question Mods for Economy

[Glynn]

Here is a question for you.

 

What sensible mods can be done to the typical mv to improve economy and what priority should they be in?

 

for example :- fitting electric fan for radiator. Different airfilter etc :cool2:

[Marmite!!]

Unless you are doing loads of miles I would suspect the installation/mod costs would outweigh any benefits:confused:

[FridgeFreezer]

I'd say it's massively dependent on the individual vehicles. A lot of stuff people commonly do for economy on cars will likely make naff all difference on a big MV that's heavy, has massive transmission losses and the aerodynamics of a shed.

 

Free-wheeling hubs are popular on Series Land Rovers yet I've never found anyone who has found they make a measurable difference to MPG.

 

Just giving the thing a damn good service, adjust everything (tappets, fuelling, timing, etc.) will make a significant difference.

 

Electric fans are good but realistically compared to the HP it takes to move 10 tons of steel about the place you're not going to see a great difference at the fuel pump.

 

On wheeled vehicles, it's possible more modern style wheels & tyres would help lower rolling resistance significantly, although I'd be guessing people would want to put the pukka ones back on for shows etc.

 

One thing that makes a difference for petrol engines (but could get me burned at the stake) is to fit fuel injection & electronic ignition (MegaSquirt & EDIS being my favourite as it's an open-source community project aimed at weird and wonderful vehicles), the difference between a carb & points is night & day. With a bit of care it may be possible to do it reasonably stealthily, retaining the original fixtures & fittings and hiding or disguising the new bits.

 

As an example from the world of Land Rover, the same engine in three different guises:

Rover 3.5 V8 in Defender (carbs, points, tuned for poor fuel, low compression): 100bhp & 10-12mpg

In Range Rover, carbs & points, higher compression: 135bhp & 12-15mpg

In Range Rover with old Lucas EFI & very basic electronic ignition: 165bhp & 15-18mpg

 

For diesels, with a bit of care there's the usual options of bolting a turbo or two on (even low pressure), or running propane/LPG as a catalyst (you can run nitrous oxide but propane has a similar effect & is more readily available).

[fv1609]

Electronic ignition. It cost £190 to do it to the Pig & £15 for the Shorland. I'm not certain whether there was an improvement in economy, I did it for reliability.

[Stormin]

Cheap and easy one is to replace the thermostat with a modern high temp one.

Most vintage vehicles run ridiculously low temperatures, too low for proper thermal efficiency. Just make sure everything else is in top nick, engine in tune and radiator not blocked and you should see an improvement in MPG.

[gritineye]

Cheap and easy one is to replace the thermostat with a modern high temp one.

Most vintage vehicles run ridiculously low temperatures, too low for proper thermal efficiency. Just make sure everything else is in top nick, engine in tune and radiator not blocked and you should see an improvement in MPG.

 

And then you could try just taking the fan off, it's free, I've run vehicles for years without a fan, you need a temp gauge though, just to check.

[Stormin]

And then you could try just taking the fan off, it's free, I've run vehicles for years without a fan, you need a temp gauge though, just to check.

 

Thermostat (where fitted) should save you having to look at temp gauge. The fan can cool the water in the Rad all it wants but if the engines not warm enough the stat shouldn't let the cold water around the system.

[gritineye]

Thermostat (where fitted) should save you having to look at temp gauge. The fan can cool the water in the Rad all it wants but if the engines not warm enough the stat shouldn't let the cold water around the system.

 

Correct, but when the higher temp thermostat eventually opens and in the unlikely event the water in the rad gets near boiling (hot day big hill, no fan remember) how would you know the experiment has failed?