Improving Engine Efficiency & Performance

[SappySE107]

Yes, it takes all kinds. Now that you are here, i suggest learning a bit before sharing your uneducated comments.

[Bones]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=f5xXBb_mrYc

If you make it all 36 minutes, congrats Interesting but could have been 1 minute and more details on how to do it.

Hilarious video. I love how he says engines with 4 valves are less efficient and yet his engine has 4 crankchafts!! And it's only one cylinder! haha. Oh well, it takes all kinds...

The part about his dads '41 Cadillac a the dog was great too... and the part about liquid nitrogen cooling the exhaust...too funny

Nice to see our tax dollars going twords something useful...

[CobraCDR]

Finally thank you Brian for some meaningful input to this otherwise worthless thread of rambling. Too bad I missed you I was at Larry's helping him move over the weekend. Guess you are just going to have to join us out at Island Dragway soon! Take care.

Ken

[Rhedalert]

I've been researching and experimenting for a while to bump up fuel economy, and the one thing that helped big time was advancing the ignition timing on the highway. This engine would not get above 23 mpg when commuting to work, which is about 80% highway (going 70+mph). Light load, cruise speeds had about 40 degrees advance stock, I'd calculate between 21-23mpg. I bumped this up to 46-48 degrees and now the car has consistently averaged 24-26 mpg. Granted there's many variables but I have NEVER been able to hit 25+mpg territory before.

My cam has a LOT of valve overlap, I calculated 43 degrees. This may allow me to run higher timing #'s especially if I'm getting a natural EGR which I think I have. However this extreme duration may be detrimental to my fuel economy to begin with.

Getting back to what was mentioned earlier how it's ideal to have your peak torque at around cruising speed, I recently read an article about Oldsmobile in the late 1960's producing a Cutlass Supreme "Turnpike Cruiser". The engine was a standard 400ci Olds engine only with a special camshaft with smaller-duration and advanced timing. Coupled with something like a 2.55:1 rear they were able to increase fuel economy from the mid-teens to the mid 20's. Link to the article Here

[Canyonero]

Ha ha I hear you man. I just went 4 wheeling yesterday and on the highway doing 100Km/h (60mph) I was at 3000RPM but the throttle angle wasn't very high. However I have got to get that 2.8L out of there. I couldn't pull any kind of hill in 5th. No torque!

I put new O2 sensors in right before the trip. That Trooper pulled all the hills in 5th at 55MPH, I was very pleased. I'm just running 31x10.5s at 40PSI (bumpy ). Mileage is looking improved. Same or better than I was getting with my 2.8L. I'm going to finish up the tank with my usual mixed semi-rural driving an see what happens.

[SappySE107]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=f5xXBb_mrYc

If you make it all 36 minutes, congrats Interesting but could have been 1 minute and more details on how to do it.

[IsaacHayes]

Yes if your cat is rattling it's probably broken up and clogged.

[geoffinbc]

Looking for better efficiency? Don't use iron heads. And don't drive a truck with the aerodynamics of a shoe box. I'm wondering what kind of mileage I'll get this weekend, mostly highway over rolling hills at 55-65 MPH, with three additional passengers. But also about 40 miles on rough access roads.

I've been looking at getting a Malibu, and would be content with getting near 30 MPG with a 170 HP engine. I've heard up to 38 MPG in some of the smaller cars (http://60degreev6.com/forum/showthread.php?t=40101). For a V6, that sounds pretty darned good.

Ha ha I hear you man. I just went 4 wheeling yesterday and on the highway doing 100Km/h (60mph) I was at 3000RPM but the throttle angle wasn't very high. However I have got to get that 2.8L out of there. I couldn't pull any kind of hill in 5th. No torque! So the 3.2L is looking sweeter and sweeter every time I drive. With a high torque engine and some 35's I should be able to get the RPM down to a respectable level. Yea I know the weight of 35's don't help mileage but it should be a descent balance with reduced RPM. My Buddy was with me in his Jeep and he burnt $10 more in gas than I did.

[Alxsmt]

maby get your injectors ballanced? i gone some new ones AND sent them in to get ballanced/cleaned and before they were so uneaven compared to how they are now, im guessing that will improve a lot of things. not gonna install them till my engine is done though..

[sprucegagt]

Jerry was able to get that MPG through a mix of the efficiency of the M90, high cruise timing, dead on MPG tune and being light footed.

[Sidewinder]

Would a piece loose in a cat cause a reduction in gas mileage? I ask because my cat rattles like crazy at idle, and I haven't been getting the greatest gas mileage recently.

[onefastV6]

I know over on the DHP boards JerryH was getting close to 40MPG out of a 3800....

I was comparing some of the part numbers of the Chinese built 3400 that is in the equinox & Torrent to the 3500 and the 96+ 3400. What I found was interesting.

Apparently the rocker arms have a different part number and are about $7.00 more than the 3400/3500 rockers. With that being said I am now curious as to if they are the cast rocker arms that GM is putting in every other engine. The Pushrods are the same, and the cam is also different along with the exhaust manifolds.

[IanSzgatti]

Swap? Putting a 3400 in it already?

I thought you promised us some before/after pics of the disgusting interior. :P

what i do have are some pics of the interior now... and no, not a 3400 swap, just a top-end swap... sooo, yeah.

[IsaacHayes]

Low RPM's help a lot. (about the only thing I like about my 2.97 FDR) As does accurate fueling. Make sure the O2 is reading right etc. A lean burn tune can help too for cruising. And yeah put back on all the performance parts LOL. A hot cam I'm sure hurts MPG though but I don't recall you having one.

[Canyonero]

Swap? Putting a 3400 in it already?

I thought you promised us some before/after pics of the disgusting interior. :P