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Posted by jack cain on Wednesday, December 05, 2007 at 12:39:12 :
In Reply to: Efficiency posted by N1VSM on Wednesday, December 05, 2007 at 11:04:02 :
Primarily the only way to increase the MPG in any ICE is to increase compression ratio and to lower friction losses.
Accomplishing an increase in compression ratio to its theoretical maximum, in a lean burn mode, would require some sort of GDi (Gasoline Direct injection) with all the accompanying computer control equipment.
Other less drastic measures would be to increase the compression ratio to within reason given that in all likelyhood you will be running 87 octane gas, which would probably put the upper end around 9 or 10 to 1 with computer controlled timing.
Along with the increase in compression you would need to improve the dynamic compression ratio through redesign of the induction system to improve VE (volumetric efficiency) across a broader RPM range.
Redesign of the induction system would require a CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) progam like Flow 3-D or equivalent and a good engineering workstation.
Accordingly the valve train would need to be reengineered to take advantage of the redesigned induction system. Ideally the cam should be of a roller type with silicon sintered lobes for durability.
In reality the only practical way to repower a Power Wagon is to put a new modern engine into it that already has the design features you desire. In all likely scenarios, given that gas is never going to be cheap again, this would mean a diesel repower with a Cummins 4BTA or equivalent.
Now, let's talk about what it would take to convert the Power Wagon to run on coal. Hey, don't laugh. There were coal powered trucks still running (and I don't mean conversion to steam) in England in the 1950's, I thing that Bedford made them. The trucks actually had an oven that cooked the coal to producted the gas that ran the engine.
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