128-mpg, Kubota Diesel-Powered Sports Car

[Henry W]

I just ran into this. I was thinking how cool it would be to Put a Kubota 3-cylinder, D1005 in a Mazda Miata.

http://www.rqriley.com/cent.html

Henry

[bschwartz]

I have the Miata sitting on the side of my house collecting dust.......
It's a '93 with 64,000 miles on it, but since I can't put WVO in the tank, I just drive the Mercedes.

[Henry W]

I believe here in North Carolina it would be legal to come up with what they would call a composite.
And it might be easier if the car is not newer than 1995. It would not have to be emmision tested. All would need is a Catalist.

I think it is time to start looking into something like this and see if it is legal to do. If gas hits $5.00 a gallon I need to do something.

Henry

[AdeV]

As Jeremy Clarkson would say, it does however have a couple of problems...


1) 65mph top speed. Ouch. I wonder how long it takes to achieve such a blistering pace?

2) It's as ugly as someone who fell out of the ugly tree, smacking their face on every ugly branch on the way down before landing smack bang on the ugly rock.

3) It's based on a Triumph Spitfire chassis. Assuming there are any left which don't consist more of rust than metal; you'd be making a FAR better investment putting a Triumph Spitfire body back on it... Oh, and a honking great big v8 of course 


Anyway - none of the above would matter, except that it describes itself as a SPORTS car! Well, if watching paint dry is a sport, maybe.

[Henry W]

Ok,

Than how about this engine.

http://www.kubotaengine.com/products/05/v1505_t_e3.html

[Henry W]

This might work in a Geo Metro.

http://www.kubotaengine.com/products/05/d1105_t_e3.html

[Henry W]

I am talking about a car to commute to work. I don't need to go over 45 MPH. But I think the V1505 Turbo would have no problems getting it up to 55 MPH fast enough.

If I can get somthing that gets close to 70 MPG that would be pretty good.

I am looking in this because I already spend 125 dollars a week on gas.

It's time to start thinking about transportation.

Henry

[Tom Reed]

I built a Spit6 which is a Spitfire with a 2 liter inline 6 engine from a GT6. Very fun little car. It had a 6 in to 1 header and a Toyota 5 sp transmission. Made the bell housing/adapter my self too.

[Henry W]

I have the Miata sitting on the side of my house collecting dust.......
It's a '93 with 64,000 miles on it, but since I can't put WVO in the tank, I just drive the Mercedes.

I wonder if this engine would be a good match. http://www.kubotaengine.com/products/05/v1505_t_e3.html

The older Miata's are cheap to purchase.

Henry

[Henry W]

The reason I am bringing this up is I think fuel will be going out of sight. I think it would be a good thing if we can get creative here and come up with some cheap form of transportation that will get around 70 MPG, Cheap to purchase and convert, easy to maintain, Hold 2 adults and 2 children.

Henry

[bschwartz]

The reason I am bringing this up is I think fuel will be going out of sight. I think it would be a good thing if we can get creative here and come up with some cheap form of transportation that will get around 70 MPG, Cheap to purchase and convert, easy to maintain, Hold 2 adults and 2 children.

Henry

Er.... that kind of rules out the Miata 

[Henry W]

I thought it would be cool but after looking at the curb weight of over 2000 lbs and hold only 2 people I see it is not a good match.
I am now thinking of a Geo Metro. Some have a Curb weight of around 1600 lbs. I think this might work.

Henry

[Henry W]

Here is the Specs of the engine I have.

[deeiche]

rm /

[Henry W]

Here is a Geo Metro Diesel Video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnAOF1bOSB8