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Posted by jack cain on Wednesday, December 05, 2007 at 14:34:00 :
In Reply to: Re: Increasing the MPG posted by David Sherman on Wednesday, December 05, 2007 at 14:01:12 :
Absolutely, 87 octane today is phenomenally better than what was available when the 230 was designed.
If you look at compression ratios of engines designed in even the last ten years
and employing modern computer controlled ignition and valve timing you won't find many that are more than 10 to 1. The 2007 Mustang is 9.7 to 1 and the 2007 Dodge Charger is 10.3 to 1. The BMW M3 is 11.5 to 1, but that is running premium gasoline in a relatively lightweight car and they use extensive technology to achieve it.
Even if you reengineered an injection system from a late model Chevy TPI system
I still doubt that you could achieve more than about 9 to 1 compression. The limiting factor being the design of the combustion chamber and severely limited possibility for "swirl" and "quench" implementation in order to keep down preignition at higher compression ratios.
One possible approach to reducing friction in the 230 engine would be to use hyperteuectic pistons with a shorter skirt and coated with an anti-friction compound.
Probably not worth the effort though.
You can run propane which has a higher octane rating than regular pump gas at higher compression ratios.
That being said however, propane for internal combustion engine usage (HD5) has only about 74% of the energy content of gasoline.
What the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away.