firstly, has this topic allready been done?

petrol is getting more expensive and soon will be gone. this idea is allways on my mind, but as i sit infront of the telly and watch "mad max 2" the thought of no oil really impacts on the mind.

i was wondering has anyone, and is it possible to install an engine that runs on a renewable energy source and still has the power of atleast a 1275cc (even if it isn't a 1275cc)?

just wondering if anyone has done it?
is interested in doing it?
thought about it?

i want my mini to stay on the road, not in a museum

(p.s i am tired, scuse my spelling and lack of sense)


("another thing. is this the right thread?")

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Sunday Morning Mini Sprint http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtGuzqBQ32Q my "rendezvous"

Yeah, it has been discussed a couple of times before
http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12660&highlight=electric+conversion


Still too expensive, but there will come a time when the batteries are cheaper than petrol...

Mad Max 2

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Too many cars, and too little time.

ethanol?
i learnt about that in chemistry.. hehehe

GREAT huh?

Em,
It takes more fossil fuel burning energy to create 1L of Ethanol, than there is energy contained therein.
It's only worth adding to petrol now because Little Johnny subsidises his mate that produces it.

I have a real good article on this, with statistics, but no scanner....

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

I went that US Aircraft Carrier yesterday. There are two Nuclear reactors on board. Both of which are sufficient to not need to refuel the thing for 20 years, apparently.

As for Ethanol, the sooner the better. At work I sit beside the bloke who was critical in implementing a company-wide "We use ethanol policy". Believe me, its the way of the future.

Ethanol will prop up the Qld sugar cane farmers nicely. All those sugar refineries up the coast will become distilleries for the stuff.
It may be an expensive an inefficient way of producing fuel but the Qld govt is subsidising those farmers anyway so we may as well do something useful with the cash.

Once we have the ability to preduce the stuff up here, and we don't need to ship it to Melbourne for it to be refined, it will become cheaper. We should see a difference at the pump of 5-6cents, assuming the operator wants to pass that on.

In it's own right it is an expensive product to produce, but given that it is a by-product (like LPG) it costs very little to produce.

not really. it may be ok for engines, but in EFI cars it eats fuel hose linings, injector seals injector bodies, and high pressure pump seals. when i was working at holden we had a run of pumps give up the ghost and they all filled up at the same ethanol selling servo. coincidence ? i think not. plus id rather use petrol, re kevs post.

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lookin for another clubby

Absolutely. The Queensland Government now only buys car that are suitable for running on 5-10 mix. You can imagine it is not in any manufacturers interest to not sell cars to them. So, Holden (amongst others) where forced to admit that it had no impact on there cars AT ALL (well, apart from improved fuel economy!)

Toyota only make one car that cannot run on in. It's a very obscure model Landcrauiser that hardly sells, apparently.

Until recently you may have seen that service stations were displaing a sign that Ethanol may adversly afect your fuel consumption. These were displayed right up until a few consumer groups did some testing. They took 5-6 falcons all brand new, exactly the same car. Filled some with petrol, some with ethanol. You can imagine why you will no longer see these signs anymore? The drove the cars along the exact same route until they came to a stand still. The ethanol fueled cars drove considerably further.

Little turbo diesel donk running on SVO would be cool in a mini

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Metal to burn, sparks to fly...

Not sure what the SVO is but there was a mini in a miniworld about 8 years ago running a turbo diesel 3 cylinder out of a Charade , reasonably simple conversion once he figured out where to mid the subframe and everything just slotted in . Don't think we had the turbo diesel in the Charade out here though , might have to find an importer willing to bring one in as a half cut . The guy who did the last one said the biggest drama was having servo attendants switching off the diesel bowser when they saw a mini filling from it and telling him off over the P.A. for filling a petrol car with diesel . Apparently most wouldn't believe him and he'd have to open the bonnet to prove it .

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