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

[changzuki]

Welcome RQ Riley (the man, the myth, and the legend!)
Thank you for your tireless work over the years and being a positive influence in my life and likely thousands of others!
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I was months away from High-School graduation and was blown-away when the Centurion made its appearance on the cover of Mechanix Illustrated in 1982. Now, just over 32 years later (52 project cars, one diesel motorcycle, a human-hybrid lithium rocket trike, and disconnecting from the grid), I've registered my personalized version of a Centurion for the 2014 Toyota Green Grand Prix at Watkins Glen International (thank you Mr. Gillespie)! Should everything go without a hitch on Friday April 11th, 2014, this very low-tech project will be put to the test against some very stiff high-tech competition.
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Win, lose or draw, history will be made in the arena of green gladiators. Whilst others take note of the winsock, connect their GPS, and painstakingly monitor their NASA grade instrumentation, the X1/9 Centurion will simply blast off using all 850cc's of Kubota diesel and the cockpit will be filled with "Brunhilde's Battle Cry" !!! (I've never met my co-pilot/navigator sheepdog44 - I hope this doesn't scare him off!)
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Giving credit where it's due, many thanks Mr. Riley and any input/thoughts/guidance from your decades of expertise is very welcome and very usuable to the forums here at ecomodder.com
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Ultimately, if the younger crowd will build off the work of those before them, then that work was not in vain, and they are the winners!
Your work lives on.
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~CrazyJerry

Originally Posted by rqriley

Gentlemen, I was happy to run across your thread on Centurion. I am one of two original designers of Centurion - built at my former design firm in Phoenix AZ, Quincy-Lynn Enterprises. I was responsible for the engineering and participated in the styling and the actual build. I can confirm that the figure of 128 mpg is accurate for our vehicle. We tested for mpg on a little used highway north of Phoenix. We disconnected the fuel line from the tank and ran a hose to the fuel pump from a beaker inside the cabin. The beaker held enough fuel for about 5 to 8 miles. The roadway was on a slight grade, so we ran up the grade until the beaker was empty, filled the beaker, and then turned around and ran down the grade. It was just a slight grade. We ran five or six times in both directions and recorded the distance until fuel had been used in each direction. We then averaged fuel consumption and distance and calculate the result at slightly over 128 mpg. Each run included one acceleration to speed, and then a steady-state run at 35 mph until the beaker was empty. That's where the 35 mph fuel economy figure came from.

I don't have a clue why that other Centurion was only getting 45 mpg. In my opinion it would be virtually impossible to get fuel economy that poor with a Centurion built according to plans. Something must be costing him lots of energy with that vehicle. If you first take care of aerodynamic drag and vehicle mass, and make sure the brakes aren't dragging, then the key to high fuel economy is to be able to load the engine into its region of lowest bsfc (brake specific fuel consumption). That normally happens with a diesel engine when it's loaded to about 60 or 70 percent of full load. You do that with tall gearing, and then down-shift for acceleration.

I noticed some discussion about parasitic drag - water pump, alternator, etc. We did not do anything in that regard with the original Centurion. We left the parasitic drag alone - just as Kubota had designed it. We did use low-viscosity lubricants, however - to avoid too much churning in the transmission and final drive.

And if you can afford it, I'd recommend experimenting with turbocharging. Diesels love turbocharging, and it normally results in more power and lower fuel consumption.

I'm glad to see that you are taking it up a notch with the details. There were lots of things that we did not do with that original vehicle - we knew what they were but we just did not do everything we knew.

Good luck. And I'll try to come by again. My biggest problem is that I seem to be always overloaded with work.

[brucepick]

Changzuki,
Your Centurion is one good looking car! Looking forward to seeing it and you at the GGP on Friday.

I will be driving the homely looking green '96 Accord. Hopefully with a fat yellow racing stripe applied for the occasion.

[changzuki]

Thanks BruckPick,
Very much looking forward to the event and meeting any ecomodders. Hoping to gather a pile of info / tips from the cars and any current technology too.

Will look for the green & yellow Camry (my old school colors!) and don't worry about "homely" appearances - the Centurion is an easy 10 footer!

Forecast today is the upper 40's, so with a crowbar and an ax I should be able to free the wedge from the ice...
~CrazyJerry

[elhigh]

Sweet! One of my favorite characters from the auto universe, right here on the forum.

[changzuki]

In two days (Friday April 11th, 2014) the Centurion will be put to the test at Watkins Glen Green Grand Prix.
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Test #1 starts before then. From here in Colton, NY, the Hotel in Horseheads is 231.6 miles and shown below is the 2 gallon tank the Centurion will be running this leg on. The goal - to the hotel on 1 tank:
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Then:
Test #2 will be on the Watkins Glen Track as outlined by the Green Grand Prix.
Test #3 will be an on-road test around Watkins Glen as announced by the Green Grand Prix.
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All the action will be captured on the 4 recently installed in-car cameras:
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And finally:
Test #4 will be a return trip home on one 2 gallon tank...
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~G-U-M-B-A-L-L~!!!!!!!
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~CrazyJerry

[changzuki]

The trip from Colton, NY to the Green Grand Prix took about 6.5 hours with pit stops included. Going down I-81 was the first "Interstate" the Centurion has ever driven down since its creation. It was tempting to unleash all 17 horsepower but I thought better of it. The head and side winds were incredible the entire way judging by other traffic swerving. It was less of an issue for the Centurion. I pretty much stayed at 52 mph the entire trip.
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Sitting about 5 inched off the road the view is not exactly breath taking. In fact, looking from the bottom up, I could see alot of potential improvements some of the passing 18 wheelers could make on their undersides. A lifelong friend of mine harnessed lodging and was also kind enough to volunteer as the chase car which left about an hour behind, and caught up by the time we landed in Ithaca.
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The on-board dvr and 4 cameras ran the entire time and I had to remind myself not to pick thy nose.
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Watching the sight glass on the 2 gallon tank over that timeframe was completely anti-climatic. What was climactic was arriving at the hotel in Horseheads and seeing enough fuel above fuel outlet line to chance making it another 20 minutes or so to the Green Grand Prix official morning re-fuel at Valero!
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With what seemed like a few minutes, Sheepdog 44 silently arrived from Mass - incredible timing! He must've booked 1st class as it looked like pizza was served on that flight - I guess when ecomodding is on your mind it's easy to spot a member in the parking lot.
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I brought a big piece of plastic since rain was predicted for that night and the weather proofing is not exactly completed on this project. The mid-esction of the car was wrapped and put to bed. Going to bed early wasn't really beneficial. Going over a thousand details on little sleep since Tuesday... The saving grace:
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Centurion just had the run of it's life and the fun was just beginning!!!
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This saga will continue.....
~CrazyJerry

[UltArc]

Fantastic work, sir. It was a pleasure!

[sheepdog 44]

Wouldn't you know it, i was so excited to be in the Urba Centurion, i forgot to take pictures! This is the best portrait of the team i could find. Right to left Changzuki, His friend, and me looking at the stripped interior of the Alfred State car. You can see my head in the second picture at the starting line. "Boogity boogity lets go racing boys!"

[UltArc]

I believe I have a bunch of photos. I will be uploading them for the GGP Facebook, but whenever I do facebook images, I watermark them- Facebook thinks they own my images when I upload them? Not without a fight!!!!

(Let me know if you want any, I'd be happy to give you original files )

[changzuki]

(My apologies for reposting this from another thread but I intended it to be here in sequence to the last entry - CrazyJerry)
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The following morning at the hotel I got up very early - sleep was minimal likely due to a low budget subtitled women's wrestling movie that was on a station I've never heard of.... This may have been the earliest known precursor to GLOW (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling)! The two main wrestlerettes had some interesting attire on. One looked, and was shaped, like a badly aging Robin (from batman) and the other looked like Catwoman who may have seriously outgrown the taunt black latex suit garnished with a bandit-style mask... wow... sooo hawt......
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I had the parking lot to myself as I unwrapped the Centurion of it's plastic cocoon. It was during that time I got a real good look at the Aerostang (UltArc's ride) that was a couple of spaces behind and to the left of where I was. - WHAT A MACHINE! - On the surface it looks kinda like a pimped out Mustang but a sharp eye soon picks up on all the attention to details. Very tasteful - very well done! Not only does it look killer - it is! His mpg is better than my '07 Hyundai 3dr (40 best vs 46-ish), and has the option of passing cars at will (I don't).
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Jumping ahead a bit to trackside, I got to visit with UltArc and his navigator. Nice folks and the real deal! I was hoping after the event the Stang would get 3 laps all to itself - that car begs to be driven around Watkins Glen track in the most non-green way possible! Totally awesome and I'm with Sheepdog 44 regarding the honorable mention statement.
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Leaving the hotel with my good friend Pete leading, then mloveland78 and co-pilot in the Civic VX, followed by Sheepdog 44 and the pizza from Massachusettes in the Insight, Myself in Centurion, and UltArc and navigator as the anchormen in this relay.
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This band of merry ecomodders were now enroute to Valero for the official fill up for the 2014 Green Grand Prix - and it seemed we couldn't get there fast enough!!!
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More to come.....
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~CrazyJerry