BXProject

[jayw]

As many of you know my current only-motor-available-when-i-needed-one four wheeled shed is a crappy Daihatsu 4x4. Now whilst it may be fun on the muddy stuff and generally reliable it's piss-poor in the fuel economy department! Being a little 1300cc through a permanant 50/50 splitter it drinks petrol like Rab C Nesbitt drinks Buckfast (25-30mpg).

So, me thinks that as i don't need the 4 wheel drive element particularly i should just hack a couple of wheels off the drivetrain, gotta help significantly I thought and probably free up a bit of power.

I'd have preferred RWD but as the front propshaft is fitted directly into the transfer box via a slipjoint and seal it'd have to be FWD. No biggie really. So, i takes off the rear prop, takes just 15 minutes et voila!

Checks the previous mpg which was 30 and nips off down the petroleum establishment for a top-up. Took it out and felt no discernable different except for a distinct lack of engine braking and after a 60 mile run i topped it back up and low and behold an improvement in the mpg was had! It managed to gain a whole massive impressive unbelievably exciting 3mpg! Waste of tossing time!

[Philhod]

Coz the gears in the transfer box are still a turnin of.

[jayw]

Coz the gears in the transfer box are still a turnin of.

Yes, but as they're no longer connected to anything i'd have expected more. I know it's a common trick of the Freelander community with significantly more success!

[Way2go]

Are you not able to reduce fuelling a bit now that you don't need the initial grunt to overcome the extra inertia in the system? The old eyeball technique on the colour of the spark plugs should guide you on this.

[jayw]

Are you not able to reduce fuelling a bit now that you don't need the initial grunt to overcome the extra inertia in the system? The old eyeball technique on the colour of the spark plugs should guide you on this.

Unfortunately the Injection/Ignition system is full auto, all i can adjust is idle speed

[Way2go]

Unfortunately the Injection/Ignition system is full auto, all i can adjust is idle speed

It must be adjustable, just that you need to couple a laptop to it to adjust the ecu map and save the new settings.
Maybe there's some programs you can get off the net for this? I haven't looked into it so there also may be dongles needed to allow access but I'm sure that Vanny being involved with automotive engineering must be able to get info on the method for you to pursue?

[mat_the_cat]

60 miles is a fairly short trial, maybe run it like that for a couple of tanks? That said, 10% improvement might be all there is to be had, I wouldn't expect the extra drive wheels to drag it down *that* much. 33mpg is still shit though!