How to hybrid a road vehicle to do 100MPG Diesel

[nimblemotors]

If you can live with just 25-30mph, I'd suggest you look into the glorified golf carts, or NEVs for your trips. You can find them used fairly cheap.
The electricity to run them is very inexpensive, and so is insurance, etc, so not a big deal as a second vehicle.
If you want a project, convert your TR6 to electric, if you consider the NEV class good enough, you can do that fairly cheap, and even find some old golf carts to salvage the parts from, the most expensive item will be the motor controller and batteries.
Personally, I have built an electric car, but I drive a Prius that gets 50mpg, it is a nice car. I've also had a Geo Metro and they are basic cars, the VW bug of the 90's. Which, BTW, converting a VW Bug to electric is commonly done and not expensive because parts and know-how are availalble.
Hope that helps,
Jack

Realizing this is a farm/tractor community, let me explain my motive. I am 75yo, retired, Viet Nam Vet, Army combat surgeon,(I think I sniffed Agent Orange) who would rather garden then walk a stupid golf course at 50 bucks a throw to smack that little white ball. I plant about 2 acres of almost all the vegetables and take the weekly pickings to 2 church kitchens, 1 convent, and 1 to 2 food banks to feed the needy. Of course my wife and I have to sample some of the produce for quality control. I did about 125 tomato plants this year and they did just great. I got a bad start this spring because the hydraulic pump in my Ford 8N went kaput and I spent a lot of time transferring the pump out of my burned out 9N. I also got great advice on repairing a Mott cutter-flailer, took almost forever when I wasn't hand watering because of a dry summer up here in Northern Ohio..
My dilemma is this. I live in town about 10 miles from my daughter's where I have the acreage and poll barn to work with. This is a 20 mile round trip six days a week from early April to last picking in mid October. My 2008 Dodge Ram 1500 is averaging about 12-to 15 MPG, since I do mostly back roads and drive with about 25 to 40 MPH max with few stop lights. Trying to improve my fuel consumption, I started trying to resurrect an old 1975 Triumph TR6 I bought 10 years ago at a junk auction, thinking this small 2 seater with a small 6 cylinder would do just fine when I didn't need the truck.. I just learned that it does no better than 14MPG from a knowledgeable source.
Years and years back (1982) I ran across an article in Mechanix Illustrated on "5 Reasons to Build URBA Centurion, one of which was "Gets up to 128 MPG on Diesel Fuel".
My challenge to you who farm and garden as I do a few miles daily away from home, is there a small road vehicle that a very small fuel efficient engine can be installed. Many suggest a motorcycle or moped but I need a 4 wheel vehicle and one that has a weather cover. Also has to be street legal for license. I was thinking of a YUGO (size) chassis or an old VW Rabbitt? Anyone have suggestions? What vehicles are readily available in the junk yards (salvage, if you please) that can be easily converted?
Thank You

 

[brokenot]

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.

A couple of years ago, "Mother Earth News" had a series of short articles about someone that was building a vehicle to enter in a contest of some sort. I believe the *target* was 75 honest mpg for a vehicle that would pass muster as a "real" daily driver.

The guy chose a smallish Toyota sedan of some sort, an older model with rear wheel drive. He lightened it up where possible and dropped in the same type of engine you mentioned....a small Kubota diesel, and coupled that to a manual transmisson. I read the first couple of articles at the local library, while my daughter was attending after-hours events at her school.

The guy got the vehicle up and running, and to the point where it could be considered "usable" as a grocery-getter. He did some preliminary testing and reported that the numbers were "promising", but they were nowhere near his 75 mpg target. If memory serves, he was approaching 40 mpg, but he was also living with the huuuuge performance and driveability trade-offs of running errands in a 1200-1500 lb. vehicle with some 20 hp under the hood.

There are too many obstacles in the way to get the kind of mileage mentioned by the OP. Weight, frontal area, power required for practicality, etc. There have been hundreds, (or maybe thousands?), of articles published with "100 mpg homebuilt vehicle!" in bold print for a headline. None of them come close though. Not when mileage is calculated in a practical, day-to-day use, honest manner.

 

[BMod]

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.

I have the pickup version of the rabbit, great little truck.......

 

[tcartwri]

You can buy a new Honda scooter for around 3K that will do 50mph and get an honest 100mpg. No license or insurance required either. Now if you can stand your ego being bruised a little, could be the way to go. I don't believe you even have to wear a helmet.

 

[jjs488]

this may be a bit out there but what about wood gassification? when fuel was scarce in europe during WWII they ran ~70,000 woodgas cars. how much sawdust could you get with a gallon of gas? you can buy a kit for woodgas vehicle conversion for up to 55 hp. here is one http://www.evingerinc.com/EG50-Gasifier-p/eg50.htm

 

[Doppelgangar]

This is a thread that has a large difference in views.

To get economics from a vehicle the motor must be run in the sweet spot. Under power the vehicle the motor struggles to run relaxed. Over power the vehicle and the motor just uses fuel.

Running a vehicle too slow along the road uses just as much as running it hard.

You want to improve your economics then heat the engine before leaving in the mornings and on return to home. basically you put a winter heater in your vehicle and this means that you are not using fuel to heat the vehicles engine.

Make sure that the engine is running in the sweet spot the longest period of time. This is when the engine is the most economical and you will get the greatest.

One of my employments was to replace motors in Motor Vehicles mainly the small commercial but also did a few full size trucks.

My personal vehicle was a well run Toyota Hilux diesel.

At 400k and a lot of hard work the motor was needing a lot of repair. My option was to take out the 2.2 and replace it with a 3 Ltr turbo diesel.

With also putting in the 5th gear it wasn't too bag with economics. used more fuel than the 2.2 but not much. Probably in the high 20's MPG.

As I did a lot of towing I replaced the diff and also geared it higher. I went from 4.7 to 4.1 and the gas mileage returned to high 30's MPG. this brought the Vehicle motor back into the sweet spot to combine with the legal speed limit.

My suggestion of a engine water heater is because you motor is using 25% more fuel while the engine is running cold. With a warm motor you be running at the most economic when you leave home and your plot.

 

[Travelover]

...............
My suggestion of a engine water heater is because you motor is using 25% more fuel while the engine is running cold. With a warm motor you be running at the most economic when you leave home and your plot.

I've got an Escape hybrid and I've noticed that it takes a surprising amount of fuel to get the engine hot, so avoiding letting the engine get cooled off between trips makes a big difference in fuel economy. I've also noticed a big hit in winter driving, which I mitigate by blocking the radiator. I understand that the Prius has some kind of a thermos bottle arrangement to hold some of the residual engine heat between trips.

 

[Cat_Driver]

VW pick up truck 45-55 mpg.

Volkswagen : Rabbit Volkswagen : Rabbit - eBay (item 200709378021 end time Feb-10-12 11:34:37 PST)

 

[slowzuki]

The motor has a "sweet spot" yes, but it moves around under part load. At full power its at the peak torque value. Depending on the motor, the rpm of the sweet spot or lowest brake specific fuel consumption moves with load.

The car always uses less fuel when moving slower, but the gearing has to allow the vehicle speed and therefore power requirements to operate along the area of low bsfc.

Running slow does not use as much as running hard, unless you're talking about idling a gas motor everywhere in gear.

RE the 25% more fuel when cold, not really true. A rear wheel drive vehicle does use about that much more when cold, but its a combination of the engine windage losses with cold oil and the multiple gearsets. A front wheel drive just has the windage losses and if a standard, one gear box. The atf in autos isn't as sensitive.

This is a thread that has a large difference in views.

To get economics from a vehicle the motor must be run in the sweet spot. Under power the vehicle the motor struggles to run relaxed. Over power the vehicle and the motor just uses fuel.

Running a vehicle too slow along the road uses just as much as running it hard.

You want to improve your economics then heat the engine before leaving in the mornings and on return to home. basically you put a winter heater in your vehicle and this means that you are not using fuel to heat the vehicles engine.

Make sure that the engine is running in the sweet spot the longest period of time. This is when the engine is the most economical and you will get the greatest.

One of my employments was to replace motors in Motor Vehicles mainly the small commercial but also did a few full size trucks.

My personal vehicle was a well run Toyota Hilux diesel.

At 400k and a lot of hard work the motor was needing a lot of repair. My option was to take out the 2.2 and replace it with a 3 Ltr turbo diesel.

With also putting in the 5th gear it wasn't too bag with economics. used more fuel than the 2.2 but not much. Probably in the high 20's MPG.

As I did a lot of towing I replaced the diff and also geared it higher. I went from 4.7 to 4.1 and the gas mileage returned to high 30's MPG. this brought the Vehicle motor back into the sweet spot to combine with the legal speed limit.

My suggestion of a engine water heater is because you motor is using 25% more fuel while the engine is running cold. With a warm motor you be running at the most economic when you leave home and your plot.

 

[slowzuki]

Hybrids are a bit different, you have battery pack heaters you have to power and depending on the vehicle, electric heaters for climate control in the cabin. They really suffer in cold weather too as the battery pack performance for Li-ion falls off terribly below freezing thus requiring the heaters.

I've got an Escape hybrid and I've noticed that it takes a surprising amount of fuel to get the engine hot, so avoiding letting the engine get cooled off between trips makes a big difference in fuel economy. I've also noticed a big hit in winter driving, which I mitigate by blocking the radiator. I understand that the Prius has some kind of a thermos bottle arrangement to hold some of the residual engine heat between trips.

 

[Travelover]

Hybrids are a bit different, you have battery pack heaters you have to power and depending on the vehicle, electric heaters for climate control in the cabin. They really suffer in cold weather too as the battery pack performance for Li-ion falls off terribly below freezing thus requiring the heaters.

I'm not following. There is no heater in the battery pack, it heats itself from internal resistance as you drive. The computer regulates the charge / discharge rate as a function of the battery temperature. There is no electric heater in the passenger compartment. Heating is from the coolant like any conventional car. It does not have Lithium Ion batteries, they are Nimh. Perhaps you are thinking of an all electric car like the Nissan Leaf.

In any case, my point is that it takes energy to bring the engine and transmission up to operating temperature and that energy comes from the gasoline you burn.

 

[forgeblast]

IF you are looking for wood gasifcation plans the polar shift sight has a ton. I stumbled across it when watching a bbc show about wood gasification and how the guys had their truck running on it.
Pole Shift Survival Information

 

[Short Game]

this may be a bit out there but what about wood gassification? when fuel was scarce in europe during WWII they ran ~70,000 woodgas cars.

I looked into this about 35 years ago. Everything I could find out pointed to short engine life, due to too much in the way of corrosive elements in the wood gasses. I was very disappointed to learn this. If I was trying to get around Europe in the big war, and that was going to be my only choice, well, maybe then I would try it.

 

[slowzuki]

Sorry, I wasn't referring to you, just hybrids with li-ion power trains which have problems with cold climate with a range extended ev/hybrid. Ni-mh doesn't have the same problems as li-ion obviously.

I'm just pointing out its not 25%. The engine is also partly heated by waste heat from combustion rather than purely the windage losses. Many engines have an oil coolant heat exchanger to help warm the oil up faster.

I'm not following. There is no heater in the battery pack, it heats itself from internal resistance as you drive. The computer regulates the charge / discharge rate as a function of the battery temperature. There is no electric heater in the passenger compartment. Heating is from the coolant like any conventional car. It does not have Lithium Ion batteries, they are Nimh. Perhaps you are thinking of an all electric car like the Nissan Leaf.

In any case, my point is that it takes energy to bring the engine and transmission up to operating temperature and that energy comes from the gasoline you burn.