when you say alcohol are you talking methanol ? or really cheap vodka ? just wondering where your sourcing your fuel. I like the idea.
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Dream Car
- Thread starter Snakeman1066
- Start date
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For me it's a little more specific. 1963 Corvette Stingray split window coupe.
I recently spent about 10 days tooling around in this one.....
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1956 Ferrari 250 GT Boano. I'm sure I'll never even get close to one.
Boy, does that look like a 1956 Ford Thunderbird. Both are very cool cars.
I'm not really into cars... but dream motorcycles? I did actually own an example of mine for a little bit, before I realized I couldn't justify having that much cash sunk into something whose natural resting state was on its side and which I could not afford to damage.
Honda RC30
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Gear-driven cam V4 hand-assembled perfection. I sold it to a collector in Minnesota.
Honda RC30
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Gear-driven cam V4 hand-assembled perfection. I sold it to a collector in Minnesota.
Ethanol (E85).
There are numerous stations in my area (Northern illinois) that sell it.
It typically costs about 70% that of gasoline, but that is canceled out by it's lower energy density, resulting in fewer miles per gallon.
There are other tradeoffs. Alcohol is far more tolerant of high compression which makes it ideal for turbo or super charging - or just boosting the compression for more power. On the other hand, a normally aspirated engine with a typically mild compression ratio compatible with low octane gasoline is not an ideal candidate for converting to alcohol - unless you enjoy wasting 20-30% of your fuel for no reason.
Also, alcohol is very corrosive and it will eventually eat through a normal fuel system, unless specifically made to resist it.
Ideally, you should be able to alter the fuel and spark maps with software and a laptop to optimize efficiency with alcohol, as opposed to simply using the default maps on the stock ECU that were programed for gasoline. You can really make significant gains here in both torque and economy.
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- Dec 21, 2007
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Jaguar E-type. Pure sex.
The only issue is that I love roadsters, but the coupe is also just so freakin' beautiful.
Outta my price range for sure, but a fellow can dream...
The only issue is that I love roadsters, but the coupe is also just so freakin' beautiful.
Outta my price range for sure, but a fellow can dream...
It has to transport an upright bass, or it's not a car. It has to have been made in Detroit.
The '65 DeVille was a beautiful black slab of a car. Stacked headlights bordered a breathtaking grille -- the widest that I know of on a passenger car. The minimalistic fins were respectful of the past, yet progressive and optimistic.
The more recent comeback of the basic rectangular slab in the iPhone earned its creator endless accolades and imitators.
The '65 DeVille was a beautiful black slab of a car. Stacked headlights bordered a breathtaking grille -- the widest that I know of on a passenger car. The minimalistic fins were respectful of the past, yet progressive and optimistic.
The more recent comeback of the basic rectangular slab in the iPhone earned its creator endless accolades and imitators.
In my view, E85 was a scam to support corn farmers while letting Ford claim to offer an alternative fuel vehicle.
GM had its own alternative fuel vehicle, the Saturn, which burned 85% motor oil.
If I go new school? A Mercedes G wagon, AMG style:
But if it's vintage?
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But if it's vintage?
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Even if true, from a physics/engineering standpoint, ethanol makes an excellent fuel. For this reason, I believe that it's just a matter of time until cheaply and efficiently made E100 will be widely available. It will necessarily be sourced from cellulosic plants like switchgrass and not from food corn and there is every reason to think that it will be far more carbon balanced, clean, renewable and "green" than any fossil fuel.*
Good luck meeting emission standards. Really, we can make cars that run on anything that will burn. Propane, fuel oil, wood chips, coal, hydrogen, leftover kitchen grease, etc... The problem is always to make it practical for the greatest mass of vehicles on the road.
*Hypothetically, once this point is reached (even if several decades away), cost alone will entice drivers to abandon gasoline in favor of cheaper ethanol, which will become ubiquitous. This results in a widespread automatic phase out of fossil fuels and the eventual end of man made global warming.
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I was being sarcastic. My Saturn burned oil, which I understand was a design flaw of the car, leading to its demise at 60k miles.
Sure, but for now, the E85 subsidy has nothing to do with the future benefits of a hypothetical "green" process for making ethanol. Today, the cheapest way to make ethanol is to synthesize it from ethylene. The reason to make it from corn is to capture the subsidy.
I'll be really convinced when a profitable farm is entirely self sufficient, powered by the ethanol that it produces.
^^^ okay, now I get the sarcasm.
You're absolutely right about the subsidies and inefficiency of corn. Because of this, it's actually worse for the environment than fossil fuel.
Yet there are currently successful small size ethanol factories operating using cellulosic plant material and big industry is just now starting to see the potential. I really do believe that it's only a matter of time. Whether I see it happen before I die is something that I'm less optimistic about. I'm still waiting to see the all these amazing nuclear fusion power plants that we've been promised for 50 years or so, which are supposed to solve the world's energy problems once and for all.
You're absolutely right about the subsidies and inefficiency of corn. Because of this, it's actually worse for the environment than fossil fuel.
Yet there are currently successful small size ethanol factories operating using cellulosic plant material and big industry is just now starting to see the potential. I really do believe that it's only a matter of time. Whether I see it happen before I die is something that I'm less optimistic about. I'm still waiting to see the all these amazing nuclear fusion power plants that we've been promised for 50 years or so, which are supposed to solve the world's energy problems once and for all.
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I know the Jaguar E type has already been posted in this thread, but it was so incredibly amazing for its time.
Of course authentic ones are out of the price range of everyday car buyers - even most collectors. That's why I'd love to have a replica. I'd want to keep the engine an inline six (if only for aesthetic reasons) and I think the Ford 300 I6 would be killer. It would have to be EFI with a turbo.
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Of course authentic ones are out of the price range of everyday car buyers - even most collectors. That's why I'd love to have a replica. I'd want to keep the engine an inline six (if only for aesthetic reasons) and I think the Ford 300 I6 would be killer. It would have to be EFI with a turbo.
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