fuel saving idea

[CMF_Mike R]

thinking or re routing the intake pipe to the filter box so that the pipe sucks warm air from the back of the radiator instead of cold air from behind the headlamp .
Idea being that the warm air will force the engine to less fuel ( will it ?) .

Anybody else tried this or thinks its worth trying ?

thanks

Mike

 

[CMF_frank2]

WAI is popular with the hypermilers eh mike, but i doubt if you will save a lot personally
http://ecomodder.com/forum/

 

[CMF_Mike R]

I dont mind the loss of performance ? as I dont drive in rush hour traffic and my run to work covers 13 miles of motorway and A roads with very little stopping and starting . So i know if I make an improvement......

 

[CMF_sikK11]

Not worth it with the fuel economy of a micra to begin with. I personally don't think you will notice a difference but get some cheap flexible pipe and do it. I could be wrong and for the sale of 15 bucks you will know for sure

 

[CMF_mipcar]

Cooler/more dense air has always been considered the most efficient. Therfore hot/warm air less efficient. Less efficient> less economy to my way of thinking.
I don't know if the engine management will meter down the fuel that much to see a difference. There would be other factors as well like throttle position and engine revs.

Personally I'd just think that finding efficiencies in driving style would be as good as anything else.

 

[CMF_frank2]

the theory behind WAI is that you throttle is slightly wider and as a result your pumping losses are lower eh

 

[CMF_sikK11]

Yep I think engine oil choice, tyre pressure and driving style sill see better results

 

[CMF_frank2]

i aint putting thin oil in my engine, and bugger the granny driving
but yeh, engine oil in the g/box (like an austin rover)
max tyrewall pressures
1/2 speed alternator
11.5:1 C/R
retarded, long duration inlet cam (like a prius)
4 kg flywheel
lpg
all FTW

 

[CMF_maat]

orrrr you could just ride a bike, If your unhappy with a micras fuel consumption there's something wrong

 

[CMF_1300cc]

have someone read this article from autospeed....http://www.autospeed.com/A_111510/hDg34uLtp_1/cms/article.html

 

[CMF_frank2]

1300cc WROTE:

"have someone read this article from autospeed....<a href="http://www.autospeed.com/A_111510/hDg34uLtp_1/cms/article.html" title="http://www.autospeed.com/A_111510/hDg34uLtp_1/cms/article.html" target="_blank">http://www.autospeed.com/A_111510/hDg34uLtp_1/cms/article.html</a>

nah, i dont buy that personally (he,s trying to sell a device eh )
volumetric efficiency is higher with wider throttle openings (for example diesels have no throttle eh, ie, less pumping losses)
and your car will give the best milage at about 2k rpm in top gear at low throttle (which contradicts most of what he said)

 

[CMF_Mike R]

interesting ....it monitors the MAF and TPS and warns you that your not in the best region of the engines fuel comsumtion .... by the way its a

http://www.microchip.com/wwwproducts/Devices.aspx?dDocName=en010114

thing is , its difficult to match road conditions to what an engine wants . If you could run an engine at one speed all the time , it could be tuned to max eff , min noise , min vibration etc ....

I am going to try the WAI idea anyway ...

one big area that seems to be worth trying is a smooth underside to the car ?????? but that beam axle at the back !!!!

as for cycling ..after running a volvo , the micas MPG is magical !!!!! but cycling is not !!

 

[CMF_mipcar]

frank2 WROTE:
volumetric efficiency is higher with wider throttle openings (for example diesels have no throttle eh, ie, less pumping losses).

I'm not sure that is entirely correct Frank.If you have a wider throttle opening but low vacuum due to low revs you reduce your gas flow speed (at least in a carby engine). Less gas velocity means less efficiency.

Same with older diesels as was on my boat,If I opened the power lever, I wont call it a throttle (although technically you are still throttling the engine up or down) but it was at high load and low prop speed as in powering up with a fouled hull or over-pitched propeller then the engine 'over fuels' and goes smokey as it's feeding in more fuel then it is drawing in air so your mixture goes out.

 

[CMF_frank2]

mipcar WROTE:

I'm not sure that is entirely correct Frank.If you have a wider throttle opening but low vacuum due to low revs you reduce your gas flow speed (at least in a carby engine). Less gas velocity means less efficiency.

hmm, what i mean is that diesels are always at wide open throttle eh (they have no butterfly) so they have lower pumping losses.
whereas when we are cuising at 2k our throttle is barely open and the high vacuum in the inlet mani means the cylinder is only partly filled with air (ie, a very low/ineficient dynamic compression ratio, far short of the intended 9.5:1)

 

[CMF_Bishop]

Micra is already bloody good for era, helped by seriously low weight (anything more modern weighs twice as much now, and a well set up fuel system that does things like fuel cut on the overrun.

The fuel cut impresses me, cause I live up a mt road, one of the first things I noticed was mine uses near nothing fuel heading down the mt, though it's balanced off by a heavy foot coming home up it. (LOL)

Seriously though the L/100km mine gets has raised some brows from friends.

Mind you, some things help, 155 tyres have very little rolling resistance, so keep a set of those around if you want to save $, also stay away from ethanol fuels, and learn to drive it right, that alone can save heaps of fuel.

 

[CMF_Mike R]

should help that I have just found out my tyre pressure gauge was reading 5 psi high and have now corrected for it .

and chucked out half of my toolkit from the boot which has saved a lot of weight.

just got 44mpg on the last tankfull

 

[CMF_Bishop]

The accuracy of a pressure gauge is not 'that' important, I tell people that all the time, you should set by feel and tyre wear patterns, purely setting via numbers is vague at best.

 

[CMF_Mike R]

interestingly I just did 200 miles at 70mph and got 40mpg ( London to Liverpool) ..is this good for a micra ? ... I used to do the same run in a volvo240 and got 30mpg !!

 

[CMF_Greo]

I average 41MPG at the moment and thats city driving.
Check spark plugs, use a throttle body cleaner spray and try an injector clean.

This should clean out any sludge that might be limiting the fuel system.

 

[CMF_Bishop]

You should be getting a fair bit better than that, the last highway trip I took in mine was getting me something like 50mpg, and mine needed work at the time.