Vortex generator

[lancer]

Since I bought my 1996 Explorer UN XLT 4lt SOHC, with 230,000kms on the clock, about a month or so ago, I have carried out a number of checks to ensure that it continues to run and perform to my satisfaction.

I had to replace the lower ball joints which after the mileage it has done were really badly worn, never been replaced was my guess and so bad the front tyres were showing signs of wear on the inside which I thought may have been toe out or other alignment problems.

But no, the new ball joints have made a big difference to the steering, making it more predictable and firm, suspension does not have a loose feel to it either. The alignment mechanic made little or no adjustments to bring it to compliance for good tracking.

On to my main topic.

Given the good condition of the vehicle; it had a new factory long motor fitted about 25,000kms ago, so I thought it wise to check out the filters. The fuel filter looks like it has not been changed since new. Oil obviously has, as the one on it now is not a Ford product.

On taking the air filter off to be cleaned, looks like the original also, I found it had a Vortex Generator installed. It looks very much like a Maxx.

I did notice, prior to these checks that when it was hot it was idling a tad fast at just on 1,000rpm. It is an auto, in gear and stationary, it is about 800RPM, is that the norm? Could the device have altered or restricted the air flow that much that the on board computer compensated?

I have read the comments from many Explorer owners on this Forum on their perceptions, experiences and critical advice about these types of alleged fuel saving devices.

So, as I was going on a 1,000km round trip I decided to test the thing out.

I left it out on the outbound trip of just on 500kms, with most of the trip run at about 100 -110KPH on the highway running mostly on cruise control. Only coming off when permitted speed limits dropped, like going past schools and through towns.

I estimate given the amount of fuel used after a fill on arrival at our destination, that the vehicle did about 24/25MPG.

I drove it around the outback Queensland town of Roma for a few days and reckon that it was doing about 16MPG town running. It is winter here in OZ with fine clear days and a temperature range in Roma of between 1-18centigrade each day. Around town it hardly warmed up given most were short local trips. Roma is a town of about 4,000 people so the area size can be judged by that number.

I reinstalled the device on the day of the return journey to my home in Brisbane, filled the Explorer up and off we went. I run it on 10% ethanol blend as well. You know, doing our small bit for the environment, and it is 6cents a litre cheaper too.

The return trip was over the same route with nothing out of the ordinary or different to my outbound journey.

On checking the consumption on our return, the vehicle had run at about 27/28MPG. An improvement of about 3MPG on the highway.

I filled it up at the same servo as soon as I hit our home suburb. I did so to get the volume used on the return and so I could do a local drive comparison with that at Roma.

After a week of around town running with the device still in, the Explorer logged the same as that at Roma, 16/18MPG.

I was pretty careful on judging the tank fills each time and the calculation.

As well, I am not a tear arse driver. I respect the vehicle I drive, especially on long highway trips to western Queensland where distances of over 200 kms between towns is not rare. There is not a servo or mechanic on every corner out there.

My resulting conclusion on this test, around town, no difference.

On the highway over a long trip using cruise control as much as possible, an improvement of about 3MPG.

Not for one moment am I endorsing the device, as those figures are as correct as I can get them, without using any formal metering devices.

I will be doing a similar trip close to Xmas, when our 3rd grandchild is born, so I will do the same exercise again to reinforce or disprove my intial findings.

Les Bryant
'lancer'
Brisbane, Australia

 

[2000StreetRod]

Interesting results. Is there any significant elevation difference between Brisbane and Roma? For your next trip I suggest that you make the first leg of the trip with your Vortex Generator installed and remove it for the return leg. For my gas mileage tests I drive the same round trip route (instead of one way) for each test. Even then, the test is not completely repeatable due to different winds and temperatures.

27/28 mpg is quite good especially on 10% ethanol. I only got 23 mpg on my stock SOHC. What is your differential ratio? Are there any other mods besides the Vortex Generator?

 

[lancer]

Thanks for the response Street Rod.

Your point about elevation is spot on.

Brisbane is on the eastern seaboard, being a river city about 30kms off the coast, whereas Roma is up the Great Dividing Range, west of the Darling Downs.

About 600 feet above sea level I think.

The Darling Downs is a huge grain growing, grazing and farmng area. Millions of acres stretching about 300kms west. Further out, tourism, clean coal mining, natural gas, oil and exotic space age minerals are the new industries complimenting primary production.

Once one gets up the Range and past the gateway to the West, the garden City of Toowoomba, population about 80,000; it is mostly all plain lands, undulating with many long stretches of straight flat country. Some hills, but they are rolling and low compared to the Range.

On the Roma trip, west past Toowoomba there are only about 8 or so sets of traffic lights to negotiate, in Dalby and then Roma itself which got its first set about 18 montns ago, so stop and go in the towns is at a minimum. The onset of progress is slow in the west. In making that comment, I qualify it by saying, there is not much the west does not have that we have in a big city. In fact very little.

There are not many alternative routes of highway running out to this part of western outback Queensland, unless one wished to travel on dirt roads in a roundabout way. The principal drag, the Warrego Highway is the main carrier out to that part of the world. All weather sealed, single carriageway, wide fast highway.

The diff ratio, as far as I am aware is the standard set up for this model. Being an auto I ran it on O/D as well.

There are no other devices that I am aware of that would assist in improving consumption.

The vortex generator may have contributed in some small way, but my experience has shown, over 60 odd years, that sensible consistent driving is the main contributor in achieving better than average fuel consumption on the highway, irrespective of what vehicle you drive.

In times preretirement last year I had a company vehicle, an up market Australian built Holden Calais, 3600cc V6, electrically supercharged, 4 speed auto sedan.

When one put ones foot down it was a flying machine, spin the rear wheels in 2nd gear at 35MPH, easily reaching 100MPH in very quick time. Heaps of power and road speed.

Around town lucky to get 15lt/100kms, even with conservative driving. Towing my boat, 18-20lt/100kms. On the highway over the same trip to Roma, on cruise control, 2 people up with a little gear, down to about 9 - 9.5lt/100kms at 100/110KPH. Maximum controlled speed limit on the highway in Queensland is 110KPH with Highway Patrol Police presence very obvious on most if not all highway corridors.

I agree, establishing that a device such as a Vortex Generator is effective and meets its makers claims is difficult for the layman to prove when using virtually only dead reckoning calculations.

But, in saying that, I think my experience and fairly simple test of non use and then use, revealed to me that using it may have contributed in some manner, shape or form in improving fuel consumption over a long distance on my Explorer as the factor of my driving habits on both journeys altered very little or not at all.

I reckon the jury is still out on this one for me, until later this year when I will do another 2 trips over similar distances carrying out similar tests on both ocassions. The only noticeable difference being a change in the seasons, winter to summer.

Les Bryant
'lancer'
Brisbane, Australia

 

[2000StreetRod]

The Australian built Holden Calais sounds like a very interesting vehicle. I can't recall ever hearing of an electrical motor driven supercharger. I am, however, familiar with poor gas mileage. I used to average 9.5 mpg when towing our 24 foot travel trailer with my 97 Tahoe.

One of my distant future dream projects is to integrate a microturbine, electric generator and electric drive motor into my Sport. The unburned fuel in the exhaust could power the microturbine that is mechanically linked (via reduction gearing) to the generator. The generator output is connected to an electric drive motor that supplements the output of the SOHC. The concept is the converse of the typical hybrid configuration.

The typical internal combustion engine is approximately 30% efficient. A microturbine is much more efficient which is why it is becoming more popular in small powerplant applications. If the microturbine/generator/drive motor is 50% efficient then my overall efficiency could increase to 60% doubling my gas mileage.

 

[lancer]

The Holden car has been designed and manufactured in OZ since the end of WW2, about 1948.

It is a derivative company of GM USA., but autonamous in its business

Since then Holden and Ford have been fierce competitors in the OZ car market, still holding between them a major share with Totota close behind.

On the racetrack, Australian fans are so rabid about their particular make, CAMS Australia the governing body of motor sport here have had in place a super sedan series run over 12 months with rounds in each state of Australia, we have a first time street course 3rd round next weekend in Townsville, north Queensland. Fans will come from everywhere to see, probably about100,000 plus.

The main race of the year is the iconic Bathurst 1000 run on the toughest and fastest mountain course in the world just outside the large New South Wales regional town of Bathurst, in the first weekend in October each year. On race day over 250,000 will make the pilgramage.

I have raced motor bikes there years ago, a thrilling experience and telling on man and machine. Bikes no longer go around there due to the concrete walls over the mountain.

More on that another day.

The electric turbo is an on demand appliance and clicks in on either throttle response or on computer command, I am not quite sure which one, but it works to good effect.

The other than traditional exotic engine power concept you are pursuing is interesting, but, where do you find the space in the engine bay of an Explorer to fit it all?

Les Bryant
'lancer'
Brisbane, Australia.

 

[2000StreetRod]

The other than traditional exotic engine power concept you are pursuing is interesting, but, where do you find the space in the engine bay of an Explorer to fit it all?

Les Bryant
'lancer'
Brisbane, Australia.

The microturbine should be located in the combined exhaust flow after the catalytic converters but in front of the muffler. It won't be located in the engine bay nor will the generator. One potential way of utilizing the electric drive motor is via the transfer case. Keep in mind that at this point I'm only in the conceptual phase (fantasizing).

 

[Limited02]

Hey guys, how about a turbo? Easier to package and takes no power to run it unlike the electrical supercharger setup you are mentioning

 

[lancer]

The Holden car has been designed and manufactured in OZ since the end of WW2, about 1948.

It is a derivative company of GM USA., but autonamous in its business.

Since then Holden and Ford have been fierce competitors in the OZ car market, still holding between them a major share with Totota close behind.

On the racetrack, Australian fans are so rabid about their particular Ford or Holden make, CAMS Australia the governing body of motor sport here have had in place an exclusive V8 Super Sedan series run over 12 months with rounds in each state of Australia. We have a first time street course 3rd Queensland round next weekend in Townsville, north Queensland. Fans will come from everywhere, probably about 100,000 plus on race day.

The main race of the year is the iconic Bathurst 1000 run on the toughest and fastest mountain course in the world just outside the large New South Wales regional town of Bathurst, in the first weekend in October each year. On race day over 250,000 will make the pilgramage.

Much of the development to make Ford and Holden better cars for the general public has been due to the hard work, research and racing of these cars at Bathurst.

The one place where new Ford or Holden products or models are tried and tested is at Bathurst. The race now is virtually a 1000km sprint. It makes or breaks one or the other. Rain, hail or snow and it has experienced all those conditions the big race goes on and the fans across Australia love it.

I raced road motor bikes for about 10 years over 30 years ago with some success, a thrilling experience and telling on man and machine. Down Con Rod Straight at over 180MPH on a 250cc is spine tingling. Bikes no longer go around there due to the safety issues to do with the concrete walls over the mountain.

More on that another day.

The electric turbo does not operate all the time, it is an on demand appliance and clicks in responding to either throttle opening or computer command, I am not quite sure which one, but it works to good effect. Towing up a mountain is effortless.

The other than traditional exotic engine power concept you are pursuing is interesting, but, where do you find the space in the engine bay of an Explorer to fit it all?

Les Bryant
'lancer'
Brisbane, Australia.

 

[lancer]

Nothing wrong with fantasizing. Many good ideas have been developed by immaginative people this way and have become very useful to us all.

Don't stop, keep it up!

Les Bryant
'lancer'
Brisbane, Australia.

 

[2000StreetRod]

Hey guys, how about a turbo? Easier to package and takes no power to run it unlike the electrical supercharger setup you are mentioning

I assume by "turbo" you mean a turbocharger which burns no fuel but uses the engine exhaust gas to spin a centrifugal turbine that is mechanically linked to a centrifugal compressor that forces more air into the engine intake. Contrary to your statement, the turbocharger does require power from the engine to compress air and force it into the engine. While it makes the engine more powerful for a given displacement, it forces the engine to burn more fuel and usually less efficiently. For reliable operation under continuous boost significant engine modifications are required. To prevent detonation the stock pistons are replaced with lower compression ratio pistons. High boost engines often require special connecting rods, bearing caps, head bolts and gaskets, fuel injectors and pump and other expensive high performance parts. The fuel required is the highest octane rating available. In practice, under normal driving conditions the maximum boost is infrequently required by the driver. The end result is a more expensive less efficient vehicle infrequently operated at high performance.

A microturbine has an igniter and burns fuel to provide a rotational work capacity. It would not require power from the engine because it would burn some of the 60% of the unburned fuel normally wasted by a conventional internal combustion engine. It is similar in concept to a jet engine and more so to the engine in the 50 turbine powered vehicles built by Chrysler in the early 1960s and provided to the public for evaluation.

There are numerous foreseeable complications with placing a microturbine into an Explorer's conventional engine exhaust system. For example, it has been learned thru experience that the SOHC V6 requires exhaust back pressure to run well. A microturbine in the exhaust system could easily suck all of the exhaust gas from the engine creating a partial vacuum. This must be prevented by an exhaust pressure control device linked to the microturbine inlet. A supplemental air inlet with filter to the microturbine will be needed for it's maximum performance.

Please understand that if I should ever implement my fantasy I would never expect to recover my cost thru fuel savings. My purpose in the endeavor is to demonstrate a proof of concept that satisfies fuel economy goals using technology that has been available for many decades.

 

[Limited02]

I disagree with your statement about turbo's making vehicles "less efficient." If done for sheer power, sure gas would go down and you would need forged internals and higher octane gas. If you were setting it up for power and efficency in mind, then you can use lower boost and make a more efficient vehicle. It's goes two ways.

I do remember reading a little about the "jet" cars that chrysler made in the 60's.

Good luck with whatever you do and keep us posted.