Engine and Transmission Tech

A few years ago I had a Nissan Frontier V6. It got 19 mpg going downhill with a tailwind. It's was 4x4 supercharged. I went to Europe at that time and saw the same trucks as mine, except they were called Navarra over there. They were turbo diesel v6 with like 200 hp and got 30+ mpg. I wish they had those here.

You may yet get your wish. About a decade ago we went to England and I was amazed that the cost of gas was about the same as what we paid here for a gallon, except that they were selling it by the LITER for that price. And the people were rather shabbily dressed. That is very understandable when so much of your income goes to fuel costs, and it can't help but make the public very concerned about economy, regardless of the technology that it takes to get it. You don't have to understand it to benefit from it.

Our leaders have been seeking parity with Europe for many decades now. Their agendas have nothing to do with the living standards of the general populace... well, maybe it does, if they can divert more of it into their own pockets. They've made great strides in that direction in many areas and the fuel costs are gradually coming into line. So as a side benefit we may yet get the more efficient technologies. Better for the planet, but as for the general public as individuals, well maybe not so much. Matthew made an interesting observation: According to his studies, ALL revolutions come about at the point where the common public is no longer able to put bread on the table. Regardless of political upheavals, human rights, or any other motivation, the public is content to sit back and watch up until they as a whole begin to go hungry, and at the outbreak of every revolution has been catastrophic crop failure, natural disaster, or some other cause of famine. I'd never thought of it myself but it does make sense. If the government can't or won't see to it that we are fed, or even causes the problem itself, then the government has to go.

Which leads to a kind of weird inversion of technology. Could it be that the countries most vulnerable to economic melt down are the ones most likely to embrace cutting edge technology in order to ease the pressure towards revolution? Sort of a last ditch effort to stave off the wolves at the door? I suspect in most cases it would be too little too late just due to the nature of bureaucracies, but wasn't this the driving force in Germany back in the 30's?

So in that sense as a common populace maybe we should be grateful that we still have gas guzzling 12mpg vehicles on the road, and wary because of the 30+mpg vehicles now selling. The sooner we get to 50mpg cars that we can't afford to drive across the country, the closer we are to crisis.

Of course individually, the sooner we can get to that 50mpg LBC with acceptable power and driveability the better. Perhaps a Euro spec V6 diesel would do it?

Jim

Let's get some perspetive here. How many of us are using our beloved LBC's for every day use or leisure/performance driving ? One argument from hot rod and older car users, for exemtion of manditory emissions testing, is we are very small in numbers and miles driven. SOFM, I'm not overly concerned that "Hemi Healey" might get 13 mpg instead of 15 mpg. Rocket Ships are not usually rated by their fuel economy, but they must attain enough "G's", or there's no point. Nobody buys a"Veyron" based on mpg. HP cost MPG., how much do you want ? Do I feel guilty about this ? Maybe after the"Oh Blessed Mother of Accelleration" wears off- but I doubt it. In the auto big picture, I suspect we're a gnat on the bumper of a Peterbuilt. Cheers, roverman.

When mine runs, I use it as my daily driver and runabout for everything except nasty weather, and when I say nasty I mean salt on the roads. Then I drive the truck. So, yes, mileage is important to me. How important? Enough to try by fairly conventional means to get into the 20-25 mpg range and hope for more. Not enough to install a V6 or stop in the middle of the upgrade and select a more efficient engine. But if I was starting a new swap I certainly think that would be worth looking at. Especially if I could get 30+ with excellent performance and good driveability. I do not think I would be happy with stock performance even at 50 mpg, but at 150+ horsepower I could definitely see going there.

Jim

Just for some info, I rented an Alfa 159 1.9 jtdm diesel in Italy a couple of years back.
We filled it with 4 adults and all of our luggage and then hit the autostrada.
This car, fully loaded, ran 130-140 mph (220kmh) all day long (yah I know it's over the speed limit but no one checks). After 3 weeks and 2500 miles we used 4 tanks of fuel.
Why can't we do that here? I have 2 Alfa 156's that I service here in Canada and they impress me every time that I drive them.

Those are diesels, right Fred? Could we get some specs on the engine and drivetrain?

Jim

Check out:

[www.alfaromeo.com]

200hp turbo petrol
134hp turbo diesel

M.

The 170 hp turbo-diesel looks interesting...

Jim

How about a "Tata" air motor with 1-2 aditional cylinders running on CNG ? This would give more than 165 mi. driving range, "little footprint" and like this forum, won't run out of air, there, I'm exhausted. Cheers, roverman.

All of my experience is with the 170hp 1.9 diesel and 6 speed trans.
With nearly 300 ftlbs. of torque these things pull like freight trains.
I hear that the 2.0 doesn't rev as nicely, but I'll let you know soon. I have rented a Giulietta for the next trip.

Cheers
Fred

So I think while you're over there you should ship back an engine and tranny out of one of these. I'm sure we can figure out something to do with it...

Did you mention a mpg figure?

Jim

A little outdated, but some decent info on camless engins.

[autospeed.com]

I like this exercise, but I suspect is better suited for "slide valve" applications. They could be much lighter than poppets and no crashing on the seats. Slide valves should work well on a "headless/opposed piston design with laser ignition". Onward, roverman.

All diesel engines are direct injected and have been for the last 25 years. All of the cars coming out of Korea are direct injected and the mazda Skyactive 3 is direct injected/turbocharged with 14 to 1 compression on 87 octane fuel. It is the direct injection that allows them to use regular fuel without devastating detonation.

There may be a VW engine in our future. If all goes according to plan we will be trailering home a wrecked '04 vw station wagon donor this friday. Now the '04 is a common rail engine so it uses electrical injectors. These appear to be 3 stage peak-and-hold types so even a MegaSquirt-3 controller falls a little short at this point. The vw harness will be needed. Meaning the oem immobilizer will be in play.

This seems to be an increasingly common thread when considering the newer engines. Was a time when a battery cable and an ignition wire were about all you needed. The older diesels are still attractive for a similar reason. These newer ones are a whole different game.

Jim

Jim B., You are always doing things the hard way! If anyone can do it you can! Check out this Common Rail wiring harness:

PerhapsI should show that to Matthew before Friday!
On the plus side, if we pull this off by the end he will have picked up knowledge that it took me decades to acquire.
And no doubt will learn something about patience. If I can pass those things along then in my book it is a win. Even if it never gets finished for some reason. But farbetter if it does.

Jim