July3
With gas prices setting record highs nearly every day, many Americans are being forced to trade in their performance cars and large trucks and SUVs due the high price of a fill up. But one Ohio man’s invention could be setting the stage for a V8 return.
Napoleon, Ohio’s Doug Pelmear claims that he has created a V8-powered 1987 Ford Mustang that develops 400 horsepower and 500 lb-ft of torque on E85, can accelerate from 0-60 in about three seconds – on its way to a top speed of 180 mph – and still returns an astonishing 110 mpg.
Although a 400 horsepower economy car sounds too good to be true, Toledo’s Rocket Ventures, a subsidiary of the Regional Growth Partnership, has verified Pelmear’s claim, according to OzarksFirst.com.
Pelmear has yet to reveal what’s exactly under the hood of his Mustang – as he’s still waiting on a few patents – but says his work is based off the work of his grandfather who developed fuel-saving techniques during the 1940s.
Pelmear has even entered his car into the Progressive Automotive X Prize, one of the world’s foremost green car competitions that challenges contestants to “design viable, clean and super-efficient cars that people want to buy.” If you ask us, the judges should just hand over the $10 million grand prize to Pelmear right now.
my first reaction is prove it. I’ll be following this closely…
I am betting on, COLD FUSION under the hood! Right next to the flux capacitor.
It will be proven. Why would he make himself look dumb?
That’s BS. This guy’s running a 5.0 or 5.8 making 400 HP getting 110 mpg, I don’t think so. E85 isn’t a big deal either, alot of dragster’s run pure alchohol. This sounds like the atricle a couple of weeks ago about a california company producing “green” gas from sea weed, waste water amd sunlight. Stop the BS LLN.
If his claims are true and he’s made some sort of incredible breakthrough, then it will only be a matter of time until an oil conglomerate buys the patent from him for an astronomical amount of money and then shelves it away, out of sight!
uhustle: why would he make himself look dumb? to get attention obviously, famous people make themselves look dumb all the time, have you ever heard of Paris Hilton, or Jessica Simpson?
If this is true this guy is going to need some protection.
Impressive if true. I learned to drive on an ‘88 LX 5.0 so it sure would bring back fond memories if I could get one with 500 torque AND get 110mpg. I’m assuming that’s a stock photo and not the guys’ actual Mustang. Any articles have a picture of the real one?
If true, McCain should just give this guy the $300M and skip the battery BS.
unless this engine has cyclinder deactivation and runs on 2 cyclinders under city driving then bangs out on all 8 on WOT, i don’t see how this is possible either- and why has he entered in some crappy competition? i watched the news a few days back and isn’t McCain offering over 300 million for some alternative way to power our cars? he needs to send his crap to McCain…
Yeah, this guy is going for that McCain prize. I just wish this guy used a different car…like say a Mustang that was either 20 years newer or 20 years older. This is like the OPPOSITE of Saleen and Foose, etc.
jagrews. Do me a favor? Name one famous person that claimed to invent something and didnt? You brought up a circumstance that has nothing to do with the case impoint. Instead of hating congradulate the guy. Obviously if he has pending patents something was invented. your dumb and the world would be a better place if they didnt have to read your dumb posts. Go drink some haterade
last time I checked nobody wanted to buy a 1987 5 litre mustang, so i dont think hes eligible to win.
oh yeah ihustle heres one
al gore inventing the internet
Oh sure. And the Astronaut Farmer was based on a true story. I’ll bet there’s a lot of purdy roses in this guy’s yard with ammount of BS he’s spreading.
My bet is he is calculating gasoline consumption only - so his Mustang gets 16.5 MPG of ethanol, but 110 MPG of Gasoline (only 15% in that mix).
When he was calculating MPGs, he may have just put the decimal in the wrong place: 11.0 MPG sounds more accurate.
what the hell??? i just got Rick Rolled :-/
One way or another, this guy is certainly getting some attention — good, bad, or otherwise. So lets all stop the mud flinging and just wait and see what happens.
yeah Shaver he is, because before you know it this guy is just going to disappear and we’ll never hear about him again.
I believe it. Look what the Germans accomplished in WWII. If they could develop an alternative to oil back then why can’t we today??? It’s a conspiracy I tell you!
Wow A4, I can’t believe people still bring that invented the internet line up. 3 seconds of googling will clear that up for ya: http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.asp
Here’s a link to an article that has a picture of the actual Mustang in it, for those that asked to see the actual car:
http://www.motortopia.com/blogs/4022
Thanks for that link corsa. I notice that article says 80mpg, which is still incredibly impressive. I think I’d rather settle for a 400hp car that gets 80mpg than whatever dinky 2-seater wins the Automotive X 100mpg prize.
Um, Al Gore was 20 yrs old in 1968 when DARPA started. The bills that he co-sponsored in ‘88 and ‘92 were pushed by his whole committee…. Sure, he helped, but under those auspices then Bill Gates REALLY DID INVENT OPERATING SYSTEMS.
Hmm… any bets that it’s a highly modified turbo 4-banger a la’ an SVO?
On the Mustang… does it meet emissions regulations? Is it SAFE?
If true, an oil company will just buy the patents anyway.
We must destroy these oil companies
Hopefully, this clears the Al Gore thing up:
iHustle: “Name one famous person that claimed to invent something and didnt?”
A4: “oh yeah ihustle heres one
al gore inventing the internet”
I hope that helps everyone understand why A4 brought that up. However, A4, Al Gore is famous for other reasons, not JUST for claiming he invented the internet. I doubt he knows anything about DNS and BIND, though.
This sounds too good to be true: an 80’s V8 MUSTANG winning the X-prize =)) =)) =))
i might get some backlash after this but sorry can’t help it- its funny how some random dude from Ohio who has a late 80’s mustang can make it have 110mpg, while i would have figured an asian or an Indian (not native american) would have been the first ones to come up with this mpg goal? so um, yea- where are my harold and kumar guys at?? damn you white castle!!
I think we understood why he brought it up beatus, we were just debating it being a false example since he never claimed to have “invented” the internet in the first place. So I guess iHustle’s challenge still stands. Although history is full of mathematicians, scientists and teachers claiming credit for their pupils works. I suppose that wouldt apply in this case though, unless this guy had an apprentice who suped up his mustang then stole credit for it.
Are any of you guys old enough to remember all the urban legends about the “secret 85 mpg carburetor”? Every time the price of gas spiked there’d be stories about some “self-taught” dude who created this amazing carburetor in the workshop behind his farm/blacksmith shop/double-wide. The magic device is then bought up by the oil cartel/auto cartel/government agency/secret reptilian overlords and never heard from again.
I’m not sure the Mustang as a platform could get 110 mpg if it was powered by a Briggs&Stratton 5 horse lawn mower engine, let alone any variety of Ford V8. And 0-60 in ~3 seconds? All based on work from the 1940s? Riiiiight.
For some reason, although I’ve only read one or two articles about this car, this guy sounds a bit more legitimate than some other claims that I’ve heard. Kinda brings back memories of that magic Chevrolet with the magic carburettor that never needed refilling, only I hope this one isn’t “hidden” or “fake”.
And really, I don’t think it’s too hard to achieve 100 miles per gallon. I know I could do it in my garage right now, but I can also guarantee you it would be a lightweight, dinky thing that would look safer floating in the middle of the Atlantic than on the road.
ihustle- Remember the recent car that was modified to run on hydrogen from some guys kitchen? Similar scenario, but fake. “Patents” were pending, and although you could be suspicious of government snatching up his operations so quickly, it seemed somewhat fishy. I wouldn’t doubt it though if that could be done.
Somehow, I have the feeling this guys is at least somewhat serious about this. After all, why would you enter this contest without a serious idea about how to achieve this goal. Just because a big auto maker didn’t come up with it doesn’t mean it’s fake. Remember, corporations are often weighed down by long development processes, rediculous standards, and obscene documentation requirments. It’s not too much to say that this same idea, if proposed in a big corp, could have been shot down. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you don’t have to worry about the Corp BS.
Anyway, the guy claims modern engines work at about 8-10% efficiency while his modified engine achieves roughly 38% efficiency. We’ll just have to wait and see what comes of it.
The good news - This guy came up with what seems like a good answer to our gas prices “crisis”.
The bad news - The Progressive Automotive X Prize competion doesn’t BEGIN until September 2009.
hmmmm I smell something…and it ain’t roses, maw!
actually the X prize starts in late 2008 with qualifiers. It does finish up in late 2009 though.
=========>>i read the article that corsa180 posted above. With my limited but extensive knowlege of the modern combustion engine, and a very thought out in-my-head summary of that article, i seriously beleive exactly what injunraiv posted above. injunraiv had a GREAT point. He more than likely just calculated *GAS CONSUMPTION ONLY* - so his Mustang gets 16.5 MPG of ethanol, but 110 MPG of Gasoline (only 15% in that mix). a VERY logical explanation.
People have been making these claims for years. They always turn out to be trickery. It is seen with “perpetual motion” machines, cold fusion, miracle engines. I for one am hugely sceptical. However, if he proves it, look out world, this will change the way we look at cars forever.
if this is true its amazing….its to bad that it will prob never see the light of day after some oil company buys the patent and kills it with the governments endorsement
Yeah, I remember those old “magic” carburetors made with a 1972 Mercury Cougar and the likes. My sister’s best (RIP) friend’s dad was one of those legendary back yard engineers. The legend said that he had created a way to recycle the unused gas that came through the exhaust, thereby giving him upwards of 80 MPG while sacrificing just a tiny bit of power. He supposedly built two, and one was purchased from GM for $500,000 (which was a lot of money back in 1984 when the legend was passed to me), who then killed the idea so that we Americans would need to continue to buy gas all the time. The other one that he built was supposedly installed in his own 1972 Cougar, and he secretly saved a lot of gas.
What I didn’t understand was, if he got $500,000, why did he live in a crappy house in a crappy town in Northern Utah, and why did he drive a piece of crap Cougar? The least he could have done was reupholster the ripped seats.
Oh, and Ken, you gotta stop with the arrows. They’re like the annoying ads that you have to watch on sites like Hulu before your video begins.
My guess is its something to do with extracting hydrogen from water using electricity ( one litre of water can run your car for about 180 miles) combined with a full tank of E85, switching between the two (like a Prius). So on a 2/3 highway, 1/3 city drive it uses no petrol on the highway (although its taken into the equasion)and quite little on the city run (when the car slows or stops it switches to the hydrogen/electricity). Simple, relitivly, and hugely effective. I like it.
dude i never said al gore invented the internet how about you read the whole thing before arguing with me, he didnt invent ****, my point had to do with ihustles comment.
==>>lol A4
Instead of saying it is BS or talking about Al Gore and the Internet let’s pray this to be true. If he patented a couple of things he’s invented something, maybe he exaggerated the mileage but probably not invented the whole thing. We may remember this day if this changes the world as we see it today… damn I sound like a politician, but I’m not lying, or at least I think I’m not.
If it works and is repeatable and reproducible then
ONE) It’s a Mustang. FORD better buy this thing and use it fast. Name the version after the guy and use the tech on everything they have.
TWO) Don’t make us wait more than three years to get ours. I mean how hard could it be to to put this in every damned machine you make. You’d be making money hand over fist and save FORD outright.
THREE) WIN or Lose, this guy needs to make a company doing this especially if FORD doesn’t buy it.
What’s wrong w/ a 1987 Mustang? I think they are pretty nice. The problem is, is that the ones you see today have been all screwed up by people thinking they’re making “improvements”. ugh.
‘MugenKen’, as soon as I see your worthless arrow I know not to bother reading the follow-up worthless text … unlike ‘beatusmongous’, I say keep the arrow … otherwise, I may end up reading and regretting it.
shaver:
“If this is true this guy is going to need some protection.”
You have an excellent point. Imagine what “certain groups” would want to do to him.
Wow…damn!!!
This is an amazing, spectacular achievement! Please God don’t let anything happen to this man…if we can produce commercially even half of what he’s claiming, it’d be an instant game changer.
yup, only in this case mpg stands for metres per gallon. Total BS
Time will tell…
The Illuminati are watching you…
You’re a nut case if you believe this BS. But as P.T. Barnum once said . . . .
We will need to see it happen before rightly or wrongfully passing judgment. I say this after the “wow-factor” has waned with me. But if this is for real, then it is the answer to so many questions and problems.
But for now, I’ll keep plugging away at Serial Hybrids, Hydrogen boosters, and all other else.
Further proof that Ford Rules!
@ jumpoffit
what is WOT? Americans (not counting Southernors or Detroiters) are smarter than asians and indians
@A4
better an ‘87 Mustang than an ‘87 audi!
@Angeleo
Bill Gates is a thief
@ beatusmongous
There is no such thing as a crap Cougar
@beantownslut
If you don’t take care of it, any car can turn into crap. This was a fine example of one. But a shiny old lowrider Cougar with decent wheels would have my respect.
I saw this on the news last night and all I could think is show me!!!! Don’t talk about this shiznit unless your ready to put up or shut up! Algae gas where is it? Oh it’ll be ready in a few years. Water gas kits? Where can I buy one? Oh well were still working on it. F-Bomb all this crap! Have it ready to go THEN tell me about it.
he probably didn’t WANT the public “eye” to get ahold of it. LLN is a car gossip site like it or not. one person got ahold of it & then another & another & another…. & so on [obviously].
i think its true, a friend of mine going to school @ TCU (Ft Worth Texas) is working on making his Honda Accord (2002 model) run on water. he’s got an extra Vtec engine in his garage & hes forming the reprogramming himself. he’s gotten it to run, just not very good. not good @ all. but its a lot farther than some people have gotten.
There is not enough energy per unit volume in gasoline to run a big American V8 and have it travel 110 MPG. You have to consider the friction loss, the weight of the vehicle, and the aerodynamic shortcomings of this variety of Mustang. Unless it performed its economy run downhill, there is no way it returned 110 MPG. Why don’t people consider the three basic laws of thermodynamics before forfeiting belief to these obvious charlatans?
and air/fuel ratios. If they are creating that kind of power they need alot of fuel, I’m talking about brake specific fuel comsumption. Look it up. Direct injection has leaned A/F some and can stay stochiometric, not much of a difference. other than that i’m not sure how they get this done on a powerful V8. So I would have to agree with post #59
Fuel mileage is limited by the energy content of the fuel, the laws of thermodynamics, and by frictional and aerodynamic loses. Gasoline has energy of combustion 11,000 calories/gram. That is the maximum energy that can go into a gasoline engine. The useful work is limited by the engine’s efficiency. The thermodynamic ideal gasoline engine is governed by the Otto cycle, which is a function of the compression ratio. The higher the compression ratio, the greater the engine efficiency. For a compression ratio of 10:1, the Otto cycle efficiency is approximately 60%. This means that you should expect 6 gallons of work out of every 10 gallons of gasoline.
However, real cars are effectively much less efficient than the Otto cycle. They may do about 12-15%. Heat losses, braking losses, drive train losses, rolling resistance, aerodynamic losses…the list goes on. The automobile manufacturers have actually done an excellent job in reducing these loses. The question remains: Just how realistic is the claim of 110 mpg?
It turns out that an ideal Otto engine driving a car at 60 mph with no rolling resistance requires a coefficient of drag of 0.33 to achieve this fuel economy. A somewhat less slippery car should be able to do it at slower speeds. The bugaboo is that this scenario requires substantial reductions in all loss mechanisms–unrealistic reductions. The claim is that the super efficient Mustang is powered by a 400 hp engine. However, it can produce no more than 17 hp at cruising speed in order to get 110 mpg.
Thank god! There is someone with a brain on this site.
There are two theories.
Theory 1. The engine block is made of ceramic. Ceramic engine blocks use very little oil and get a lot of horsepower and high mileage.
Theory 2 Vapor fuel delivery system. There are many stories of people inventing cars with vapor fuel deliver yet when the men went public somehow they disappeared died or were killed or their technology was purchased by some oil company.
I have been researching high mileage cars for years, these are the best i have come up with. But if you google both of these topics you will see many articles to both.
Guess what both technology patents are owned by oil companies !! It’s time for the oil industries downfall !
Oh so here is what one guy has done to his 1992 Honda Civic Cx 95mpg !
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/aerocivic-how-drop-your-cd-0-34-0-a-290.html#post2110
here it is
http://videos.streetfire.net/video/100-MPG-Muscle-Car_169809.htm
IT may be a Heat or Adiabatic engine.
See here:
http://schou.dk/hvce/
There is so much more.
Crud ! see #59. I thought it did not get through…
It’s a Flux Capacitor powered by a Mr. Fusion.
Videos always seem to be the best proof for me….
http://videos.streetfire.net/video/100-MPG-Muscle-Car_169809.htm
@beantownslut
WOT = wide open throttle