How to hybrid a road vehicle to do 100MPG Diesel

[aczlan]

The 3rd and 4th generation Mazda B series were badged as the Courier, then the Ranger in the US.
See: Mazda B-Series - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Aaron Z

 

[rjmack]

The 3rd and 4th generation Mazda B series were badged as the Courier, then the Ranger in the US.

i remember the couriers, the rangers were different, at least they were here.

datsun/nissan and toyota had diesel trucks back in the 70's - 80's too.

there are also late 70's early 80's mercedes benz diesels that were economical, reliable, and gutless. i think the 300 series came with some higher power output.

the nissan/toyota trucks carry a bit of a premium price but the old mercedes can be picked up cheaply.

 

[Bilko]

What about a gas powered golf cart set up to be street legal?

 

[BigBoyinMS]

As said earlier, Nissan had a 2.3 and 2.5 diesel in the 720 p/up in '83-'85. They can still be found but not to many are out there. The engine was basically the same as the one in the Datsun forklifts.
Most people don't know that they also had a diesel Sentra (1.7) in 1983. Mileage was in the 50's but it had NO performance. The only one that I ever drove had an A/T and I was almost afraid to pull into the street if there was any other vehicle within a block. The 4-speeds could have been better.

I've always wanted to build a street legal lightweight 4-wheeled vehicle using a small diesel and hydraulic drive similar to the fellow that built the diesel/hydraulic chopper. Welcome to Hydraulic Innovations

 

[MikeInEburg]

As someone alluded to earlier, the sad truth is that swapping vehicles for better fuel economy has a long payback period. The vehicle you own is almost always cheaper.

 

[Case485Guy]

I had a book(lost/misplaced now) It was on a diesel swap into a MG midget. From what I remember it was a 3 cyl Kabota(25hp range) mated to a Toyota celica 5 speed, they changed the rear gears too. Claim was 100 plus mpg. Even had the blue print for the adapter for engine to tranny.

 

[zzvyb6]

The trick to getting your job task done would be to buy or make an all electric battery powered vehicle which has a very small generator on board to nurse the battery while you drive home. The thermo dynamics doesn't support your 100 mpg goal with all the other constraints you have on it, no matter what the fuel.

If the Ram was a modern EFI 4x4, you could disconnect the rear driveshaft and run it on 4 cylinders as a FWD standby. Adding an electric motor to propel the rear wheels (only) and juiced by a bed full of batteries could get you some distance. Recharging at night from the garage and from a small home generator (on-board) just in case would give you some peace of mind.

GM calls this type of 'hybrid' a Volt. You could call yours a Vegamatic or a Ram-Blur, or a Watt-Cha-Macallit or a Battery-Ram.

 

[westcliffe01]

Doc: Your best bet is an electric conversion. For the donor vehicle you simply want the lightest, most aerodynamic thing you can find that has reliable running gear. Based on your location (not too far from me) rust is the number 1 enemy.

Here You can find kits of the significant parts to do a conversion. Then add AGM batteries and go for the highest voltage pack you can afford because it gets more efficient as the voltage gets higher.

I found a beat up Toyota pickup for $1200 which needs some bodywork, but it is not rusted too much. I can get it into running condition as is for another $1000 which includes all new brake lines, rebuilt brakes, new headlights/grill/hood and a cheap paint job.

20 mile range would work fine for me for most of what I do. I am not going to get rid of my full size truck, just not use it for commuting.

A less drastic option is to take a modern small engine like from a Honda FIT and put it into something like a small 2wd pickup truck (toyota/nissan/ranger). Keep it light and the speed down to 55mph. A megasquirt controller will run any of the small modern injected motors.

 

[2458n]

Worked for a Ford dealer that had a few diesels when they first came out. The biggest problem was the supply. Our dealership got a escort, tempo, and a ranger pick-up. All were low on power but good on mileage. The goverment had a credit for them around 1000 dollars for alternative energy or something like that. Anyways Ford required the dealership to purchase a bunch of special tools for the shop. That was the end for diesel sales where I worked. I drove the escort as my demo for about aweek before it was sold out from under me!

 

[aczlan]

i remember the couriers, the rangers were different, at least they were here.

IIRC, they were close enough that Dad got a Haynes Ford Courier manual for his B2200 and it was correct for everything but the engine (manual was for a Gas, he had a Diesel).

Aaron Z

 

[Hog86r]

A couple of years ago I bought a Club Car Carry All 2 LSV. It is a glorified golf cart with a bed on the back. Top speed is 25MPH. It is street legal in my state as long as the posted speed limit is 35 MPH or less. it has a range of 75 miles under optimal condtion. Dont know exactly but it costs very little to charge batteries. It plugs into house current like a golf cart. After the ridiculous tax credits it cost me about $3,000 net (brand new). if such a machine will work i am sure there are some out there under utilized that could be bought. MIght be worth looking into.

 

[EMB5530]

The trick to getting your job task done would be to buy or make an all electric battery powered vehicle which has a very small generator on board to nurse the battery while you drive home. The thermo dynamics doesn't support your 100 mpg goal with all the other constraints you have on it, no matter what the fuel.

If the Ram was a modern EFI 4x4, you could disconnect the rear driveshaft and run it on 4 cylinders as a FWD standby. Adding an electric motor to propel the rear wheels (only) and juiced by a bed full of batteries could get you some distance. Recharging at night from the garage and from a small home generator (on-board) just in case would give you some peace of mind.

GM calls this type of 'hybrid' a Volt. You could call yours a Vegamatic or a Ram-Blur, or a Watt-Cha-Macallit or a Battery-Ram.

Battery-Ram
Now that is catchy
Id by 2
how much for a bed full of batteries:laughing:

 

[5030]

Battery Ram, I like that. Too bad it's a Marchonni - Fiat - Dodge.

Interestingly I bought a used, well cared for 4 door Deville DHS, pre-Obama 2004 with a 32 valve Northstar, light the tires, pin you in the seat, 150 mph touring sedan that I'm getting 33.2 MPG with. Of course that's no lighting the tires (I'm too cheap to incenerate tires anyway), I drive like my age....62, but I'm amazed. a 345 horsepower V8 in a lugsyourass car and it does better than my wife's Transit with its piddly 4 banger.

And it rides like a..... Cadillac. I remember as a kid, you referred to a good riding car as 'rides like a Cadillac'. Now I know what that really means. It has a Bose sound system, heated and cooled seats, leather of course, window shades on the back windows, the seats even massage your back, memory wheel, mirrors,, every option imaginable.

It's an economy car and certainly crash worthy, unlike a econo box coffin.

I believe when it gets old and nasty, I'll torch off the trunk lid and make a pickup truck out of it.

 

[forgeblast]

Anyone here ever make an EL Ninja, where you can convert a ninja motorcycle to an electric bike?

 

[ovrszd]

A diesel VW Rabbit/Jetta will get you ~50MPG and you can get one for under $5k, but make sure that you run the numbers to see how long your payback time would be.
If you go from 12MPG to 50MPG at 20 miles/day, your fuel consumption will drop from 10 gallons per week, to 2.4 gallons per week.

If it cost you $5k for the car (assuming a newer one, older ones are running ~$2k) payback time with gas at $3.50, diesel at $3.75 and 20 miles per day, 6 days a week would be 313 weeks or just over 6 years.
If you got one for $2k payback time would be 125 weeks or 2.4 years.

Aaron Z

I made sure to read all replies to this thread before commenting on your statement above. Only one other poster even acknowledged your point.

I am soooooo amused when I hear people talking about trading or buying an additional vehicle to get mileage. 99% of the time the math simply doesn't add up.

In your references Aaron, you even let him off the hook concerning all other costs of adding a vehicle such as licensing, insurance, taxes, normal upkeep, etc.

Docrocky, if you are just looking for a project to entertain yourself with during the build, go for it. If you are truly looking to lower your transportation costs, forget buying or building an additional vehicle. It doesn't pay out when considering the low number of miles you drive each year.

P.S. I've heard sniffing Agent Orange can hurt ya but there's nothing wrong with me...... :confused2:

 

[smiley]

As someone else mentioned, a 1980 VW rabbit diesel I have was getting 52 mpg on the highway and around 40 around town, when the speedometer broke about 20 years ago at around 260,000 miles.

 

[Taylortractornut]

In 2001 I worked in Alabama on a dirt job. One man that came by to get fire wood from the clearing. He was an old tinkerer. He had a Ford ranger that was just a body and running gear. He took an old 3 speed floor shift CHevy trans mission and and added a 12 hp electric forklift motor on the front of it with a few pipe spacers and some all thread and a Lovejoy.

He had a small battery bank in the front and a solar panel on top pf the cab. He had a small Honda motor that he ran and alternator on when he needed an extra charge. I rmeber he said it would go 35 mph 38 miles to 40 and 40 mph at 29 miles without a charge.

He used an other cars manual steering boxe and a manual brake cylinder. The taile gate was lightened up with a sheet of fiberglass. THe seat was lightened up a bit to. It would start off in any gear and on gravel it would spin tires a bit. He bought some parts off a pair of old electric forklifts I had out back. He later modified the truck to have a hand lever brake and a one way diode to disconnect the power to the motor on a steep slope and let the the motor recharge the batteries. It was sensitive if you hit a bump and your hand jiggled or jerked it would actually lock the axles. He was a cool old man. THe last I saw of the old man and truck was in 2004 and I havent seen him since I will see if I can run him down and gfet a few pics.
In the 80's dad worked for Wright Brothers COnstruction and they got hime a full sized DOdge company truck with a 6 cylinder Mitsubishi or perkins engine in it. It had a really high speeded axle in it. Dad said it got way up in mileage but on pipe laying jobs where it was hilly taking the workers out alot of times if a running go failed some of the guys would jump out and push or dad would leave a dozer stationed on the hills and someone would jump out and hop on the dozer and push it out.

I was about 5 and barely remember the truck. A friend of mine used to mess with old trucks. He had a couple small Brown Lipe auxhilary transmions. He had a 90 Dodge Ram 2500 with out an over drive. He added the Brown Lipe and it made a ton of difference on the mileage empty

 

[westcliffe01]

What you say is true regarding amortization, but it is only true if there are not a few outliers thrown in there. In my case, those outliers would include trips out west to Colorado (4000 miles round trip in 2 weeks) and this last April a visit to the Florida Keys. That was over 3000 miles there and back + sightseeing.

The trip to Colorado was done at short notice with not the best planning and I hired a travel trailer ($1000/wk = $2000) and dragged it all the way to Colorado and back = 10mpg from my dodge ram at a time when gas was just under $5/gal. Yep, that was nearly $2000 for gas + $2000 for the trailer + park fees etc... Quite an expensive holiday... By comparison, in Florida we rented a house for 2 weeks for $700 and drove my wifes Jetta Tdi (average 42mpg) which is much more comfortable than a truck towing a trailer and fuel cost us only $250 for the whole trip.

Yes, drive there in your car, rent a house with all the amenities and it was less than 1/4 of the cost of camping with a travel trailer....

However, any of these trips can make a severe dent in any transportation budget and if you do 1 or 2 a year, they shorten the amortization cycle a whole lot compared to the commute.

Also, once you have a basic work truck, the other key thing is "cheap transportation" and that is where something like a $5000 Mazda Miata is both a pleasure to drive and will get very decent fuel economy. (unless you have a "full size" family, then it is no good.) But many of us are just 2 up in the car at best.

I made sure to read all replies to this thread before commenting on your statement above. Only one other poster even acknowledged your point.

I am soooooo amused when I hear people talking about trading or buying an additional vehicle to get mileage. 99% of the time the math simply doesn't add up.

In your references Aaron, you even let him off the hook concerning all other costs of adding a vehicle such as licensing, insurance, taxes, normal upkeep, etc.

Docrocky, if you are just looking for a project to entertain yourself with during the build, go for it. If you are truly looking to lower your transportation costs, forget buying or building an additional vehicle. It doesn't pay out when considering the low number of miles you drive each year.

P.S. I've heard sniffing Agent Orange can hurt ya but there's nothing wrong with me...... :confused2:

 

[DennisFolsom]

Battery Ram, I like that. Too bad it's a Marchonni - Fiat - Dodge.

Interestingly I bought a used, well cared for 4 door Deville DHS, pre-Obama 2004 with a 32 valve Northstar, light the tires, pin you in the seat, 150 mph touring sedan that I'm getting 33.2 MPG with. Of course that's no lighting the tires (I'm too cheap to incenerate tires anyway), I drive like my age....62, but I'm amazed. a 345 horsepower V8 in a lugsyourass car and it does better than my wife's Transit with its piddly 4 banger.

And it rides like a..... Cadillac. I remember as a kid, you referred to a good riding car as 'rides like a Cadillac'. Now I know what that really means. It has a Bose sound system, heated and cooled seats, leather of course, window shades on the back windows, the seats even massage your back, memory wheel, mirrors,, every option imaginable.

It's an economy car and certainly crash worthy, unlike a econo box coffin.

I believe when it gets old and nasty, I'll torch off the trunk lid and make a pickup truck out of it.

Now, THAT's a real economy car!:thumbsup: In many ways, the most economical car I ever had was a 1961 Caddy.

 

[KubotainNH]

If you want a project then like some others said go with an electric conversion. A co-worker setup the Beetle on this webpage, he also made an electric motorcycle: Walter Colby's 1968 Volswagen Beetle. I think at one point he was also messing with bio-diesel in an old Mercedes. Otherwise do what we did and get a cheap small car. We have a 92 Civic that is our 4th car out of 3 drivers. It easily pays for itself if my wife and I drive it often because our van and Jeep are not even close in MPG's. The car has 235k on it and still rides nice. Geo's are said to be really good on MPG's. Good thing we have the Civic too because my son's Altima now has a bad head gasket