Steering Pump, alternator removal
 

also snagged from ecomodder.com

Alternator delete - permalink

Alternator deletes have been shown to increase fuel economy as much as 10%. However, extra deep-cycle batteries (and/or another form of power) must be used as a replacement, and their cost may offset any economic savings of reduced fuel consumption.

That said, if your regular starting battery is in need of replacement anyway, it could be replaced with a good deep-cycle battery for not too much more money.

Examples / Info / Threads:

* Test: Alternator vs. no alternator = 10% gain @ 70 km/h



mechanical skill required: 4 Impact on fuel consumption: 3 Cost of mod: 3


Power steering delete / manual steering rack swap - permalink

Hydraulic power steering systems continually pump fluid even when steering assist is not needed. The pump takes engine power to run and reduces mileage.

Manual racks have no power assist, and electric racks only use electricity when you actually turn the steering wheel.

A/C delete - permalink

By removing the A/C you easily cut 50 pounds of weight from the car, reduce parasitic belt & pulley losses when the system isn't being used, and free up some space in the engine bay for work.

There are alternatives out there for keeping cool without A/C:

Examples / Info / Threads:

* Who Needs Air Conditioning When You’ve Got Ice-Cold Water Running Through Your Shirt?



mechanical skill required: 3 Impact on fuel consumption: 1 Cost of mod: 2


Mechanical to electric radiator fan swap - permalink

Cars have used on-demand electric radiator fans for decades, but some trucks still have less efficient, belt-driven ones.

Aftermarket kits are available for many models, or you can retrofit a junkyard electric cooling fan from another vehicle.

Examples / Info / Threads:

* Electric vs. belt driven cooling fan



mechanical skill required: 3 Impact on fuel consumption: 1 Cost of mod: 3


Electric coolant / water pump - permalink

Auto manufacturers are moving towards electric pumps for steering and cooling.

Aftermarket retrofits are available for some engines, though the gains are likely to be had only where they are computer controlled so power use is continually optimized based on engine temperature.

Examples / Info / Threads:

* Electric water pump

That'd be a tough sell to the wife. She's pretty adamant about keeping the A/C (and, by extension, the engine cooling system) working on our 27 year old Cad. And, it's hard to keep your clothing looking nice when your shirt is wet.

We used to have one of those evaporative coolers that you stick on the window of the car. Didn't cool very well, and spat water all over the car. Also probably made the car less aerodynamic.
https://www.treehugger.com/evaporativ...oler-photo.jpg

Mine was just like this, but paint wasn't as fancy.

the ac system on these saturns is only about 30 but its still alot. ive had good luck removing the a/c and power steering before so i may try that again. seemed i picked up a sold 2mpg per unit delete and freed up alot of space. were lucky with the saturns since our cars can swap in manual steering from the factory real easy but i have a good way of doing it on regular cars too that doesnt require much work.
ive also done the regulator cutout switch on cars before. it works really good but can only be done in certain situations. cant do it at night, wouldnt do it in traffic and shouldnt do it in the city. it also helps to have a monitor system on the battery so you can re enable the alt once you get down to a certain voltage. my old car could go about 30 miles on the highway before i swapped it over. i forgot what increase i got with it but i know it worked well. im waiting for longer days so i can do it to my new car but for now all i do is drive at nite.

In my '69 Buick, I have to replace the steering rack now anyhow, so I was looking at converting to manual steering. Another thing I was thinking about was converting to an electric power steering, however I think that is mutually exclusive of the alternator removal (because the electric power steering can draw some really big amperage).

The other problem is that fuel injection depends on a certain voltage to function as the computer is anticipating. As we know, most cars run about 14 volts when the engine is running, but the best you'd hope for is about 12.5 when the alternator isn't present. At a lower voltage, the injectors don't open as quickly, which throws things off a bit (especially at very low pulsewidths). So many systems will try to compensate (which usually means over-compensating) by adding to the pulsewidth when the voltage drops.

Maybe we should invent a way to run the alternator by an electric motor. :)

-BC

Quick, patent that idea!:)

Those work AWESOME here!!! I rode in a 50s truck with one of those and didn't even want to go back to my car with regular AC. Only at a stop does it suck, all other times it wins hands down in my book.