Megasquirt thoughts.

[shadow88]

I used a D-Valve so the engine could draw hot air from behind the radiator until the engine went into boost, then it would get the cool air needed to make power.

I've done the "wrap the fuel line around a radiator hose" trick before. It helps some, but not much. If you have a manual tranny car, and have a radiator with the AT cooler, run the fuel line through there. Maximum temp to heat the fuel is coolant temp. Beyond that expect component failures.

Mike

It's got a manual tranny with the manual rad. So far the fuel heater, I feel, has helped increase range by about 80 kms (50 miles) per tank. What component failures have you seen with hotter fuel? I have a friend who's looking to do this with his 1996 Ram truck 5.2L

[mpgmike]

Hot fuel can start to melt seals in the fuel injectors. If you have a return line, excessive vapors can be generated in the tank. The fuel pump itself is cooled by the fuel, so hot fuel can take its toll on the life of the pump. If running a dead-head (single fuel line) system, the pump is not affected. As far as the injectors go, they are designed to withstand hot-soak conditions, so coolant temps are engineered in.

Another tip I'd like to offer is better ignition; no, not MSD. The Pulstar Iridium spark plugs might be a boost for you. If you have a few bucks to spend, I strongly recommend the Aqua Pulser system as the ultimate. To get a better idea of what the Aqua Pulser is capable of doing for you, Do a little searching on Firestorm Plugs by Bob Krupa. Bob ran a '96 T-Bird 4.6 V-8 on the dyno and was able to lean out the AFR to an amazing 30:1 AND PICKED UP AN ADDITIONAL 125 hp ON THE DYNO AT 30:1 afr AT WOT!!! Firestorms are not available, but the Aqua Pulser is.

Mike

[turbovanman²]

Hot fuel can start to melt seals in the fuel injectors. If you have a return line, excessive vapors can be generated in the tank. The fuel pump itself is cooled by the fuel, so hot fuel can take its toll on the life of the pump. If running a dead-head (single fuel line) system, the pump is not affected. As far as the injectors go, they are designed to withstand hot-soak conditions, so coolant temps are engineered in.

Another tip I'd like to offer is better ignition; no, not MSD. The Pulstar Iridium spark plugs might be a boost for you. If you have a few bucks to spend, I strongly recommend the Aqua Pulser system as the ultimate. To get a better idea of what the Aqua Pulser is capable of doing for you, Do a little searching on Firestorm Plugs by Bob Krupa. Bob ran a '96 T-Bird 4.6 V-8 on the dyno and was able to lean out the AFR to an amazing 30:1 AND PICKED UP AN ADDITIONAL 125 hp ON THE DYNO AT 30:1 afr AT WOT!!! Firestorms are not available, but the Aqua Pulser is.

Mike

How would these 2 work on a turbo van? I am trying to up my MPG, its awful.

Bob's plugs are wild, what happened to him and those plugs? If its true, they should be on every car/truck made.

http://www.esmhome.org/library/rober.../firestorm.wmv

[mpgmike]

Don't use the Pulstars with the Aqua Pulser, tried that. If using Pulstars, you won't need an ignition booster. If using the Aqua Pulser, they require solid core wires and non-resistor plugs. NGK has an excellent selection of plugs, and Granatelli wires offer solid core wires that play nice with ECUs. I have Aqua Pulser on the X-Prize Sonata, and may put it on an '03 Accord I'm currently working on. I have Pulstar Iridiums in there now.

Mike

[turbovanman²]

I found the Pulstars, not bad at $13 shipped but can't find the info on the Aqua Pulser system, website not available.

---------- Post added at 11:12 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:02 AM ----------

Found this link to make your own Firestorm plugs, might have to look into that.

http://www.esmhome.org/library/rober...lasmaplugs.pdf

[contraption22]

Seriously? $13 for a spark plug?

[turbovanman²]

Seriously? $13 for a spark plug?

Lifetime warranty, lol.

That's not bad, some OEM plugs are $20 each.

[contraption22]

Lifetime warranty, lol.

That's not bad, some OEM plugs are $20 each.

Not for our applications. I suppose it would be worth it if they deliver what they promise, but I am a skeptic of pretty much all magic spark plugs.

[turbovanman²]

Not for our applications. I suppose it would be worth it if they deliver what they promise, but I am a skeptic of pretty much all magic spark plugs.

Money back guarantee also.

[mpgmike]

Years ago Pulstar made copper core plugs. When they introduced the new Platinum (don't waste your money on the Platinums) and Iridiums (the only way to go!), they replaced your old copper core plugs with Iridiums FOR FREE! In fact, I have a stash of the BE1i plugs (for our 2.2s) simply by trading in all of my old copper core versions. In other words, the company is top-of-the-line, they more than stand behind their products. In my experience, you can buy with confidence. If you don't like them, they will honor their satisfaction guarantee.

As for Aqua Pulser, I tried to log on to their site and it was "temporarily unavailable". Guess I'll have to call Arvind to see what's up.

Mike

---------- Post added at 05:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:12 PM ----------

Gave him a call & got his voice mail. Hope everything's OK.

Mike

[shadow88]

Another update.
About 3 weeks ago the neon suffered a catastrophic transmaission failure due to owner abuse Hey, I like my tire smoke

I scrambled for a new 5 speed and ended up with a 3.94 ratio trans, and the hyway rpms went up about 400 prms at around 65 mph.

So here's the surprising thing.... I thought my mpgs would drop a little with the rpm increase, but as Cordes mentioned and I confirmed a while back, ignition advance will play a larger role in fuel economy than leaner mixtures. This is what seems to have happened..... The rpms increased, and brought the engine into it's "natural" torque range so it produces more vacuum during cruise conditions. The higher vacuum conditions can handle more advance than the higher load, but lower rpm ignition advance. This along with my aggressive ignition advance table actually helped fuel economy very slightly.

So here's the going guess.... Higher rpm (to a point) help fuel economy, but lugging an engine and not being able to benefit from an agressive ignition advance is almost equal in fuel savings.

I saw MPGMike's mention of ignition system upgrade, but I see no reason to change my factory stock champions. Ignition systems are one of those things that I have a hard time spending money of aftermarket systems. Still, the way I see it is that the factory will but more R+D into the ignition system because it alone can increase fuel economy, lower emissions, and increase power. IF there was somethign available that helped in those areas, any and every manufacturer would be all over it and use it in OE applications.

[mpgmike]

As a matter of fact the OEM's ARE starting to use PDI. Look at many of the new COP designs and you will see that they have 4 wires. It only takes 2 wires to fire the coil. What are the other 2 wires for? Ionic feedback. For that to work, a relatively high voltage (80 to 120 volts) is sent to the business end of the spark plug (center electrode). The ionic activity in the combustion chamber from the burning fuel conducts electrical current, which is monitored by the ECU. Early versions were used primarily to monitor engine misfires. Newer versions are more proactive, determining optimal spark timing and AFRs (especially with direct injection).

Aqua Pulser simply makes PDI available for older engines. BTW, the Aqua Pulser site is back up. Arvind didn't even know it was down until I told him.

Mike

[wallace]

On the GM coils the other 2 wires are ttl control for the coil. The dwell is done at the coil not at the ecu.

[mpgmike]

At any rate, here are a couple URLs if you're interested in learning more:

http://www.aces.edu/~parmega/efi/temp/DIY-Ion-Sensing.pdf

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...Y5Y9Ggp0l1_CvQ

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8397695.html

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2004/0084036.html

That ought to get you started.

Mike