Does anyone think this could be possible...
 

A while back someone here mentioned turning a f250 into a hybrid and I got the crazy idea into my head of a dual engine setup for my truck. I kinda envisioned the system as having the main 6.7l V8 as running but idle (to keep all the electronics and stuff working) but have power come from a 2nd small v4 or I4 when I don't need to move fast (like on short trips or something) Anyone think this may be possible or am I crazy?

I think you should have 5 motors, one for each wheel and one for accessories. :thumbup:

Anyone think this may be possible or am I crazy?

I hate test questions.....

can crazy be an answer even if it's possible????:D

Mccrews- yes il take that
Cobb- well that would be nice to have 5, one electric for each wheel and the gas primary

In all seriousness though is there a way of using a small car drivetrain mounted in the bed or under it to power the truck for local drives?

Anything is possible. The real questions are how much will it cost? How much work will it take? And will it be worth it in the end? The answers are: too much, too much and no.

Anything is possible, but is it economical or practical? My preference would be a 4x8 capacity pickup bed with a 2.4 liter 6 speed manual fwd. with a aero camper shell for highway use and a place to sleep.

regards
mech

I'd just buy a beater for $1200 and call it good... Oh wait, I did. :)

The problem there is you've got both the largest APU engine going (Even military vehicles use a 3-cylinder for an APU), and a small engine that has to push it about!

I'm just curious guys.......don't gang up on me so hard lol. Look as far as practicality is concerned I know its non-existent in this case and you brought up a great point that the 6.7 is probably the largest APU in existence, cost isn't the worst concern if its less than like 10k. I just want to see if there is a way to do something as interesting and uncommon as a truck with a 650hp supercharged primary engine that also has a 4cyl it can move about with so get double fuel economy when in 4cyl mode. I was thinking maybe add in a 2nd transfer case near the rear axle for the 4cyl engine and transmission to interface with.....

'04 2wd 1500 ram w/ 8.3 v10 gets 9/14mpg
'04 2wd 1500 ram w/ 3.7 v6 gets 14/19mpg
Less engine is only going to go so far, when it still has to push the same vehicle

I realize that, I'm not going to go more than about 5 miles from home with the small one though.....

What about 2 small engines? Primary with all the periferals and a second for when you want or need to add more power.

i remember a 1st gen insight with an electric drive scooter wheel added. it had its own battery pack and controls, it could kick down for really low speed traffic, drive through situations. etc. while the gas engine remained off.

for highway speed, if you are going to idle the big motor anyway, i would just put in a crazy tall overdrive run as low rpm as possible for best mpg, or find a way to run the v8 on just 4 cyl. or less

THIS

This is what I mean right here, in city low speed driving to take advantage of the fact the small engine is small, I can't do cylinder deactivation on my main engine but I can probably put an even more extreme OD unit in, my current one is set to kick in at 40 mph and engine then goes to 900 rpm and at my normal top speed (65) it only turning at 1550rpm

Well I would consider this if not for two problems, I just spent about 20k on building an engine for this truck and redoing the suspension and drive-line and I kinda want to keep my new stroker lol! The second problem is that I want to have massive amounts of power on demand and I can't think of two small engines that can do this as well as my primary one, hence why I'm thinking of just adding a small 2ndary drive for in city traffic

How about converting the V8 to 2wheel, rear drive and take advantage of the off-set yolk on the front axle to run a rear drive 4cyl backward for 2 wheel, front drive. Best I can think, this is the simplest way of doing things but would require major modifications to the truck bed and rear frame to make room and support for the all new power train. Maybe come up with a way for both engines to use the same radiator/share coolant so that you can cut down on "extra" hardware.

Kinda don't want to lose 4wd, I was thinking add in another T-case near the rear and splitting the driveshaft in half and have it set up in a disconnecting style so It can be electronically decoupled from the V8. As far as mounting I was thinking a drop-in cage like thing in the bed with quick disconnects and stuff, as far as cooling I think a small rad with a clutch fan or even an air cooled engine might work

I've always liked the idea of taking a FWD car/ pickup, say, a Dodge Rampage andputting a second engine/transaxle in the back.

The rear/mid engine would be tweaked for some crazy high hp to the point of being undrivable on the street. The stock front engine would then be just some little sub 1.3litre for tooling around in traffic.

Of course, nowadays it would make sense to put an electric motor in the front, much like the newest generation of supercars.

Are you talking about this thread? http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...uck-30845.html I feel like the hybrid route using an electric motor and battery would be better, especially if the low power motor will be used mainly close to home. Why not have the big engine just turn off when its not in use? The small engine could easily handle the accessory load while burning less extra fuel than the big engine idling.

Yes that is the tread that give me the idea, how would I keep all the electrical system online though if the main engine is off? Nothing would work electrically if its off.....and I agree that the large engine would absolutely drink gas at idle (It mean it makes over 400 TQ and near 300hp off idle lol!) Oh and if you think that a pure electric secondary system is better please say so

This is in almost every sense what I'm thinking of doing, only problem is that I want to keep my main driveline separate from the secondary one except at the rear wheels and unlike a Rampage I kinda already have both axles driven so the hard part here is going to be finding a way to splice in this other engine and trans into the rear wheel's differential

This unfortunately won't work (was my original idea but a few things killed it) because my rear axle would need to be decuopled from the main trans or the small engine would have to also turn it (allot even when it is in neutral) and because the rear axle is a LSD it would quickly destroy itself if not powered

Smartest move would be to swap in a Fiat/Iveco 3.0 from the Promaster.

Another option would be a six wheel conversion with the tag axle being driven by a small IC or electric motor.

Personally, the last thing I'd want is to have to service two engines and transmissions in the one vehicle.

Tag axle?

Back when I had a haggard old '94 F150 5-speed I wanted to yank out the engine, plop a small engine in the bed hooked up to a generator and hook up a large electric motor to the stock gearbox.

It was just a daydream, though and I wound up selling the truck. :)

As has been said, anything is possible. Putting that much work into the vehicle you have with the modifications you are proposing for the engine is completely insane, literally. You want to reduce fuel consumption yet you have the WORST vehicle to start with and meanwhile you also want to stroke the engine and add a supercharger....

Re-wire your ignition switch to start & stop the small engine (which can either keep running while the big engine is running, or have a kill switch), then have a separate switch to start the big engine when you want it. Small engine drives the alternator & other accessories.

But for the original questions:

1) Is it possible? Sure, if you want to spend enough time & money on it. (And maybe channel Rube Goldberg's ghost :-) But as others have pointed out, it's not really a good idea.

2) Are you crazy? The available evidence seems to be leaning heavily in that direction :-)

Kinda already stroked and supered it........idk I just feel bad getting sub 15 mpg with the thing and am exploring other possibilities

In answer to 2 maybe.......I like challenges in engineering things and if this thing can be equipped with an electric drive or two engines I would have accomplished something unique

I've had similar ideas. One was for a muscle car with a little 3-cyl cubota in the trunk with it's own transmission to the rear diff.

The other was for a Ford festiva with a 125hp 1.0 ecoboost at both ends of the car. And a neutral lever next to the gear shifter to lock one of the transaxles in neutral.

What Is a Tag Axle? (with picture)

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post385527

Im curious about this cubota engine, is it a mini diesel? And how much $$$ is one of those 1.0 ecoboosts? I think that might work because it is so small

Have you made any attempt to get the 6.7L diesel engine that is already in it running as efficiently as possible?
Go through it with a tuner and saws all and cut out all the garbage you don't need like the DPF and EGR cooler and reprogram it to function like an actual diesel powered truck instead of a fuel oil powered emissions scrubber plant.

To get a Kubota, new or used through normal channels they are very expensive. You could get a used 5.9L cummins B series for close to the same amount of money.

Well that sucks that its that expensive.....I think you think I have a different engine than I do. Its not a diesel in my truck, its the 5.9L magnum engine stroked out to 6.7L with a supercharger

hybrid
 

The RAM engine with cylinder deactivation would be like your idea.

Yes but that engine is weak, I'm not looking for a weaker engine

Not sure what to do besides put numerically lower rear gears in it or a transmission with more over drive.
Supercharged gas engines just suck gas.
You may be able to put a clutch on the supercharger like Toyota did with some of the MR2 supercharged engines. Toyota did it to keep miles off the supercharger, so it will last longer and increase fuel economy.

Its sorta setup like that, I have it waste gated to zero with a control inside that lets me turn it up to 10psi before activating the meth to allow 15 psi safely. Ill see if there is any aftermarket OD units for the 46RE that give a stupid high ratio. Lower rear gears aren't an option unfortunately, its currently using 4.10s and its quite expensive to get it changed over to something else as I would need to change both axles and the locker

Got one for you. Turbo 1.6 honda engine on a trailer. Just buy a civic and use the trans, engine and ecu to make a pusher trailer easiest to use an automatic trans but I'm sure it wouldn't last long pushing a monstrousity of a truck.