I was going to post this as an example of a silly engine swap in the manner of that LS3 Solstice Coupe that I posted a little while back, but this doesn't count as an engine swap so much as an engine addition. Although adding an engine to a vehicle that already has one (and leaving the old one inside) generally qualifies the creator of the Frankensteinmobile for Official Awesomeness, there is another reason for posting this video.
I remember reading in the accompanying article that the top speed of 140 MPH that was given in this video could very easily be made higher. How, you ask? By simply shifting the road transmission into neutral, to reduce the inertia of turning the engine via the wheels.
When shifting into neutral increases your top speed, that qualifies as awesome.
In this same vein, it's been noted that an oddity of the C5 Corvette Z06 is that it reaches top speed in 5th gear instead of 6th. This is because the 6th gear has a 0:56:1 ratio, and as such is useless for just about anything except cruising. The reason the Z06 can use this excessively high gear is due to its massive low-RPM torque, so it can loaf along the highway at essentially idle RPM. Some Z06 owners have managed to get almost 30 highway MPG with this gear!
Gearing is really quite important. Without various different gears, all cars would be running direct drive, and most engines would have a lot of trouble getting moving with a 1:1 gear. Manufacturers typically put high gear ratios in their transmissions for fuel economy benefits, but this adversely affects performance. A shorter set of gears (i.e. Honda Fit manual) will increase acceleration at the expense of fuel economy. A Fit with a manual transmission I rode in was turning about 2500 RPM at 60 MPH, which likely counterbalanced the FE benefits of the driver's short-shifting and 2nd-gear starts.
The new 2011 Dodge Durango and Jeep Grand Cherokee have the opposite problem. Their five-speed automatic transmissions are geared so high that the Durango accelerates slowest in its class, with 8.5 seconds to 60 and a 16.4 second 1/4 mile. (source: Motor Trend)
To conclude with one final example, the 2012 Mustang V6 has several optional rear gear ratios. The automatic was previously stuck with the 2.73 rear axle, which transformed the revvy V6 into a slug. For 2012, a 3.31 rear axle is optional on both manual and automatic transmissions, but without selecting it you're going to have to live with the 2.73. The Performance Package is manual only, and includes the 3.31 as standard equipment.
In short, we've seen how the gearing of a transmission means more than the number of gears. We've also found that sometimes it's best to research a but more deeply than you'd like, simply to make sure you're getting the exact same car you loved so much on the test drive.
Did not know that jet installation on a pick-up was doable. Great sound as it revs up... Incidentally, there is an urban legend that some guy installed a jet engine on an Impala. Unfortunately, instead of transiting horizontally, it shot up vertically into the atmosphere. Neither the person nor the debris have ever been found... so the story goes.
ReplyDeleteLooking on YouTube, it seems that other people have tried this same sort of idea before, only 1) they used modern jet engines and 2) they were always drag trucks, never street legal. This is the first one I've seen that could be legally driven on the road. The owner's local police department might disagree, and the local EPA certainly doesn't like him either, but that's probably not a bad thing.
ReplyDeleteHaha, I've heard a version of that story before where the Impala was a 1959 version, which could explain why it went up instead of sideways. Just looking at the truck in the video, it seems to have a set of aftermarket wheels and nothing else done to it, besides the jet and the nifty instrumentation in the cabin. That lack of modification might explain why the truck stayed on the ground instead of going into orbit. Hehe.