Anyone remember Smokey's Fiero

[NHRABill]

Does anyone remember Smokey Yunick's 84 fiero that got 51mpg did 0-60 in the 5 second range and was tested 230hp 250lbs torque?


For many years i have been interested in this design. It was way over my head when I first read an article about it in the late 80's and every now and then I see or read something on it. I cam across the below linked site earlier tonight.

Smokey Yunick and many of the other old time engine builders didn't have this improve on what we have thought process they were true inventors. Does anyone know of another related engine build similar in concept to this one?

I won't try and explain it Below is a link with enough information to get you up to speed on what I am taling about. Superheating the fuel to almost an atomized state as it enters the combustion chamber (hot vapor) polar opposite of the current and old time thought process. Very cool

Like the author of the article I would love to get a kit to play with.

a couple years ago I did see the 84 Fiero on a TV show explaining its concept and it blew a line and exploded into fire or something. last I heard it was repaired and now in good health.

I would look all this up and put links it is not that hard but I am lazy and it is 3am.

Smokey Yunick’s Hot Vapor Fiero; 51 mpg and 0-60 in less than 6 Seconds! See and hear it run in our exclusive VIDEO! : Legendary Collector Cars

[nitro-nige]

Isn't this similar to the pogue carburettor?
The 100 MPG Carburetor Myth
When I was an apprentice, one of the tradesmen had a book with plans on how to use the exhaust through a heat exchanger to vaporize the fuel. The heat exchanger used a small motorbike carb and feed the vapor into a propane (LPG) carb on a Chevy V8.
From what I remember the theory was that fuel only burns as a vapor, no matter how small the droplets are the still have to vaporize to burn.
By pre-vaporizing you can run leaner and ensure closer to total fuel burn.

On a side note, would a modern Formula 1 car with 100Bar fuel pressure have a phase change when the fuel was injected?

[Frank Lee]

I remember it. I think the new name for it is HCCI.

[user removed]

Transonic Combustion | Our Technology | TSCi Technology - Fuel Injection Systems

regards
Mech

[BrianAbington]

Smokey was an amazing man.

I read an article in one of the magazines a few years ago (want to say Hot Rod, or Car Craft) about a lot of smokey's stuff he did to get around how overbearing NASCARS rules were. Here are a few I remember.

When the cars were really "stock cars" with stock interiors he had a radio made out of lead in the dash and a helmet made out of lead that he would set on the floor, and the roll cage was filled with lead shot.

He would drive through the vehicle weigh in, then go back to the pit...they would remove the lead radio and put the stock one back in, put away the lead helmet...and then he had a plug he could loosen up that would cause the lead shot to gradually fall out of the cage during the race and scatter on the track like sand...causing his car to lose weight over the first couple laps and make his car faster because it weighed so much less.

He also prepared a camaro...and NASCAR said it could not be heavily modified and had to fit/be above the specs set by the body templates. He asked if he could borrow the templates. He built a camaro body to 3/4th's scale with a heavy windshield rake thus making it smaller and more aerodynamic. He then made new templates based on his car and returned them to nascar to measure the other cars against.

[cujet]

Ahh, the adiabatic engine. Smokey's shop ("the best damn garage in town")(or some other similar name) was next door to where I shopped for groceries. I lived right down the road.

We (my college roommate and I) would regularly visit, looking for answers. Smokey knew us well and the crazy things we would do. (we built rocket and gas turbine engines)

He spent a full afternoon explaining his adiabatic engine to the 2 of us. We were fascinated, but a bit skeptical, at first. After all, I was a college student, in Aeronautical Engineering and I understood exactly what he was doing. By the way, it was on a Dodge and not a Fiero (at the time).

First off, this is not just superheated and vaporized fuel or a 100 MPG carb. It was a complete system with a way to recover wasted heat and energy.

The exhaust contains energy in the form of heat. Heat can expand air and do work (that's how every engine runs). Using that ex heat to expand air and push the piston down, on the intake stroke is worth some MPG's and power. Yes, it's possible to size a turbocharger to create more intake pressure than exhaust backpressure, thereby creating a net gain. (as long as you don't lose heat in the process, think intercooler).

It takes time to understand. Consider it this way: If we could take the exhaust heat and transfer it (via magic) to the air in the combustion chamber, prior to combustion, (thereby expanding the air, driving the piston down) we would have recovered that wasted exhaust heat energy! AND, made a substantial improvement in our BSFC efficiency numbers.

The M1A1 Abrams tank does just this, using a heat exchanger that takes the exhaust heat and transfers it to the air just prior to combustion.

[cujet]

Oh, I almost forgot. That Dodge sounded like it was pinging like crazy.

[NHRABill]

Must of been inspiring to be around someone that created and was actually sucessfull.

You might want to click the link I inserted above and read it. The car I was referring to is a Fiero, it is still running to this day and being familiar with Smokeys shop you may know the current owner. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

[arcosine]

Nowdays the engine is called an Atkinson cycle.

[cujet]

Originally Posted by arcosine

Nowdays the engine is called an Atkinson cycle.

I don't think that's right. The Atkinson cycle has more expansion than compression. That can be achieved in differing ways. But I don't believe that describes Smokey's design (which is a take off on typical turbine engine exhaust heat recovery).

As I mentioned, Smokey described his system to me and I understood it right away. However, I was not convinced it was the answer. Today, I'll put money on the fact that it could be made to work quite well.

Just thinking aloud, maybe a direct injection engine would lend itself well to this. Or a diesel.