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I got this idea a little while ago when watching gas prices that were then over 2.20 a gallon. It's going to be a while before I do anything with it, money issues prevailing. And I don't think the bank would like me messing with a car that I'm still paying for.

Anyway, I swore up and down that if gas got much more expensive that I'd trade in for a hybrid. I decided to change that and go with turning my Impala into a hybrid. So, there's a few problems with that.

I need to know what kind of horses to put under the hood. How much torque I need to get the acceleration to make it work, how much gasoline engine I need to cruise, how to balance gas and battery storage, etc.

Any good place to find the info? Right now this is a pipe dream, I don't think it'll happen, not any time soon, anyway.

"Some pup"
Nickname by Fenderstrat72

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you might want to think twice:
http://www.hybridcars.com/discussion/di ... &replies=3

and then there's this lol:
http://www.los-gatos.ca.us/davidbu/hybrid.html


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Well i guess the first big question is which Impala do you have gifted? I would imagine that the supercharged version would be alot more difficult to tune to a hybrid. Although Supercharged and hybrid don't belong in the same sentence together...... <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>

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Well, I've got friends and family that would be interested in helping, just for fun, and that's mostly what it would be. Fun. We're all nerds, and once I start my mechanical engineering course, I'd have more stuff to contribute.

Really, it's all in the math. I just need to know how much power I need in the engine, and the electric motor, how much juice I need to be able to store in the batteries, and then I can start shopping. I can talk to my brothers about the operating software and what kind of hardware to use.

I have the six cylinder engine. Last I knew it wasn't supercharged. It's a 2002 model.

"Some pup"
Nickname by Fenderstrat72

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Evil is evil, no matter how small.

*bump*

You guys still think I'm crazy?

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>Anyway, I swore up and down that if gas got much more expensive that I'd trade in for a hybrid. I decided to change that and go with turning my Impala into a hybrid. So, there's a few problems with that. <hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>

Wow Gifted, I applaud your ambition. Now let me piss in your Wheaties. There's a reason you don't see land yachts like your Impala as hybrid vehicles..they're too freakin heavy. If you want to do a project like this, I'd start with a cheap Kimsheemobile, Daewoo, Kia, something like that. The holdup with hybrids has always been battery technology..weight versus amphours available versus cost versus rechargeability. Even the new technology batteries have their problems, mainly service life and replacement cost. Lets assume for the moment you've beat back the battery problem and move on to the drive system. I'd use a compound wound d.c. motor, 5-7 horse should be sufficient if the vehicle is light enough. The advantage to that is, in series mode, output torque is only limited by the current available. Once a predetermined speed is reached, you'd switch it to parallel mode where counter EMF would keep the current draw to a minimum. Dunno Gifted, thinking about this, the engineering required using today's technology would stump an MIT student and I'm not sure you'd ever reach payback. I'm guessing you'll spend a minimum of 10 grand on pieces/parts..10 large buys an awful lot of gasoline, even at today's prices.

OC

A couple of things:

This is just as much a fun thing as actually getting the tax break etc. out of it. Figuring this out would be fun for me. Go figure.

The other thing I was wanting to do was to set this up as an emergency communications vehicle. The engine would be set up to also act as a generator, with hookups so I can power extra stuff, and I'm planning on getting my HAM radio license, so there'd be a nice set in there. I could pull up, plug stuff in, and set my stuff up and be talking to anyone I want to within a few minutes.

The car is about 3500 gross. Not a light machine, but with the extra stuff I want to do, I'm thinking I might as will start with it, rather than mess with trading in for a hybrid and working on that. If I just wanted the fuel economy, I'd just trade in. There's diesel available in the area, so that would be an option too.

"Some pup"
Nickname by Fenderstrat72

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Evil is evil, no matter how small.

I'd convert it to propane first.

Very economical, and a much simpler converison.

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Here's what I'm going to do:

I'm going to start out with a Magnetic Fuel OptiMiser. This will get me a 24% increase in gas mileage.

Next, I'm going to add a Tornado. This should get me an additional 15%.

After that, I'll put in some GTA Fuel Enhancer. I couldn't find what % increase I might get with this but they did say that a garbage truck got a 54% improvement. I'll be conservative and only take 25%.

Last, I'm going to go with a Dynamic Ionizer. Proven to get me 15% more.

So let's see, I started out at about 20 MPG in my daily driver. The OptiMiser bumped this to nearly 25. With the Tornado, I'm at 28.5. The Fuel enhancer puts me over 35. Finally, the Ionizer gets me to just over 41 MPG.

Now that my MPG has doubled, for another 15%, I'll slow down to 55 on the highway. I'm sure that won't aggravate anybody. They'll understand - I'm saving gas!

I'm up to 47 long miles on one little gallon of gas. How's that sound?

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<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>I'm up to 47 long miles on one little gallon of gas. How's that sound?

<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>

Like you've just discovered crack cocaine..lol

OC

I realized something. The Impala isn't really made for off-road/rough terrain. Thus, one of the big deals of this-making something that will be useful in an emergency-won't work. So, my mom said that back in the 60s with HER Impala(interesting, eh?), she would drive in pastures and such all the time. I'd be redoing part of the power train anyway to make it a hybrid, but with the other stuff, perhaps I'd be better off going for an SUV or truck of some sort later?

Ignorance may be bliss, but it sure ain't fun!

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Toyota makes a Hybrid SUV (Higlander) tha is comprable in gas mileage to the Ford Escape Hybrid.

You might be a "Bulldog" if: You bend over and grab your ankles when you hear: "EXERCISE, EXERCISE, EXERCISE!"

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