We should build a simple manual 4 speed tranny up to the 40 hp kubota! Roads in Quebec are not safe over 80 kmph! Weld up a galvanized frame and panels! We could build a beautiful little extend a cab truck, for under 24,000 dollars! Safe strong and rustproof! I know we could!
Try traveling at ~ 12 to 16 mph longer distances on a Ebike. (Did 45-48 miles last Friday under this regime. Furthest I’ve gone is about 58. Want a battery charger I can take with if I go further afield.)
The history of engineering is really the history of breakages, and of learning from those breakages. I was taught at college 'the engineer learns most on the scrapheap'.
A lot of it is old-school knowledge that has fallen out of the public knowledge base. People were doing stuff like this with old-school tech 40+ years ago when fuel prices spiked back then.
Though I agree with you that this channel is under rated, the info he provides is elementary at best. It's very dumbed down and isn't very technical. I'm a tech school graduate, as well as a ASE Master Technician. This is all stuff you should know before you get to any tech school or entry level jobs... Just a FYI.
The 3 cylinder diesel exhaust clatter at idle makes me smile. I have a 1986 JDM Mitsubishi tractor with a 990cc 3 cylinder and it sounds about the same. That thing is so dang simple to work on.
@@drippingwax ru-vid.comH6TBPeiJAOI?feature=share Scotty literally uses this in camry's all the time, great stuff. ATS Chemical CRF 505 Fuel additive for your gas tank. You can put their CRO 505 Oil treatment in your oil fill before changing oil too, it gets rid of clatter. Here's Scotty's full video on it ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-cz1T6hh1sgs.html
If you would just create a complete Styrofoam shell to encase the vehicle I'm sure you could reduce drag by at least 0.001%. And then paint a Saturn on it, and I'm sure that the cops would never notice! Love that Kubota sound, btw.
Think Flight increased fuel economy by 18% with a foamboard boat tail and showed cops driving past without paying any attention. The video code is 4ykw_8lpjco.
The problem with styrofoam is that, because it’s made of a bunch of beads all stuck together, there are countless little imperfections that will cause turbulence in the air right against the surface; thus INCREASING the amount on aerodynamic drag per mph of speed.
@@robotcantina8957 With every subscriber, Jimbo's spirit grows stronger As he races towards a future that's wild and free In this world of metal and fire, he's the lone ranger But he'll never back down, he'll never flee In the cantina, where the engines roar Jimbo finds a place to even the score With his foot on the pedal, and his eyes on the prize He'll ride to the limit, until the sunrise On the dusty roads of Kansas Where the winds howl and the sun blazes Jimbo races towards the horizon With the hope of a new adventure, a new season.
@@welshlyn9097 the usa doesnt have mot but some states have inspections, most done and some places in some states have emissions check , the places without either you can do whatever you want to your car
3.2l/100km is very good for what it is, first generation TDIs in cars like Mk3/Mk4 Golf, Jetta etc. can get to around 4l/100km when driving slowly on open roads, altough more realistic economy when driving normally is around 5l/100km outside city.
Yeah. The highest economy i got from a diesel is in a 3 series 2.0 litre. 55mph on the highway, tucked behind a lorry, i've managed 3.1l/100km. With a lot more power than this kobota or any of the factory 1.9tdis. So it's not all about engine size or power, it's about how efficient the engine is (commonrail helps a lot here) and what gearing you have. At 55, i'm only turning about 1500rpm (some 3 series go even lower) which is right in the engines sweetspot of efficiency.
@@robotcantina8957 With every subscriber, Jimbo's spirit grows stronger As he races towards a future that's wild and free In this world of metal and fire, he's the lone ranger But he'll never back down, he'll never flee In the cantina, where the engines roar Jimbo finds a place to even the score With his foot on the pedal, and his eyes on the prize He'll ride to the limit, until the sunrise On the dusty roads of Kansas Where the winds howl and the sun blazes Jimbo races towards the horizon With the hope of a new adventure, a new season.
Weird to think that back in 1970, when I drove a 58 VW beetle, getting 25 miles per gallon was considered amazing, now it is considered mediocre. Reminded of this when he said that the Saturn wagon gets 32 miles per gallon. Oh, and as an aside: My 58 VW had a dipstick for checking fuel level, the gas gauge was a factory option back then.
@@robertdiazcaron9985 When I had my first car, a Honda, a date named Linda who had a more annoying voice than Fran Drescher asked "What fuel economy do you get?" "I aver--" "Every car I have owned got 60 MPG. My classic beetle, my Escort ZX2," and I think she mentioned a third car that wasn't known for fuel economy.
I take the vision which comes from dreams and apply the magic of science and mathematics, adding the heritage of my profession and my knowledge of nature's materials to create a design.
Iv had several yachts & just love those motors , Mainly for the simplicity - No Computer , Reliable , Very efficient @ cruising revs BUT Simplicity & cheap spares .
I did like this experiment,I had a 1985 Non Turbo Ford Escort 1-6 Diesel new back in the day before all this environmental bollocks we have now in the UK and elsewhere. That car NO MATTER how hard you drove it did a regular 65mpg,take it steady and 72 was achievable,great little performer too,would do 80mpg all day on the Motorway,I regularly did a 700 mile round trip to Scotland and back without missing a beat,great little vehicle.
“The upshot of all this is that we live in a universe whose age we can't quite compute, surrounded by stars whose distances we don't altogether know, filled with matter we can't identify, operating in conformance with physical laws whose properties we don’t truly understand.”
This is the most interesting automotive RU-vid channel right now. Very well thought out videos with all the data presented to you in a nice format. You don’t need 1xxxhp cars to catch people’s interest. Although a 1500hp sc2 would be pretty sick
@@tcmtech7515 I was thinking aiming for 150 with the Kubota would be more Robot Cantina style lol you could easily just drop a 200hp 4 cylinder in there no problem. They could do the 1500 with a K series done right. Lol but I can watch that on other channels. I came here for the weird haha
Impressive Job!!! An old friend of mine had a late 80's VW Rabbit Diesel tha got close to 50 mph highway. That was pretty impressive for then, still seems fairly impressive to me compared to the standards of today.
Here's an idea. Try running biodiesel(used vegetable oil) in the Kubota. Since it's an older diesel engine, it should be pretty straightforward. Filter it out, and might need some methanol or anti gel additive mixed in. The fuel economy may decrease, but it'll be cheaper than diesel fuel.
Blah... Crank up the injector pump some and inject propane into the intake! Why this hasn't happened yet is ridiculous! Who cares about economy? Because ya know there is many of Kubota powered cars out there n all just wanting to know how to get better milage! 🙄
I'm going to modify my Delica Stsrwagon turbodeisel to run on veggie oil. More as a SHTF option or if theres a fuel shortage. Whenever I get a homestead going though, I want to experiment with producing my own veggie oil from scratch. You can get about 50% of the oil out of nuts just from a press, then the other 50% using solvents like hexane. The hexane is recycleable, industrial veggie oil producers get about 99% of their hexane back. I would like to find a biochemical alternative though, make the process truly fossil fuel product free. Anyway, I'd be interested to see how much crops it actually takes to fill up a tank.
I almost bought an orange SC2 5 speed at auction, but I passed on it for a 1997 Toyota Camry with the 1MZ-FE V6 and 5 speed manual. That car got 18-22 MPG, but it was a Toyota for the low price of $400. I couldn't refuse.
@@eriklarson9137 Nah, old Saturns are pretty robust. Especially with manual transmissions. The S series cars were pretty good, but GM killed them off after 10-11 years in favor of the inferior Ion. Probably didn't help that the S Series was competing with the Chevy Cavalier. Also a good car, but not as interesting.
@@SkylineFTW97 rust is the one killer of all these gm fwd cars. Down south these things are everywhere but I’ve got an 02 bonneville with 160k miles and it’s all rusted out underneath. Minnesota car. Damn shame it’s a really nice car lol
@@eriklarson9137 Saturns are great and super cheap to maintain cars I have 3 2dr 3dr and a wagon 230, 310, 100k on them 98, 2001, 99 years. They are all manual (since automatics are all wear items) and my average cost per mile is $.11/mole (including purchase, tax/tag, repair and maintenance, insurance, and fuel) they have composite body panels and never rust or dent and being monocoque design are extremely safe(I was hit head-on at 55 in my previous wagon and suffered only a bruised sternum) The car was destroyed but the driver's compartment was completely intact(in fact it got a little bigger) despite the front wheel being pushed back to the d/s door
Back in 84 I drove my old mercury station wagon from the Southern tip of Illinois to Roanoak Va for a job interview. I was still about 60 miles from Roanoak when a seam on top of the radiator split. I was desperate to make the interview so I crimped the seam together as well as I could with a pair of Vicegrips, found a discarded bottle I could use to carry water, refilled the radiator and drove on. I found that if I didn’t exceed 45mph the water didn’t drain out so fast. I proceeded to my interview at barely highway speed. When the interview concluded I had to choose an overnight layover and a day spent in repairs, or a really slow drive back to Illinois. I chose the slow drive. Wasn’t too bad, traffic was light and I certainly stayed in the slow lane. But the surprise came when I got home and started to tally up the cost of the trip, the car that normally did 15mpg gave me 21 mpg on the way home. Now I make it a habit to stay in the slow lane and not exceed the speed limit.
Love to see what that engine would do in a GEO metro hatchback coupe. Its probably 1/2 the weight of the saturn, more aerodynamic and could probably get 100 mpg doing 65 mph.
@@theeoddments960 I remember how much stuff he removed from the already-light Insight and when he first bought the Saturn he talked about weight reduction, but I don't think that he removed anything besides the engine and gas tank, although that engine weighed 213 pounds.
@@bladenrexroth2555 The 1997 Saturn weighed 2,309 to 2,386 pounds. If the manual is the lighter version, then the Metro would be 22% lighter, and all things being equal, should get 11% better fuel economy by virtue of being lighter.
Except for kansas unrealistic lack of bends, the speeds are actually pretty typical legal speeds of a country road here , around 70-80km/h. Good numbers anyway! And thanks for the metric numbers :)
I went for the free sub today and even maxed out the beni and rang the bell. A few years ago I followed a channel that did this with a Isuzu motor off of a generator. The 70 MPH is realistic, excellent job explaining your testing for a first timer.
Many years ago, my current husband was thrilled when he did the supposedly impossible and got a '78 Camaro 5.7L to return 24 mpg at 65 mph. He still loves such things, but I can't see how it matters if there's no acceleration. Or, if it ain't fun to drive, mpg really doesn't matter
Have you looked into a cowl induction scoop? It should have little to no impact on aerodynamic drag, but get more airflow through the intercooler. Perhaps printing one out of ASA.
24 yrs ago. 1982 NA 1600cc VW - 4 sp - diesel - at under 50 mph - 62 mpg. I ran 300 km and proved it multiple times. Driving around old farm country Quebec. Cheers - Your info is great!
I love your effort. Makes me realize how extreme my driving is, driving 170km for 2 hours a to b and back again. So 340km. Driving for 4 ours. Milage overall is 1 liter to 19,8km whit a 3 cylinder 1 liter natural aspirated petrol engine.. Emegain it whit a turbo on it.. Everyday i notice annoyed people overtaking me becose i drive 80-85 km per hour. Even trucks pas me bye. And i DONT CARE! Nobody gives me free petrol at the pump.. and i do keep stricktly on the rigth-side of the road. Greeting from Holland
Thats not bad at all, mine drove on the governor at around 46 with no load unless going up hill and I was getting right around 98mpg on used oil ,it was nice driving 2 weeks on a gallon of free fuel lol, with the bigger engine and turbo thats not bad at all
its amazing how valuable this kind of work is to all of mankind and people dont realize it. he simply has no incentive to consciously fake anything. it cant all be perfectly accurate but its our best bet honestly
Very glad I found this video. Not only am I a huge diesel fan but I’m missing Kansas. I used to drive a very rabbit diesel basically between Dodge city and Wichita. One direction I definitely got better fuel economy. I still joke that you can do the drive with nothing but brakes and a wind jacket, assuming you don’t have to stop for lights or signs. Thanks again for the views and interesting content.
I built a belly pan, front air dam, and side skirts for my Saturn wagon as an experiment. I drove from FL to NY and averaged 40mpg at 75-79mph highway. Car was loaded with kid, wife, camping equipment. I was pretty happy and as soon as the material cost broke even, I removed it.
I do think that developing a hyper-efficient, lightweight (3-cylinder?) turbo-diesel engine, optimized for use in a narrow rev range (which would yet increase fuel efficiency), mated to a generator, would make an excellent range extender for an EV vehicle.
Doesn't want to draw attention. Slaps a bunch of stickers on the passenger rear window. Joking aside, thank you for this series! I look. Forward to notifications from you on Sunday! Your Projects are just amazing to watch!
Think positive. On the moped, if a shower comes up, well, you're soaked. You hit a deer, and you go to the ER or the coroner's office. The Saturn's the winner hands down. I used to have a '93 Geo Metro XFi bought new to use as an airport car. Fully stock, it was good for hi-40s, low 50s MPG. I wonder what something like this powerplant would have done for that car? Incidentally, I sold that car after 20 yrs, and someone from Washington State bought it sight unseen, flying down to S. Florida to drive it all the way back home. Got a message a couple of weeks later about how it made the trip flawlessly, averaging 57 MPG, and praising what a great car it was.
“Science is founded on uncertainty. Each time we learn something new and surprising, the astonishment comes with the realization that we were wrong before.”
I worked in a underground hard rock mine and the most used vehicle were the small kabota UTV's with the same engine in your car. These UTV's would be ridden hard and put away wet, going up miles long 12% incline ramps at full throttle with the temps right at overheat were the norm. We didn't have EGT gauges but I wouldn't be surprised to see that your engine can take way more than your throwing at it judging by your coolant temp
I owned a vw bug 5 sp turbo diesel that got 57.3 mpg while driving 75 miles per hour from near houston to oklahoma. Almost 400 miles. All freeway driving with the a/c on. I loved that car.
@@electromech7335 If you don't keep the wheel constantly adjusted it would wander to the side, so that would make a minor difference as it doesn't quite keep a straight line.
I think the giant hole in the hood might garner some attention... lol. I wonder about pushing the headlights out to the bumper edge to remove the air pocket there. The belly pan looked good!
I live in a small town in Utah and from one end of it to the other is only a few miles and the top speed of any of the roads is 40 mph. I drive to the city, but my wife just stays in town and she hasn't had her 2000 Toyota Camry faster than that since I bought it. This would be a perfect vehicle for someone like her.
I had an 84 s10 that came with an Isuzu diesel and 4 speed transmission. It ran great, was fun to drive and had more torque than you can shake a gas pump at. But it's top speed was 60 if you were on a downward slope but I'd hear a little voice in my ear saying " Captain she's gonna fly apart" at 55.
my 89 Nissan Sentra , which I bought used 4 years ago for 1200$ , and has 248k , gets 44 mpg at 55 mph . 1500cc 4 speed , 35 psi in tires . ( I have a steady throttle foot ) . Cheers !
In the 1980s, I owned a Ford Escort with a naturally aspirated four cylinder diesel engine, and a VW Jetta with a turbocharged four cylinder diesel engine. Both cars got 45 MPG consistently in real world driving, and would break 50 MPG on longer trips. And back then, I was able to buy diesel for 50 cents a gallon, which means I was burning about two cent's worth of diesel per mile.
“The Moon is slipping from our grasp at a rate of about 1.5 inches a year. In another two billion years it will have receded so far that it won’t keep us steady and we will have to come up with some other solution, but in the meantime you should think of it as much more than just a pleasant feature in the night sky.”
Great fuel economy results. My tiny Citroën C1 (3 cylinders, 998 ccm, 68 hp, Toyota Aygo or Daihatsu Sirion engine) needs between 4.5 to 5.5 liters on 100 km (52.25 to 42.75 mpg). Thanks again for the conversion lines in the pictures. It really helps a metric German to understand immediately…
Intersting results, even for me as Diesel TDI loving german. Way back in 2000 VW build the Lupo 3L which had a 1.2 3cylinder 60HP Diesel engine in it. Sadly it had an automated transmission which made the car very sluggish, expensive and didnt last. But its the only thing I could think about achieving 3liters/ 100km. They didnt sell many, for most people a Golf 1.9TDI was bigger, way faster and could also be driven with 4 to 5liters/ 100km...
Depends on the roads.. in just extra-urban traffic they often last just fine. You are underestimating the 3L (as well as the Audi A2 with the same engine), those numbers are combined consumption, not just extra-urban like this. Almost any modern small car with a diesel can match these numbers.
@@GoldenCroc sadly finding a new small diesel car has been made impossible after Dieselgate. The french started with tiny diesel cars and at one point you coud get a 1.9TDI in a small VW Polo. Today the smallest TDI- car is a Golf. Small cars dont cost enough to justify expensive tech like clean Diesel, most manufacturers struggle with small EV`s too.
My diesel has the 617 turbo ,it won’t get the 50 plus mpg but will drive around the world an the average of 30 times , just great engineering, have owned 30 or more of them as a hobbiest . My best diesel fuel saver was an 1984 190d , had the 2.2 with 5 speed , 42 mpg was its average . Glad your bringing the current study , it’s the everyday working mans worry , fuel prices .
Wow, my Prius would be envious of that fuel economy. BTW, the belly pan is a legit aero mod. If you have the time & materials, maybe put one under the rear bumper as well.
Good idea! Given Jimbo's nature, do you think he would do it out of Cardboard, Plywood, or Sheet Metal? Part of me wonders if covering the back wheels in some way (Like the honda insight) could also yield a little more MPG too. Maybe some thick plastic and JB weld? Or Would the riveter have to be used?
@@mommapanda5736 I keep mentioning Ecomodder, but nobody wants to visit that place. A rear belly pan would help reattach all of the detached air from traveling under the aerodynamically-dirty undercarriage. People usually put diffusers back there. I am curious how much of a difference that would make. Why not build a complete stealth belly pan? It would improve fuel economy, acceleration, and the top speed! :)
@@XenocraftGalaxy I don't think that cardboard or plywood would hold up. I would expect sheet metal to vibrate, increase wind noise, and possibly come lose--potentially causing damage. Coroplast, like he used for the grill block, would be ideal, but I have also heard of people using solid plastic sheets.
I had a co-worker, who lived in city of Phelan(hi desert of southern California) and he was commuting to our work in city of Walnut. That was (as I remember he was telling me) 60 mile ride each way. Now, we are talking about year 1983-4-5? He bought himself a new Ford diesel truck (I do not remember if it was straight 6 or V8 ). He was telling me, he was getting just about 60 miles per gallon.He was spending 2 gallons a day(in those times there was barely any smog controls).....
It might be interesting to see what mileage that Saturn will get once the wheels are aligned! A 0-60 test would be interesting, too. Even if a bit underpowered, some people wouldn't mind if it will go the speed limit. 73MPG is very impressive!
10:18 @Robot Cantina I have literally 0 mechanical knowledge, so to me, I really appreciate when you "dumb" it down. I'd like to learn this stuff, but I'm well behind the curve so to speak.
Diesel engines are the most efficient engine designs in the world. The fuel is easier to produce less volatile, which means it’s safer. And it cost less to produce. Unfortunately, the government makes us pay more for it. Nice work Jimbo. By the way, driving through rural Kansas ain’t really that boring. This time of year you got the trees budding out, wheat fields filling out, we got farmers working out in the fields, spring turkeys, young deer, all beautiful.
It's only more efficient in the "no load" mode. Diesel fuel naturally has more BTU's per gallon and that is where the extra fuel economy comes in. My Ranger diesel got 30 mpg driving 45 miles to the town he works out of back in the 80s. My new Maverick hybrid will easily get 33 at 70mph and if I slowed it to 45 would probably get 45 mpg. Better than the other Saturn.
If you look up, Opel GT, they built two cars for the 24 hours of Lamans race. During the race the two cars averaged 144MPH, and I believe it was 114 MPG. Both were 1.3 liter turbo Diesels, and electric drive train. It was about 2004ish when it was done. We are all being sold a line of crap when they say we have to stop running petroleum products for fuel. Not the case! We have to start using them properly, and things will change! These ideas have been around for decades, but the powers that be don't want us to know!
This is awesome! We just bought a Subaru Forester, and I drove from Wichita to the north end of Cheney Reservoir along 54 at normal speed and came back on these same roads. At 45mph, that little car got 33mpg. We just moved here from California. Our 'bugout' strategy (flee Cali) was always hybrid vehicle based. I've always planned and prepared for central CA to Texas with no refuel. 40mph was part of that strategy. This is going to be a great video.
Working like a robot all day long Every circuit's buzzing, humming like a song But when the sun sets, the work is done We head to the cantina, where the fun's begun🤠🤠
robots, robots, working all day Cantinas, cantinas, where we go to play Dancing and drinking, forgetting our cares robots and cantinas, the perfect pair
We kick back and relax, the night's just begun Drinks flow freely, and we're having fun The music's loud, the rhythm's strong And all our worries are forgotten before too long
In the morning we'll return to our duties Our batteries recharged, our minds refreshed and ready To tackle the challenges that lie ahead But for now, let's enjoy the night instead
robots and cantinas, side by side Working and playing, we take it all in stride Until the next night, when we'll do it all again robots and cantinas, forever friends.
Some guy rode around Australia on one a few years back. Can't recall the make of it though, but some companies have built diesel versions of sorts though nothing caught on mainstream unfortunately! .A steam powered bike is very funky if you search YT for it
I think the thing people don't understand about lean burning is that it isn't just as simple as "more lean = more hot" in the gas world and "more fuel = more hot" in a diesel, but instead there is a hot no-go zone somewhere leaner than stoichiometric that is the hottest, and anything richer or leaner than that will be cooler. In practice you don't generally go past this no-go region with a given engine, so people don't talk about it very much. But it does lead to some interesting possibilities like lean burning sky active X gasoline engine. Realizing there is a reason that the rules get reversed helps me a lot.
That's a good result. :) I admire and appreciate your dedication to the tedium of driving so long just for testing. There's an eight-mile stretch of relatively level 35mph-speed-limit paved road near where I live. Out of curiosity I took my unmodified first-gen Insight out there one day and just drove back and forth on it at around 38mph for about two and a half hours; even with the 21 u-turns, I still averaged 109mpg over 92 miles thanks to the car doing lean burn as low as 22:1. I really wish Honda would re-make the first-gen Insight without any compromise.
@@drippingwax For the CR-Z, the relatively low priority on efficiency makes it completely uninteresting to me as a car, and actively disappointing; I'd been hoping for a challenger to the efficiency of the first-gen Insight, or at least a peer. Instead, it's not even as efficient as the CRX-HF. I don't get enough unwanted opinions about my first-gen Insight to have an answer for you; so far, every random person who has come up to me to comment on/ask about it has either been neutrally curious, or already loves them. And curiosity is good.
@@IstasPumaNevada I wish the Insight had caught on. People claim the Insight copied the Prius, but the first-gen Prius was a sedan. The second-generation Insight wasn't just a Prius copy, it was a poor one. It seems like whenever I find a more effective way to do something someone says "You know that doesn't work, right" and whenever I try to explain how I proved it they repeat themselves until I stop talking to them. People really like pushing the narrative that I should do everything the same way as everyone else.
@@IstasPumaNevada I have seen many comments that the Insight wheel skirts are ugly, even on Insight Central, and some guys their cut their skirts to make their cars look boring.
I really enjoy this project, a 3 cyl Kubota turbo swap into a Honda ACTY, or similar mini truck would be the cats pajamas for running around the back roads, and work around the house / property. Even at $4.00 a gallon for diesel, it still would be mighty thrifty. Great series.
Why would people be upset with your driving a diesel car? I mean VW made them. There are diesel trucks everywhere. Why would it matter to other drivers?
I don't want to detract from the fun of putting a Kubota in a Saturn, Buti can't help but wonder how much easier it would have been to put a smart car diesel engine in it. Which is also a 800cc turbo diesel
This is so great. I really appreciate your approach with this car. I remember the days of a diesel Rabbit (48hp) that I'm betting didn't make much more power than your Kubota engine. I think you could drive this car around town and not piss off too many people. And I'd be smiling all the way to the bank getting 50+mpg.
We had a diesel Rabbit too. 48hp seemed like more than enough. The car was light, and the diesel had more torque than an equivalent gas engine of course. With a 4 speed manual it actually felt sporty.
Back around 1984 a local NAPA store used Ford diesel mini half ton trucks in their delivery vehicles . They all got in excess of 50mph . Most all of that was in city local garages deliveries and various drivers.
I'm so glad that there are people like you making videos like this. It can settle so many dumb late night arguments before they really get going. Also your narration is really coming along, my only critique is that you say "well" too much before you speak and it's a bit of a distraction.