JBD

DOODLE KNOWS GAS

In response to this post on grades of gas, Crazy Doodle, who has worked for Volkswagen of America at various dealerships for the better part of 3 decades, writes to inform us as follows:

Click where it says "more", below, for the rest of Doodle's disquisition on this subject. He ends up with a call for "best bang for the buck", and I agree - not MPG, but MP$, regardless of fuel.

Also check out the comments (see, over there, on the right margin, where comments to all posts and permalinks to the posts are stacked, most recent at the top) for a report back from The Chief.

So far, what I'm hearing is that there is apparently enough demand out there for higher octane fuel. mostly by people who are looking for power performance (as opposed to mileage performance). But again, wouldn't it be simpler to have just one grade of gas and add octane boost? They could even build it into the pump, like adding flavoring to your soda at the 7-11 - all you do is push a button, and the extra flavor gets squirted into the mixing head as you pull your sody pop.

White Lightning, still haven't heard from you.

Then there's gas Hybrids (the teach and me were pretty much locked in a one-on-one conversation by this time eye to eye, everyone else was doing the ScoobyDoo Hruh?), few to none turboed, so they tend toward regular grade since the consumer is not expecting stellar performance, just cheep transportation after all the rebate goodies are thrown at them, true thrifty but not performance mined.
Then there's TDI(diesel turbo direct injection,high 30's mpg), and then Clean Diesel Technology TDI (mid 40's mpg), both already here, but only the clean accepted in Cali.
A little inside info from that class,VW is working on both a Clean Diesel Technology TDI Hybrid and a Natural Gas Hybrid, early results are showing a potential high 60's/mid 70's mpg rating available ~2011-2012, and ya, thousands of $$ in rebates available, which is one of the reasons Porsche just bought into a portion of VW GMBH to make it the largest company, not just car company, in the world as of yesterday.
Additives (self-cleaners) like Techron (techroline), which are now available in even regular grade Chevron and Texaco fuels do a great job at preventing power-robbing carbon buildup in order to retain power output, but I can't find a rational explanation as to why we don't run a "summer blend" year-round,avoiding the inevitable refinery "difficulties in the changeover".
Pick the one best damn boutique mix of summer blends and run with it 24/7/365 nationwide!, best for the environment, stabilizes prices, no more "changeover difficulties" or "changeover costs" or "shutdowns" to deal with, why does a potentially more polluting winter blend even exist?
"Following the summer driving season, companies switch back to winter blends beginning in September, with the first winter increase in RVP allowance occurring on Sep. 15.".
That's an irrationally set benchmark day, it was well over 90deg across the whole southwest this 2nd to last day of October, so the policy is more likely doing more damage than good in the long run.
If the U.S. as a whole were to mandate mpg testing with regular grade fuel only as they just did with the real-world conditions mpg testing, on a real road rather than a static dyno in optimal conditions, people who truly care would tend to wake up and do their homework, weed out the losers of bad designs, and increase competition among manufacturers to do better.
That's what a U.S. congress should be concentrating on, re-creating a reality based standard of weights and measures without exceptions until proven wrong or inadequate through proven free enterprise innovation:

[JBD note: Here Doodle quotes an exchange from a VW tech forum regarding a "fix" for optimizing the performance of particular engine set-up. As I recall, and 009 is shorthand for a particular spark distributor - "dizzy" in Doodle parlance - that is, a non-EFI, mechanical spark timing mechanism]

"Welcome back buggyman [JBD: Doodle's handle]. I've been meaning to ask about your 009 fix that I've been reading about on the forums here..."  (Signed) Dayo.
Sez Doodle:
"Normally people associate the 009 lag with a 34PICT4 carb, but I was seeing and feeling something similar while running dual 44IDF's, thinking it was some subtle jetting problem, but I kept getting the same power delay off idle, kinda like Wiley Coyote jumping up with legs revving but going nowhere, no matter what I did to the carbs, so I had to take a look at just about the only other variable that might apply, the timing.
So I popped the point plate out of the dizzy to take a look at the advance weights only to find 2 tab sets for 2 springs but only 1 spring, cannibalized another spring out of another dizzy and added it to the second set of tabs on the un-sprung weight, set my total advance to 32deg letting static timing fall where it may.
What I ended up with was a much smoother power band on demand from a much more stable idle since the un-sprung weight wasn't out there flapping in the breeze uncontrolled  .
I don't have any hard documentation to prove how it works since this was a "seat of the pants feel" fix, I just know that it did work for me and maybe worth a try in other situations, takes like 5 minutes-1 donor dizzy spring-and a set of needlenose pliers  .
I'm curious to find out if anyone else has thought about it this way and actually tried it in order to give it a (happy face emoticon) or (sad face emoticon).
The response: "I'll have to give that a try when i get another dizzy to cannibalize. All i have are old vacuum advance distributors.
 
(Ya,the smileys/emoticons work in certain situations in order to get a personal point across, talking to, rather than at, the other guy)

I fully expect the programmable electronic ignition dudes to weigh in sooner or later, but in the meantime, for those who just can't afford the more expensive hi-tech stuff, a low-tech practical alternative fix might just fit their needs in the interim, they might even develop on that one idea.
It just so happens that I had the buggy sniffed and it passed the emissions test with flying colors compared to most on-road cars, efficeincy is what most true dedicated racers strive for, a lack of fuel wasted coupled with more potent results, which is what a government should strive for, more bang for the buck.

Posted by: JBD at 01:24 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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