I'm aware this is ecomodder, and this may or may seem directly related, but I think it's indirectly related. I have an interest in exceptionally long vehicle life for a variety of reasons, including the fact that the longer something works the longer you can amortize out any relevant costs (say an expensive upgrade for mileage, or even if it's just an expense for some luxury it means you get the use of that for much longer obviously) and that apparently the amount of energy used in the original manufacturing of a vehicle is actually more than a typical vehicle uses in fuel during it's normal life! So whether one is concerned about ecological issues in general, or the lifetime pollution coming from a vehicle's entire existance, it's literally saving energy to make a vehicle stay in use for much longer - even if it isn't directly fuel.
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BORING TEXT, SKIP ME! (if your already on the same mental page that is, read if you want to know why I want this)
I'm aware of plenty of things in favor of the 'disposible car' mentality that almost seems to be the norm though - new technologies change things, some things like safety upgrades are considered essential by some people to get the latest, some people get bored with what they have, certain critical changes can't be predicted (diesel unexpectedly more expensive than gasoline now in the US, future cars may well use CNG) and some people always want the latest and greatest. Needless to say average people probably won't care about the thread. But ecomodder is full of nonaverage people who care more about best mileage than how their car looks (funny aeromods) or the most simplicity of driving, so maybe there are others who think likewise to me here.
My own reasons are simple:
- I drive and have to drive alot more than normal people. Though this year is slow my average for years was 36,000 miles a year, and the future looks to be even busier. The reasons don't matter - family obligations, medical needs of relatives, long college commutes, etc, I only drive the minimum necessary, I just end up having to drive alot. I expect to put over a million miles on my next commuter car before I retire.
- I also like to keep cars for a long time, if it solves my needs today, unless my needs change I will have no problem driving the same car 20 years later. I care nothing about 'style' or similar, I actually like the familiar. What I want is solving problems - the minimum total out of pocket lifetime cost for the problem of needing 4 wheels and a seat, where I know any quirks, and there's no surprises of finding out some new car had some manufacturing defect that turns up 3 years later type stuff.
- Once I get used to working on what I have I don't really want to change it, i'm used to how to change brakes, or oil, or have done the clutch before, and it's easier to do the same job that i've done before.
- I know exactly the full history of what I have once I have it so there are no surprises.
- Complicated things like custom engine swaps and other mods pay for themself alot better if the project is used for 20 years, instead of 2 years. Ultra careful part selection pays for itself/hundreds of hours of research and careful decision making.
- Even if I don't drive it a million miles, I expect it to pay for itself well before that, and to be reliable and efficient enough to at least not need any replacement/no forcing me to buy a car because my old one is failing. It's only like if I come into money suddenly and don't have to worry about every last mpg and such.
I'm hoping whatever next cars, and car projects I do, will probably be the last cars I ever even buy if I do it right. Thus I can justify alot of research because the problem solving will be with me the rest of my adult life in all likelihood. Even if I lost it in a car crash i'd keep the design blueprints and say CAD of special pieces so I could redo it from scratch if needed.
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Okay. So what things can be done to actually make a car last EXCEPTIONALLY long, while also minimizing the total lifetime cost one spends all up - initial purchase, all modifications, all fuel used over it's life, and all maintenance costs over it's life?
Just as a double reminder - the goal here is primarily reducing total money spent over the entire life of the car. Not finding ways to blow money on things that don't pay for themself. Working on the car myself is one of the best ways to save money, but reducing recurring maintenance hassles goes hand in hand since most of us have other things we'd rather do with our time.
This post was actually inspired by reading this
http://www.aera.org/ep/EPQ4-2011/index.html start on page 50, for an article on deep cryogenic treatments, because it was something i'd heard of, but hadn't read more about, which seems to change alot of things, which makes me want to see what OTHER technologies and strategies will be out there for very long life.
Apparently cryogenically treating brake rotors and pads makes them last 3-7x longer, so not only do you save the money of not buying more parts, there's less labor and hassle of having to buy more as well. Even if I can change things myself for cheap with those autozone warranted pads and such, i'd still rather do it once and be done with it for awhile. I wonder if a clutch would see longer life? Hmm...
Cryogenic treatments of gears and gearsets seems to increase both strength and wear life - it's possible the pulse and glide lifestyle would be harder on gears than steady state cruising so that's probably a good idea. Might not be an issue for people only driving 100,000 miles but if I want to go a million miles it seems to be a given. I don't know if there are any downsides.. brittleness? I'd love to know more for sure. It could well be applied to other moving parts like differential gears or CV joints if wear is usually what forces their eventual replacement. It could be applied in the engine itself to various parts - perhaps even cryoed engine blocks and rings and bearings would last longer? I'd love to hear if anyone here has knowledge of cryo treatments or scientific studies specifically, the above article is the only one I have so far otherwise.
I also remember from years of reading hot rod type magazines about alot of technologies which are normally used in cutting edge race engines due to expense and needing every little edge, not so often used on street engines, but which may be worth doing for a literal million mile planned engine.
For instance the various coating technologies which has risen over the last decade or two for engines. Everything from low friction coatings, to oil repelling coatings (things like treating a crankshaft weights, so it sheds the oil readily), to rust preventatives, to thermal barrier coatings which can improve efficiency slightly, decrease catastrophic dangers from detonation, or help component parts exposed to excessive heat like exhaust manifolds and turbochargers last alot longer. Anyone with more specific knowledge of these technologies and their application to either MPG or long life engines is welcome to chime in - i'm mostly familiar with them as concerning horsepower which is not the same thing.
Exotic materials can sometimes be justified in places where parasitic loss is alot, or maybe ultimate lifespan justifies it - though i'm not sure what offhand would justify it. Alot of things in cars will last 60-100,000 miles - i'd rather not be changing that 15 times over the life of the car though. I'm told a titanium exhaust weighs half what stainless steel does and should essentially last "forever".
Blueprinting and balancing engines has been done since at least world war 2 - the more precise the tolerances are the better it runs, the benefits are fairly small for power vs the cost, but probably would justify for efficiency. I'm sure it would pay for itself.
Synthetic oils or/and more often oil changes are open for discussion, but so are other alternative lubrication solutions - for instance i've heard about those "toilet paper" bypass filtration systems which allegedly keep the oil so clean you don't even need to change oil anymore, just periodically top off a quart when you change the TP roll which also tops off the additives (that otherwise don't last forever) which seems to work great. Oil changes become a nontrivial expense when done more than usual, oil analysis goes hand in hand though to track what is happening inside the engine as well and to possibly indicate early warning signs of problems.
I'm told bobistheoilguy.com is the go to place for such lubrication discussions - and I plan to eventually. Oil, oil additives, bypass filtration, etc. I'm going to consider this especially important since i'm eyeing running SVO fuel and i've read multiple studies that SVO corrupts the lubrication oil causing things like sticking rings and enhanced wear and such. A million miles on SVO could be extra challenging but i'm hoping to find out how to do it and share what I learn experimenting with anyone wanting to know.
(I hope to start tracking with oil analysis in straight SVO work vehicles to see what happens there before committing to that in the commuter I mean since i've read so many studies suggesting SVO ends up being an engine killer otherwise)
That's my laundry list of things i've scribbled notes on so far, can you expand on any area, or offer leads for new areas of research that I haven't yet mentioned? Do you know any great informational websites or forums where these technologies are talked to more, the "go to" places for those interested in the topic?
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