V8 to V4
V8 to V4
(OP)
I own a Ford Bronco with a 351 V8 and I am trying to improve gas mileage. I know the first remark is that I shouldn't have gotten an SUV, but it was given to me and the cab is big enough for me to fit into comfortably. My question is I know that some older Cadillac's had V8's with switchs to turn them into a V4 by cutting the fuel into four of the cylinders. Is there any gas mileage advantage to doing this, and would there be any detrimental effects other than a loss of power (ie. increased wear, ect.)? Thanks





RE: V8 to V4
But, there's another issue. You'll still be wasting power by pumping air through the throttle and valves for 4 cylinders that aren't producing any power. If you were to disable the valves, then you wouldn't be - and the compression and expansion of the trapped air would roughly balance out (sure, there's heat transfer, but that's not my point, and it still probably balances out in the end). The *only* gain in your equation then is that the throttle is now slightly more open for the 4 cylinders that are producing work, thus reducing some of the throttling losses. I would imagine that the net gain would be negligable for the hassle.
RE: V8 to V4
If I had 10 cars and an infinite amount of spare time I might try it on the car I hated most.
Cheers
Greg Locock
RE: V8 to V4
RE: V8 to V4
I agree that the valves would be the nicest (fuel efficient) way to make this work.
You could install an new Hemi in your Ford.
dwedel