This would provide you with a side-of-the-road conversion capacity in the event of an EMP.

Another poster pointed out that your electronic ignition is likely just as vulnerable to EMP as the ECU of an injection system, so worrying about EMP without installing a points system is, ha-ha, pointless.

You have mentioned your budget more than once when denying the feasibility of a different vehicle, even as you return to the idea of making a cobbled-together hybrid system or, God help us, wood gas system. Another poster already pointed out, and let me restate, that the greatest return on any investment would be to optimize the vehicle you already have. You won't be adding equipment to it, you will be eliminating faults.

You have pointed out that reliability is important to you, even while switching back and forth on your possible alternative fuel ideas. I fear that you may not have the expertise or perseverance to design and implement an alternative system that is as reliable even as the engine you now have.

The 318 is like the Small Block Chevy of Chrysler Corporation. It'll run poorly but reliably longer than some engines run at all. Invest a little money in it and you will enjoy a solid boost in power, a big jump in driving range, and an engine that will last longer and run better. You are blinded to the possibilities of what is already in front of you because you are too heavily fixated on the possibilities of what could be. You will enjoy a much, much better result if you focus your imagination and effort on making the very best of what you have.

Yes, it's mundane. It's even kind of boring. But it won't be anywhere near as frustrating.

Good luck to you. I'm not going to comment on this thread again, because I'm afraid it's headed down the Unicorn hole.