Urba Centurion Update - (Kubota diesel, 100+ MPG in mixed driving - Fall 2012 on)

[changzuki]

Seneca Lodge - Part I:
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Ground Zero for the Ecomodders was at Seneca Lodge. Two A Frames were harnessed as well as a lower cabin (Finnie & Pamela's real estate).
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CAUTION: The following photo may not be suitable for all viewing audiences!!
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The cabins, woods, the scent of pine. It was the perfect romantic setting!! Maybe it was the side skirts, or maybe it was the blaze autumn latex stripe, but it appears that team Loveland's Civic, clearly has feelings for the little Centurion :
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(Photo courtesy of Pamela Hirschhorn @ http://northeastwheelsevents.com)
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(Photo courtesy of Pamela Hirschhorn @ http://northeastwheelsevents.com)
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More in Part II
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~CrazyJerry

[changzuki]

Seneca Lodge Part II
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But love is not without strife as team Loveland's Civic was about to meet Redneck's 8600 pounds of Big Moby Dodge!
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So there they were... A real conundrum, and two dead cell phones - what to do?
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Part III to follow!
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~CrazyJerry

[changzuki]

Seneca Lodge - Part III
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Stealing through the darkness, a black horse was destined to arrive! But this was no ordinary horse... It was suited up with discretely placed foam accessories which allowed it to cut swiftly through the air!!
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(Photo courtesy of Pamela Hirschhorn @ http://northeastwheelsevents.com)
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Somewhere in the forest a gray Insight "Pick"ed a tree to hide behind so there's no photo - yet...
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These are the immediate players in this twisted tale of Seneca Lodge...
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Here's what we don't know:
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How well they officially did at the Green Grand Prix!
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Where the missing photos are!
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And lastly, where the heck sheepdog_44 sat as a navigator.
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To be continued as information surfaces....
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~CrazyJerry

[Gasoline Fumes]

Originally Posted by changzuki

I'd be delighted to do one - but I was kinda waiting for some of the event pics to surface so I could use them... Where are they - lol!!!
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~CrazyJerry~

I'm working on it! 800+ photos to go through!
I've been in contact with photographer Steve Thompson, and his photos should be around soon too.

[changzuki]

Originally Posted by Gasoline Fumes

I'm working on it! 800+ photos to go through!
I've been in contact with photographer Steve Thompson, and his photos should be around soon too.

Gasoline Fumes,
I know you usually have a ton of photos, I was referring to a couple other sources that took photos that I was hoping would surface. This would've given me some good pics until the motherload came out. I'll keep on lookout for those and there's no hurry on your end. Thank you and looking forward to seeing yours and Steve's too!
~CrazyJerry

[changzuki]

With a few more pics to work from (all in this set are courtesy of Redneck), we can take a closer look at the vehicles!
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The boat-tail Civic:
mloveland78 constructed this out of emt and aluminum. Lexan/plexiglas makes a full length rear window, and a bit of expanding foam tops it off. Redneck spoke of how sturdy his came out on the Geo and this one isn't going anywhere either. Enroute from Delaware, the Civic was able to glide at an impressive 79+- mpg. This is a very similar figure that Redneck's boat-tailed Geo attained when traveling from South Carolina to New York. Imagine the fuel savings over the life of the vehicle especially if there were a lot of highway travel. The following pics of the Civic are at the line up just outside the track on the false-grid just prior to the event:
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The Aerostang:
UltArc arrived at the lodge with a couple of ideas for the Aerostang. One was some rocker skirts which filled in the gap between the factory rockers and the pavement. Installed, this left approx 3 inches of ground clearance along each side. Where this story get a bit more interesting is from the additional piece transported by UltArc which was to fasten to the underside of the front airdam to effectively make it lower. The question was whether the cardboard foam construction would indeed last ~100 miles (the duration of the event). There was discussion and the consensus was, it could be much better, and, be fabricated on-site. The following morning Redneck convoyed himself and UltArc in the Big Moby Cummins to LOWES for aero-supplies covering roughly 34 round trip miles of non-highway roads. Inspection for the afternoon fuel economy challenge was that morning from 11:30 to 12:30 so this project needed to move along. Redneck is well versed with foam fabrication and in no time a pattern around the Aerostang's lower airdam was traced then precision cut. It fit very, very well! With time to spare, the transition from the outer edges of the airdam up into the front wheel wells was created. Time started to become a factor but the two ecomodders working as a team prevailed, and made it to registration on-time, with an Aerostang ready for a real track test!!
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Dodge 3500 dually with Cummins 5.9 Litre Turbo Diesel:
So, when we think of Redneck here on ecomodder, we usually associate him with the boat-tail Geo Metro. And when we found out he would be entering the Green Grand Prix, well, it was a fair assumption (lol) that we'd see the Geo... Ummm, not quite.. Instead, we got the biggest beast of all: ~8600 pounds of dual wheel, aero-less work truck! The cow-catcher on the front is reported to weigh in at a scant 350 pounds! Redneck is spot-on when he made the comparison using the "Scales of Justice" and on one side is the 5.9 liter Cummins diesel engine and nothing else, and on the other side is Centurion as she sits. The Cummins would be firmly sitting on the ground and Centurion would be vaulted up into the tree tops. The truck looks like it hasn't been out of a garage for most of it's life but the approx 270,000 miles says otherwise. If this work truck was going to see any eco-acknowledgement at the end of the day, then Redneck was going to have to pull off a really fancy piece of driving!
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Centurion:
Starting 2 weeks after the 2015 Green Grand Prix the following changes were made:
- 8 Speed removed and rebuilt due to failure
- Replaced 30 pound cast iron bellhousing with 7 pound aluminum
- Elimination of 80% of exhaust and associated 28 pounds of weight
- Added bedliner to underside to clean up aero
- Nano grade WS2 in engine, transmission, rear differential, and wheel bearings
- Aluminum Radiator upgrade and reposition
- Replace 25 pound lead acid battery with 5.8 pound lithium version
- Add rear wheel 3/4 skirts
- Add wheel disc covers
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I have no info or a photo at this point of the Insight Bruce Pick is driving but he's in the ecomodder mix.
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At this point we are lined up on the false grid and awaiting the start of the 12th Annual Green Grand Prix!!
If anything is incorrect - please let me know - I'm posting all of this from memory.
(More to come as info is released!)
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~CrazyJerry

[elhigh]

In a car that already weighs less than virtually every other car on the road, you somehow managed to pull out another 70 pounds.

Dang.

And you only whistled up 205 mpg? You're trying to give the other guys a chance, aren't you?

[changzuki]

Originally Posted by elhigh

In a car that already weighs less than virtually every other car on the road, you somehow managed to pull out another 70 pounds.

Dang.

And you only whistled up 205 mpg? You're trying to give the other guys a chance, aren't you?

elhigh,
There was a couple of reasons why Centurion didn't pull a record on the track this year. I don't want to get too ahead of the story but during the final fill up, I did not heed Redneck's advice he gave me during the first fill up. In retrospect, I'm sure that was a major contributing factor for the 204 mpg figure. On a positive note, the overall outcome of the event was unaffected by this..
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Both the trip to Watkins Glen and the return trip home were the best to date as far as fuel economy goes. I know this may seem ridiculous, but on the interstate where it's fairly flat and easy going, the little Kubota isn't straining - it just purrs right along. It's not perfect but everything is working very well together. No failures of any kind and didn't even bring a jack or a spare.
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~CrazyJerry

[changzuki]

It's Intermission Time...
Since we are still waiting for track photos to surface, I've found a couple that were taken after the event..
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Before this year's Green Grand Prix, I received an email from rustygirl, who appeared in last year's GGP driving the Red Kubota powered MG Midget with Pamela Hirschhorn as the navigator. Finnie (rustygirl) sent me an "Indiesel-proposal". This was a very simple and straightforward offer:
- I'll let you drive my car,
- If you let me drive yours.
Initially I almost had a heart attack. But as I began to imagine myself driving another Kubota powered car I realized what a golden opportunity this was - possibly once-in-a-lifetime... So that night, the Grinch's heart grew several sizes bigger than it normally was and I said "Yes!!!"..
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Being two very different builds. My experience with the MG was that rustygirl did a wonderful job with the conversion - both under the hood and in the cabin. Bridget is a very viable Kubota powered classic car! The smile factor begins when the 3 cylinder turbo diesel comes to life and the distinctive clack-clack-clack of the diesel let's you know something's going on up front.
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(Photos by Pamela Hirschhorn over at NortheastWheelsEvents.com - Car Show Calendar)
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Thanks rustygirl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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~CrazyJerry
P.S. There's a really short video Pamela put together here:
Bridgets Big Adventure to the 2016 Toyota Green Grand Prix - NortheastWheelsEvents.com - Car Show Calendar

[Miller88]

Were you on the way home from the Green Grand Prix? What day was it?

I was on my way to Bath from Syracuse. Was tempted to go through Watkins Glen either on the way there or back. But did not.