376 MPG Blast From the Past

[Brillig]

People WANT to believe, and will allow themselves to be deceived.

'Don't look behind the green curtain.'

Yeah, simply mixing the oil with gas (ala 2 stroke engine) - the little gas line up top is the green curtain, the deception. The engine would run just fine without any of that gas, the 'test supply', if the crankcase oil is juiced up enough. I bet this engine would have lubrication problems though.

[Brillig]

I bet you these engineers did this as a joke.

[Frank Lee]

BUT, why didn't they do an aerodynamic seal on the grille in the front? Babymoons or full spheres in the headlights instead of the blanking plates? Or run lighter, narrower motorcycle rims&tires instead of aircraft tires?

They must have figured the aero wasn't very important at those speeds. I noticed the lack of a grille block too, that's an obvious one on this car with no rad and engine under the hood.

I don't understand that choice of tires either, they look like hell, like they aren't even round, like they found them in a lake and stuck em on. Maybe they had 10 plies and so they pumped em up to 200 psi?

I am curious. Forget about the 376 MPG claim. Assuming no cheating for the moment, what do you think the configuration could have realistically gotten back in the day?

Wow, there are so many variables I don't know what to think. So for a WAG, knowing that Gjerdes got 180 on the street, maybe 200-250? I don't know, my guess on that is almost worthless. I don't want to try to math it out.

[Frank Lee]

Originally Posted by Brillig

People WANT to believe, and will allow themselves to be deceived.

'Don't look behind the green curtain.'

Yeah, simply mixing the oil with gas (ala 2 stroke engine) - the little gas line up top is the green curtain, the deception. The engine would run just fine without any of that gas, the 'test supply', if the crankcase oil is juiced up enough. I bet this engine would have lubrication problems though.

Exactly. I bet that lab heat exchanger thing is just for show- it's squiggely and looked "high tech" in '73 (or even now) and doesn't do a dang thing.

I bet once warmed up that engine needs NO fuel from the carb!

The engine only needed to last how many miles? Not many. Not enough for lube problems to show up.

I didn't get to see the whole video- did they start it? That would reveal if it's still a 4 cyl.

[JeremyinIndy]

Not sure why, but looking at this car I keep thinking about the VW "Honest 25 MPG" commercial...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XUKOUbp_PA

Anybody know what kind of speeds they tried for in the challenges?

How much does one of those twisty heat exchangers like that hold anyway? With as low of a charge density as they'd have dumping all that heat back into the carb,

Good point on Hyper-inflating the aircraft tires, they are built so you can bounce the plane in hard enough to tweak the fuselage without popping... Normally they are run high pressure, but will hold obscenely high pressure if you aren't going to subject them to shock loads like landing. (nitrogen only, it's dry and stable) They have a round profile for even less contact patch, no lateral lugs or sipes only the tread bars to help you track straight.

For a basic idea, something like a Goodyear 'Flight Eagle' should work for a normal car-size thing and be WAY overkill, it's a large GA or Business jet tire. It'll give you an idea on how this stuff is built.
SIZE 26X6.6 inch , PLY 14 , SPEED RATING 210 MPH Goodyear Aviation Tires - Flight Eagle® Details

[hu_man]

I have no idea myself but I do hope to get 55mpg with my Morris Minor 1000. It will be fuel injected and timing controled with the computer MegaSquirt. The little car did 44mpg bone stock.
Hugh

[Rokeby]

I'd like to thank outsidethebox, the OP, for starting this thread; it is exactly
the kind of radical solution that I came to look forward to being discussed in
the 18 months I lurked here on EM.

I am surprised at the rampant cynicism, skepticism, and negativity that is
being heaped on it.

I find it plausable that the surprisingly high FE was achieved... but in a very
specific and almost unworldly environment.

I can envisioned a select group of highly qualified geeks and nerds getting
together and challenging each other to "show me what ya' got," no holds
barred. The only rule being that it had to be a "car" that is a vehicle with
four wheels in contact with the ground. The construction that I see is strictly
low budget, roll you own, use what ya' got. OK, its strictly about max FE,
it's not meant for TV, it's not meant to generate sponsorship money, it's not
about street-ability.

Get a small car, gut it to save weight, sit on an orange crate. Drive in a
bathing suit and bare feet. Put in a very small engine -- Crosly? -- with
balanced and spec'ed pistons, rods and crank, polished and ported intake,
etc. The thinnist lube oil the high temps will permit, maybe even castor oil
like was used in the model airplanes of the time.

As to the actual operation, I see a perfectly flat smooth concrete "track,"
no wind, high ambient temps. Speeds below 20 MPH where aerodynamic
losses are negligable. Push start, a little switch to toggle the ignition on
and off, maybe a compression release in there somewhere, maybe even a
freewheel somewhere in the chain drive. No brakes or suspension, who
needs 'em.

I can see a bunch of dedicated total engineering whackos pulling it off...
just for fun... just because the guys in the front office or in the coffee shop
said it couldn't be done. (When MPGs get really interesting, the suits step in
and gave it some visibility to try to get some public good will out of it.)

Funny, that sounds a whole lot like something you guys would do, or
appreciate if someone else did it.

[hu_man]

Long track with a stiff tail wind

[hu_man]

I still can not figure it my Morris is almost 50 years old had 5 wires going to the engine, good heavy sheet metal and still got 44mpg at 55mph. And today with multi valves, aluminum, plastic, computers, engineers....on and on and we are still hovering around 30mpg on a good day.
Hugh

[Frank Lee]

It's simple- the focus was horsepower not fe.