Failure turned into genius!!

[jsbarstow]

Alright so I have a 1986 Chevy sprint. I have been widdling away at trying to get 50mpg during the winter.
List of mods first.
Msd 6a ignition box
Msd coil
Msd 8mm wires
Lowered car 2"
Partially blocked upper grill
Fully blocked lower grill
Wiper arms removed
Headlight buckets covered with lexan
Fresh air vents covered.


I tryed a hot air intake and it killed my mileage even with some p&g. 32mpg
So I ditched that idea. Lol
Next was my ram air intake. Hooked it all up and it worked good. But it had a problem. Over 40mph if I put it in neutral the car would die so I couldn't p&g. Because I don't want to over use the starter or ignition. So what was happening was i run a lean condition and with all that air being forced in just pushes it super lean and kills the car.So I drove it without any p&g in 50 deg weather and got 46mpg. Not bad at all. But still no p&g. So I happen to have a time when I was coming up to stop and the car died and I didn't realize it. I let out the clutch and it fired back up. Ive done this many times on various cars but it didn't hit me til just now. Lol. So now I have the ultimate p&g machine. I have a Prius basically!! Lol I've done it at 70mph and still starts up just fine after it dies. So hopefully I will be putting down some great numbers now!! Something I thought was really bad has now turned out great. Just wanted to share.

[RedDevil]

I used to kill the engine when coasting to the lights from a highway exit in my 1998 Nissan Almera.
I also became accustomed to the super heavy steering and braking during engine off, always ready to release the clutch pedal in an emergency.
Of course you know that, just want to be sure genius won't make you lose the car.

In my Insight I can do even better by going into coast mode really early and then applying just enough throttle to have electrical support without refiring the engine, decelerating very gently while covering up to or even over 1 kilometer.
It won't auto-stop at the lights then though, as the IMA has been depleted obviously.

[jsbarstow]

Yes I definitely keep it in gear with the clutch disengaged just in case. But also my car weighs only 1400 pounds so no heavy steering cause its Manuel and brakes I don't touch til I get close to the stopping point so it's not too bad. But thank you for the safety points.

[H-Man]

I wouldn't leave the clutch in. You have a bearing not designed for continuous duty called the throwout bearing holding the clutch disengaged, running like that will kill the bearing and require expensive transmission work. If you can't stop your car with the engine off in a timely fashion, I recommend that you invest in a vacuum pump from the salvage yard (apparently the turboed cars tended to have them,) plus you don't need to think about anything but stopping.

[RedDevil]

Wow, that' s light! And you've got carburetors so you won't have that unwilling shudder when restarting it by clutch.

I once had a 1986 Golf Diesel and needed it to push-start that as I ran the battery down. On clutch release it just dragged its wheels over the pavement rather than turning over. Only in third gear dit it finaly turn over, with the mother of all unwilling shudders.
I did a lot of traffic jam creeping in that car, to the extent that my left leg became stronger than the right. And sometimes killed the engine by running top gear (4) too low. Always needed a key restart even when still at some speed.
Clutch starting a diesel is a challenge, at least it was on mine.

If you have the right car for it, coasting with engine off and restarting it by clutch release is a good way to save gas. Keep it up!
Cheers, Bart

[jsbarstow]

I appreciate what you are saying. But I should have said I do that when coming up to stop just in case. And if the throw out bearing can't handle that then it needs to be changed anyways. Lol. But I don't understand how a bad throw out bearing could cause expensive damage to the transmission. And the vacuum pump is a good idea too if I didn't weigh 200 pounds and have driven a lot of cars with mechanical brakes before so I have developed a good right leg for breaking. Cause vacuum is only an assist to brakes. So I probably won't put it on. Also would have to draw more amps from the battery which would cause the alternator to run more and cause more of a draw on the engine so it wouldn't be benificial to even coast. Electric vacuum pumps draw a lot of amps. But thank you, I really appreciate everyone's concern for my safety.

[jsbarstow]

Thank you red devil. That must have even difficult in a diesel. I don't know if I would try that one. Lol!! And yes mine does start real easy at the lower speeds in a high gear. But even if i do the restart at higher speeds its not bad. Like you say carbed so i pump the pedal once to get that squirt of fuel in the manifold and it has a very nice restart. I had my wife in the car with me yesterday and she said she couldn't even feel the restart. (But she is a very good wife. Even if it made her hit her head on the dash she would probably say she didn't feel anything. Lol)

[RedDevil]

Originally Posted by H-Man

I wouldn't leave the clutch in. You have a bearing not designed for continuous duty called the throwout bearing holding the clutch disengaged, running like that will kill the bearing and require expensive transmission work. If you can't stop your car with the engine off in a timely fashion, I recommend that you invest in a vacuum pump from the salvage yard (apparently the turboed cars tended to have them,) plus you don't need to think about anything but stopping.

I' ve been doing this for ages and have never needed a clutch replacement at all, never mind its bearing.
My parents managed to kill the clutch in just 90.000 km on their 1985 Honda Civic. I drove that car for another 200.000 km (130.000 miles) on the replaced clutch, and it was scrapped due to rust but in perfect mechanical order. I spent years of my life in that car, often engaging the clutch in bad traffic jams for more than half of the time.

Thinking of it, it is the one thing that bearing should be designed for to handle. But maybe that does not apply to all bearings, so bear with me on this one.