Old School Engines and Fuel Efficiency

[Arragonis]

Even though we ran a Beetle 1200 and Minis for a good number of years my dad found fuel cost so annoying he got a Honda 50 for a while - until the insurance got too high.

[robchalmers]

One of my old school, eco power trains was the 1.6 carb in my 89 golf 'driver' - 4+E box (25mph/1krpm top cog) running a 38dtml weber and not much else I got 51mpg(imp) out of it cruising at 65 to and from Crewe. it may have had the aero of a barn door but it was it was one of the last true 'peoples cars' VW's. Built cheaply but built right - before they got all middle class after german re-unification designed to ferry kids'n'crap from one end of Deutchland to the other quietly and simply

no real gimmicks to the engine just torque with LONG gearing and it was sub 1000kg in weight. oh and they had the suspension off a GTi to help 'keep up momentum' on the twisty bits.

loved the A-series in my minis, think the PSA group's 1.4 tu engine deserve a mention too except for when mated to the 4 speed wand gearbox in a 205 where you chased the cogs around the floor and third would be in a different place everytime you looked for it.

OH - and the unburstable nissan micra 16v engines of the mid nineties - especially the 1.0 that will rev to 8k (witnessed it) and when driven normally will easily average 55mpg even though its an SPi I think? don't quote me. they're still in production even though they have evolved slightly

[320touring]

my 1988 320 has athe bmw m20b20 straight 6

the injectors fire in two banks of 3, and it has no knock sensor to advance/retard ignition.

Single cam with 256 degree duration (almost flat!) and a flathead setup on the combustion

Cd is 0.36 and it weighs in at 1325kg with a full tank

4.27 final drive (4000rpm at indicated 80mph)

38 UK mpg if lightly hypermiled 32 uk mpg if driven normally

on an engine that was designed in the 1960's and originally carb fed



thats 2 uk MPG less than the e36 iS I have

with its 1.8 litre m42b18 16v DOHC lump and Cd of 0.30



The 535i (m30b34) is a manual, and in limited testing so far, i've seen 30.3 uk mpg high and 12 uk mpg low..

[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by robchalmers

... 'driver' - 4+E box...

Didn't those boxes come with badges like this :

[320touring]

Originally Posted by Arragonis

Didn't those boxes come with badges like this :

they did indeed.. although that box is a santana (spelling!)

Just goes to prove that gearing is pretty much key to making any engine more efficient

[robchalmers]

formula e's were way ahead of their time, most had the 3+E box the little polo breadvans (notchback,squaretail,estate,wagon) used start stop tecnology too!!!!

[Arragonis]

Stop-start was on some 1980s FIATs too - the Regatta had it I think.

The Mini-hearse polo Ranger with 4+E was the first car I lusted after...

[robchalmers]

germany even got a formel e golf I diesel - the greatgrandaddy of the Bluemotion!

[skyl4rk]

How difficult is it to add a fuel injection system to an older 6 cylinder?

[cleanspeed1]

Originally Posted by skyl4rk

How difficult is it to add a fuel injection system to an older 6 cylinder?

It's not hard at all. Putting a stand alone system like a Megasquirt is cheap and easy, along with the Emerald system. You have to decide what style you want to run ( port injected or throttle body ) and be patient during the mapping process, but you can put EFI on anything nowadays.