2 strokes in cars eh? I remember reading in an old dirtbike magazine that they converted a CR500 engine to run on alcohol and they used vegetable oil for lubrication. It also made some rediculous amount of hp and the top speed near 130mph was traction limited...
It also drained the 1.5 gallon tank in 10 minutes... The emissions were quite "green" but the amount of fuel used makes it impractical.
Probably the most advanced 2 stroke engines available now are in snowmobiles and some are getting nearly the same mileage as 4 stroke sleds, within 10-15%. Total cost of ownership is still probably in the 2-strokes favor as they are far cheaper to buy initially and a rebuild is much cheaper but still required more often. An 800cc 2 stroke snowmobile drivetrain would make a Geo metro into quite the performance machine but I doubt it would get much better than 35 mpg.
Ian
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