$4 gasoline predicted; where's our mpg forum?

[seattle smitty]

Industry experts, presumably including Trilby Lundberg, are predicting $4-a-gallon regular in the USA this summer.

With all of the hot-rodding magazines and much of GFN showing us how to build 500hp "street" motors that will go into automotive toys that spent 98% of their time under a cover in the garage, isn't NOW the time for a forum here dedicated to increasing the fuel efficiency and real-world utility of our daily drivers, service trucks, ultra-economical commuters, and such????? Yes, there are other sites, but the smart guys are here. Vizard has done builds and tests of effecient "torque-motors," and Robert McDonald appears to have similar interests in the diesel realm. Some of the regular contributors have been talking about fuel efficiency in various places under the GFN umbrella. Can we put it in a specific location, a dedicated forum?

[Dusty]

we all need to get a bike one with pedals

[rookie]

I think it should be called Miles Per Dollar.
Thats as corny as Ethanol and twice as slick as Biodiesel.

[seattle smitty]

Got a big bike with homemade carrier racks for local light parts-chasing. Got a little diesel car ('85 Camry TD). Gonna replace the Z-22 gas engine in my old Datsun pickup with an SD-22 diesel. Got a pair of closed-chamber 429 heads for when I rebuild the 460 in my Ford service truck (if I can ever wear it out). Building a high-compression Ford 300-six to replace the 351W smogger in my old Econoline, and have an iron-case RUG overdrive 4-speed to replace the C-6. I even walk!! I'm trying to do my part, Dusty.

A pal of mine, Jim Gallant, is an expert bicyclist and bicycle mechanic. His hobby over the last few years has been building "power assist" bicycles that have tiny Honda 4-stroke engines to speed commuting in hilly areas like Seattle. They get phenomenal gas mileage under power, yet are still light enough to be easily pedaled, unlike the old mo-peds of years gone by. Take a look at his powered and non-powered bikes at Jim Gallant's Homebuilt HPV Stuff

We could even talk about econo-bikes without pedals, i.e. small displacement motorcycles. Last week a young guy was showing me his 2004 Ninja 250, a cool little bike that will beat most production cars in the quarter, and will get 55 to near-70mpg (I think he said) on daily commutes in good weather.

[Pinhead]

www.mpgresearch.com is a dedicated forum, dedicated to fuel efficiency (which is different than fuel economy, though they're related). However, it's been "taken down" numerous times, and is down right now.

My '79 Honda CB650 SOHC4 motorcycle regularly gets 65mpg. When I got it, it only got 35mpg. My '98 Ford Ranger got 36mpg in town just by watching my ScanGauge.

The problem would be getting the power chasers to go the opposite direction... And when the people that have been dedicated to fuel efficiency try to voice their ideas, they generally get shot down pretty quickly (read the 100-mpg car $10 million cash purse thread)...

[seattle smitty]

I used to go to that site, Pinhead; in fact, I think you led me to it in the first place, from fordsix.com. But the software must be compromised, because that site always is going down, or keeping me from logging on, and I've about given up on it. Although there is a bit of readership overlap between that site and this, I thought an mpg forum here would make distinctive contributions to the topic. But I suppose it doesn't matter, since the discussions in the Engine Technology forum are increasingly running to fuel-efficiency.

If anyone is interested in fuel-efficient small motorboats (as well as low-resistance small sailing and human-powered watercraft), google a designer and author named Thomas Firth Jones, who has made this his specialty. You won't see any gas-guzzling deep-vee hulls here!

[Pinhead]

I agree, though, that having a MPG forum would be extremely helpful; not everything done to increase MPG is done on the internals of the engine.

[Belgian1979vette]

You guys in the US still have it easy, we are paying 1.5 € per liter that's about the equivalent of 8 US$ per gallon.

Estimates are that by 2010 the price per barrel will be around 200$ so you will pay something like 8 $ per gallon by 2010.

I think the world is already to late to react. Peak oil is already a fact as far as i can see it.

[rookie]

Originally Posted by Belgian1979vette

You guys in the US still have it easy, we are paying 1.5 € per liter that's about the equivalent of 8 US$ per gallon.

Estimates are that by 2010 the price per barrel will be around 200$ so you will pay something like 8 $ per gallon by 2010.

I think the world is already to late to react. Peak oil is already a fact as far as i can see it.

Where are you located and what is the average yearly income in US$,
just curious how it compares.

[Pinhead]

Originally Posted by Belgian1979vette

You guys in the US still have it easy, we are paying 1.5 € per liter that's about the equivalent of 8 US$ per gallon.

Estimates are that by 2010 the price per barrel will be around 200$ so you will pay something like 8 $ per gallon by 2010.

I think the world is already to late to react. Peak oil is already a fact as far as i can see it.

Which is exactly why a MPG forum would be helpful. We can't drive the price of oil down, but we can definitely help our pocketbook by using less of it.