86 951 Driver

n/a 5th as many have said would help. Some stuff in the aero department might be able to help as well. I think these cars already have a good drag coefficient. Making the car lighter will net better mileage all the time as well as better performance. Run all full synthetic fluids along. Tires I would make sure were nitrogen filled.

BTW with a boosted car you aren't running boost on the highway most of time so it wouldn't matter about opening the wastegate on the highway. You only create boost when its under some sort of load. One of the pros of a turbo over a roots type supercharger.

CyCloNe!

I'd say cutting weight is the cheapest and best solution. Also you could make a hydro booster they actually work very well. Basically you use water in a controlled environment with an attached 12v power supply this in turn creates hydrogen gas and you connect it to your intake. After which you can lean out your mixture to use less gas since the hydrogen is a fuel source.. The hydrogen works great in the car, ignites quick, low emissions, reduces carbon, and produces it for a long time; you just have to add water once in a while. Make sure you have a wideband though, to ensure you have the correct a/f.

I know a guy thats like 85yrs old and he gets 80mpg on a kia spectra and he also has a v8 mustang he's done it to, don't know the mpg on that one.

blown 944

I've tried setting up a hydrogen fuel cell on a couple cars but have found that it burns out alternators pretty quick!!

86 951 Driver

So does that shiz actually work or not. I have heard conflicting views on it. You could just get a high output Alternator to compensate or an optima battery up front.

blown 944

It Definately creates a powerful fuel. I suppose an additional alternator would work but I don't have time right now to try it. The more amps the better I found. It also needs to have a lot of edges to be really effective. When I get around to building another one I'll use plates that look like Swiss cheese

Jfrahm

Hydro booster sheesh. You are talking about burning gasoline to make electricity to split water in to hydrogen and oxygen, and then injecting that into the engine in place of gasoline. Each part of the process is wasteful but somehow you end up with more energy than you started with?

Nope.

I think the idea is predicated on the notion that electricity in your car is 'free' when in reality you are powering the alternator with gasoline. If you draw more current, you burn more gasoline.

There are some old-timey systems and maybe some motorcycles that always produce max current and waste any unused portion by converting it to heat but this is not something you will find on a typical car made in the last 30 years or so.

If you want to save gas, put on skinny tires. That helps a lot.
-Joel.

blown 944

I'm not going to argue about whether it works or not. I did it bc it was a fun little project. I will say though that even with my little pos units, it was splitting a lot of hydrogen. Some of the systems I've seen are far superior. I am not sure what the ratio would have to be but it would seem that if the unit was very efficient that it could overcome the energy lost through powering the alternator pretty easily. At certain rpms and load levels (highway driving) it seemed to work pretty good. I just didn't feel like repeatedly replacing alternators.

Ronin-951

Just put new Toyo's on a 02 Audi A8, same size, brand and pressures as before, instant 20% mpg gain.

pettybird

drive 55mph instead. it works, whether you want it to or not.

JDS968

The Second Law of Thermodynamics says it can't happen, ever.

Perpetual motion machine fail.

JohnKoaWood

Not to mention even the best electrolysis cells only achieve 85% or so efficiency... and those are ones fed a strict diet of only the best conditioned electricity, and electrolyte.. to cells that are built in a lab.

a cell built in a garage, and fed whatever is handy... sure it can achieve >100% efficiency... in dreams and sci fi books...

Jfrahm

Your tire shop must be on top of a hill. Worn tires are wider and smaller in diameter than new, but picking up more than 1mpg would be hard to explain. I have an A8 and get 20-ish MPG so 20% would be 4MPG.

-Joel.

CyCloNe!

I wasn't talking full efficiency.. if you are able to create 5miles to the gallon extra that makes a huge improvement... Cut 200-300 pounds of weight and then a small hydro boost would be able to meet that demand. Now to say lean out the gas heavily and replace it with hydrogen then you are going to run into major problems. If your only looking to 10-20% fuel efficiency more then it's possible with a hydro booster and weight reduction. Also we are talking a 12v power supply and utilizing 80% or more of gasoline.

If you drop 200-300 pounds your already around 2.5 miles per gallon.

Cole

Good way to become the "Instant A-hole" in a 75mph zone too

75 mph shaves off 29 minutes a day on a 120 mile commute compared to doing it at 55.

Not to mention doing 20+ mph slower than the surrounding traffic can actually be more dangerous.

My question was about modifying the car, not the driver. Not driving at all would save the most fuel, but would not accomplish any of the needs or goals here.

JohnKoaWood

Ride a bike?
Add sails and use wind power?
Solid wheels?
Add booster rockets?
Solar panels, get rid of the alternator, save via elimination of parasitic loss.

I can keep them coming all day long...