Posts Tagged fuel economy
Fuel economy for diesel cars by supercharging
Fuel economy for diesel cars by supercharging
Tags: Cars, Diesel, diesel car, diesel cars, economy, Fuel, fuel economy, superchargingRelated posts
Diesel Tuning – Why retune your diesel car?
The Diesel engine has come a long way in the last 30 or so years. Once diesel tuning was not even a factor, because the engine was considered only useful for agricultural or industrial low performance work.Fast forward to the early part of the 21st century, and diesel engine cars (especially the modern brand of CDTi and turbocharged vehicles) are giving their petrol brothers a real run for their money in all areas of performance and economy, while still retaining the traditional diesel values of long engine life and improved economy.The engines are quiet, efficient and reliable, with in some cases spectacular performance. No surprise then that sports diesels and as a consequence Diesel Tuning have become popular parts of today’s sports auto market. So with the diesel engine taking so many leaps forward why would you want to tune one at all?Well of course they may be good, but you would never say the modern diesel was perfect, and for some of us any gain is a good one. The performance of your diesel engine is often a factor, and where additional power and acceleration are available, the sporting driver may not want to leave that potential un-tapped. On a more ethical note there is also the green factor. The diesel engine is considered by many to be inherently greener than the petrol, but further gains in fuel economy may also be made where the efficiency of the fuel burn can be increased for greater diesel performance.So how to achieve these gains for your diesel car?The options for tuning any engine are many of course â you can improve fuel flow by re-profiling the cylinder head, replacing the valves with larger ones, re-profiling cams, changing exhaust systems, and many other modifications that require expensive work on the engine. Apart from needing often costly and expert machining, these tuning alterations can often have the effect of reducing reliability or the life of the engine.You can of course improve the car in other ways, improving suspension and brakes, saving weight, better aerodynamics, and though these will all help it is true, the one thing they won’t give you is more power!The real key to diesel tuning – gaining power and economy, is with the fuel injection system in the diesel car. The reason for this is that the injection system controls the amount of fuel at all stages in the engine’s cycle, at all engine speeds. Where the amount of fuel can be perfectly delivered as needed by the engine, the fuel will burn at optimum efficiency. The injectors will not be delivering too much fuel to be ejected unburned from the engine through the exhaust. Neither will they be adding too little, leaving an excess of air with insufficient fuel to burn at maximum power. The manufacturers rarely optimise a diesel engine for perfect efficiency and performance. We can’t really speculate as to the reasons why, however it is fair to say that by re-programming the fuel injection system of your car you can get significant gains to both performance and economy, without increasing the strain on the engine, or reducing its reliability or life span. Simple engine re-mapping can achieve both your diesel tuning objectives: increasing the performance of your engine, and saving fuel at the same time. How better to appeal to both groups of motorists â the ones that want to save fuel and money, or the ones that just want their cars to be fast?
Tags: Diesel, diesel car, diesel engine, diesel engine cars, diesel performance, diesel tuning, Engine, Engines, exhaust, exhaust systems, fuel economy, fuel injection, fuel injection system, motor, parts, retune, save fuel, TuningRelated posts
The Diesel Car Myths
A couple of years back, Richard A. Wright, in his work “A Brief History The Auto Industry”, said, “The first oil crisis in 1973 shook us. The second in 1978 scared us, scared us so bad that car buyers were willing to ignore the diesel’s noise, fumes, smell and iffy cold-weather starting to get the benefit of its good fuel economy. (Most of these problems with the diesel have since been solved.)
“Sales of passenger cars powered by diesels grew rapidly, peaking in 1981 at 520,788. Some 60 percent of those diesel cars were built by General Motors. That was 10 percent of GM sales that year. For other makers, diesels were a bigger factor. They accounted for almost 85 percent of Peugeot sales in the United States, 78 percent of Mercedes-Benz sales, 58 percent of Isuzu sales and almost half of Volkswagen sales. Diesel passenger cars were also sold by Audi, Volvo and Datsun in 1981.
“Then there were problems with GM’s diesels. Blocks cracked and crankshafts wore prematurely. Critics complained that it was just a converted gasoline engine and clubs of disgruntled owners sprang up and lawsuits were filed. Tougher emission standards caused problems for all diesel makers. Hammering the final nail in the diesel’s coffin, the price of gasoline began to decline. So did diesel sales. GM, which had been so bullish on diesels, ended production in 1985. Gasoline prices fell to the lowest levels ever, in terms of real dollars. The government’s cheap gasoline policies have kept the price low, except for occasional spikes to remind us how vulnerable we are.”
And perhaps due to this, many people have instead considered purchasing vehicles that were capable of running on the least expensive fuels, among which is diesel. However, statistics have really shown that despite diesel vehicles being one of the most cost efficient ones in the market, many have started choosing those units that were powered by really expensive fuels. This can be quite a sad situation given that people could have used their funds on other things like purchasing some Ford Courier parts to replace the worn out parts or rather purchasing some items for the household.
Aside from these, there are also some myths going on that diesel vehicles are quite few in the market. But if you would go ahead and do some research yourself, you would discover that diesel vehicles are aplenty. In fact, for the years 1960 up until 2002, there is quite a huge range of those units that run on diesel fuel.
As per what kind of future would these diesel vehicles have, that would still be the question. The sales have gone slow for the last decade or so. However, current trends do say that the graph is spiking once again. Who knows? The glory days of diesel vehicles might still come back.
Tags: Diesel, diesel car, diesel cars, diesel fuel, diesel vehicles, emission standards, Engine, fuel economy, gasoline engine, mercedes, motor, Myths, parts“Sales of passenger cars powered by diesels grew rapidly, peaking in 1981 at 520,788. Some 60 percent of those diesel cars were built by General Motors. That was 10 percent of GM sales that year. For other makers, diesels were a bigger factor. They accounted for almost 85 percent of Peugeot sales in the United States, 78 percent of Mercedes-Benz sales, 58 percent of Isuzu sales and almost half of Volkswagen sales. Diesel passenger cars were also sold by Audi, Volvo and Datsun in 1981.
“Then there were problems with GM’s diesels. Blocks cracked and crankshafts wore prematurely. Critics complained that it was just a converted gasoline engine and clubs of disgruntled owners sprang up and lawsuits were filed. Tougher emission standards caused problems for all diesel makers. Hammering the final nail in the diesel’s coffin, the price of gasoline began to decline. So did diesel sales. GM, which had been so bullish on diesels, ended production in 1985. Gasoline prices fell to the lowest levels ever, in terms of real dollars. The government’s cheap gasoline policies have kept the price low, except for occasional spikes to remind us how vulnerable we are.”
And perhaps due to this, many people have instead considered purchasing vehicles that were capable of running on the least expensive fuels, among which is diesel. However, statistics have really shown that despite diesel vehicles being one of the most cost efficient ones in the market, many have started choosing those units that were powered by really expensive fuels. This can be quite a sad situation given that people could have used their funds on other things like purchasing some Ford Courier parts to replace the worn out parts or rather purchasing some items for the household.
Aside from these, there are also some myths going on that diesel vehicles are quite few in the market. But if you would go ahead and do some research yourself, you would discover that diesel vehicles are aplenty. In fact, for the years 1960 up until 2002, there is quite a huge range of those units that run on diesel fuel.
As per what kind of future would these diesel vehicles have, that would still be the question. The sales have gone slow for the last decade or so. However, current trends do say that the graph is spiking once again. Who knows? The glory days of diesel vehicles might still come back.
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