Posted by David Sherman on Saturday, January 28, 2006 at 6:32PM :
In Reply to: 300MPG carb for sale posted by Jeff S. on Saturday, January 28, 2006 at 5:17PM :
Somebody should make a museum of all the 1970s gas-saving gimmicks. I all kinds of magic stuff to go in the carburetor base gasket, gizmos to go in the fuel lines (I think they still sell clamp-on magnets), etc. This has to be one of the most elaborate. It looks like it has some kind of motorized spinning thing in it. Assuming it's just 1970s technology, with no electronic controls, no fuel injection, etc. It's hard to believe an engine would run well over a wide range of conditions with such a simple unit. It looks sort of like it's supposed to replace a 4-barrel Holley, which is a pretty complicated unit. Well, no doubt somebody will buy it, unless his reserve is anywhere near his "buy it now" price.
The problem with 300mph carbs is that a gas engine is already 30-35% efficient at the flywheel, and most of that inefficiency is in the thermodynamics, not in the combustion, and the car itself provides much worse efficiency due to all the frictional losses in the drivetrain, tires, windage, etc. But just throwing out all the laws of physics and chemistry for a moment, if the efficiency could be raised from 33% to 100% simply by attaching a magic whatsit to it, a vehicle that now gets 20 mpg would get 60 mpg. That's a nice (and impossible) improvement, but it's still well under 100, let alone 300 mpg.
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