Internal combustion engines are often described as (quite correctly) air pumps, and because of this nature, they tend to respond well to more air. Why? Because more air means more fuel, and more fuel means more power – that’s the essence of the hot rod itself. [Thunderhead 289] is an accomplished car hacker. He decided to take the opposite direction: reduce air, reduce fuel… Increase mileage? As you can see in the following video, [Thunderhead 289] has found a way to install a single tube carburetor from the lawn mower to the four tube air inlet of the Ford 302. Ford 302 is a V8 engine, which is many times larger than the largest single cylinder lawn mower!
Hackers start not only from the concept, but also from the installation of carburetor. The new device is not a down suction carburetor, but a side suction one. The float cup is located under the venturi of the carb. In order to install it, we made a 3D printing adapter, which is a great feat in itself. [Thunderhead 289] must be very creative, even raising the temperature of the studio to more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) to complete printing correctly. Even then, 34 hours of printing damaged his Ender printer, but before the part was completed.
Hackers did not stop there, because installing carburetors is only half the success. Making the engine operate normally under such a huge intake restriction is a new task in itself. It is necessary to deeply study the fuel pressure management, the correct distributor timing, and install instruments for the vehicle to ensure that the vehicle will not self destruct due to poor fuel mixture.
Although [Thunderhead 289] can’t check the mileage of his car yet, making it run smoothly is a considerable achievement. If you like stupid car hackers, take a look at the 212cc power insight of [robot tavern] and see how they check the output of small engines. Thank you for your tips!