I'm sure it would work at idle, but can anyone tell me how he got it to 55MPH just by letting the intake slurp vapors?
To my knowledge, to get more speed, you need more fuel.
If you take out the fuel pump and don't add a way to push more fuel- it'll stay at idle...no?
It's interesting that when he covered the hoses, the engine quit.
ReplyDeleteFor your fuel question, yes, more fuel is needed for higher speeds.
Here's my two thoughts on this:
1-the engine has a mechanical fuel pump, and covering the "air hoses" on the gas can removed one aspect of the ignition process.
2-IF this is legitimate, the only possible way-that I can think of-this would work is that the air hoses provide enough air to agitate the fuel, therefore moving some liquid fuel with the vapor when the mixture is agitated by the air flow through the hoses into the gas can, and enough "wet vapor" is pushed into the inlet of the throttle body. That might provide enough energy to sustain combustion. Otherwise, based on the stoichiometric ratio, I have to throw the BS flag for this.
http://www.brighthubengineering.com/machine-design/15235-the-stoichiometric-air-fuel-ratio/
Before anyone calls BS It might be worth a try. Simple enough to replicate in your backyard
ReplyDeleteWhat he has made is a very crude carburetor. Nothing more. A carburetor is a device designed to vaporize gasoline into air at the rate of approximately 13.7:1 (air/fuel). The British used to call this device (a carburetor) a vaporizer.... Every engine runs on "fumes". even one that is fuel injected. All are designed to make a fuel mist/vapor mix at the right ratio to air. I'd bet that is why he has the air cleaner out of the housing...to make the engine run with the gas can carburetor at a decent mix to make the engine run at all.
ReplyDeleteHe has made a device to do that, if not at the correct ratio. Notice a few things:
he has the vent open on the gasoline can. probably to help the ratio.
the area of the three hoses is approximately the area of the carburetor venturi ...So he has a fairly poor one barrel carb for his car.
He doesn't tell you what HIS mileage is, I strongly doubt that it is significantly different than what he gets with the carburetor ....which is generally more a function of throttle setting and RPM(air into engine) and displacement than any carburetion or injection magic. ...except that his setup with the gas can will likely run lean at higher than an idle....which will result in slightly better mileage until he burns the exhaust valves.
He didn't say how long it took to get to 55 mph...did he? I bet it took a while.
At first glance, he looks impressive. Until you have the time to think about it.. You could do the same with a few pieces of pipe from Lowes and accomplish more than he has here.
Carburetted Dakota has a MECHANICAL fuel pump.
ReplyDeleteSo pulling a relay does... anyone... anyone...
Nothing.
Showing us the inside of the air cleaner shows us nothing. Showing us the fuel line disconnected from the carb would show us something.
The earliest carburetors used wicks just like an oil lamp, as a matter of fact the little shroud over the wick on your hurricane is called the carburetor. The more wick that was exposed to the airflow the richer the mixture. The mechanic was constantly "turning the wick up" to accelerate the engine and adjusting the spark timing.
ReplyDeleteIn this instance the air being drawn into the original carburetor already has a fuel charge so yes the engine will run but the air/fuel ratio is not controlled. Another thing to note is that there is enough fuel in the float bowl of the carburetor to run the engine for a couple miles at a slow pace. You can taxi a plane with the fuel control selected off and sometimes even get down the runway.
A true test would be to drain the carburetor float bowl and leave the fuel line plugged. I suspect this would also be temperature sensitive - at low temperatures the fuel won't vaporize as much causing a mixture that is too lean to start.
Al_in_Ottawa