For Goodwin's first Hummer project, he replaced the gas engine with a specially tuned diesel that could get 25 miles per gallon and run on regular diesel, biodiesel or even discarded cooking oil from a fast-food restaurant. ... Goodwin also is working on converting a 1959 Lincoln Continental owned by rock star Neil Young into a biodiesel hybrid that he hopes will get 100 miles per gallon. Goodwin's latest Hummer project involves a hybrid powertrain, with a turbine engine to charge the batteries that power an electric motor. Goodwin wants the engine to run any type of fuel, be it biodiesel, gas, hydrogen, ethanol, whatever. His genius here is realizing while others are concentrating on one alternative fuel - biodiesel, hydrogen, ethanol - that the future is likely to be a mixture of many different fuel sources. http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/200711...100/0/FRONTPAGE
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(zenMachine @ Nov 28 2007, 08:06 AM) [snapback]545219[/snapback]</div> Seems to me there was a thread about this crackpot before. Is it newsworthy when some guy says he "hopes" his gadget will get 100 mpg? Heck, when I was a little kid I "hoped" I'd invent something useful with my chemistry set. I "hoped" I'd find a million dollars. With the best technology available today to transnational car companies, the Prius gets around 50 mpg and some small, lightweight diesels come close to that, and we're supposed to believe that some guy in his backyard can convert a 1959 Lincoln Continental to get 100 mpg??? Gimme a break!
we're just starting on converting an older diesel to waste vegetable oil. we've been doing a lot of reading, and in average american climate there's no way that a diesel will run on wvo alone. you still need regular diesel or the wvo will stop up the fuel lines when cold. wvo has less energy than diesel fuel too so 25 mpg is not an across-the-board number.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Nov 29 2007, 10:16 AM) [snapback]545676[/snapback]</div> I don't know how much Mr Young is paying this guy for converting his Lincoln to hybrid, but I'd expect it to be a fairly tidy sum. Maybe not a million dollar, but probably more than enough to be worth his while. You shouldn't compare these individual efforts with the big automakers, however. Totally different paradigms.
I hate it when somebody is yanking my leg (I used to say bullshit). He converted a Hummer that "could get 25 mpg". Put an 800 hp engine in an Impala that "would get 25 mpg"? If he did these things why doesn't he just measure the mileage and say "it gets..." Oh wait, that's right, he's some sort of uneducated savant. Probably can't do division.
