Blue "Genie" Taco (Hybrid)

Since my truck is the same color of "Genie" in Aladdin, well, I guess her name is going to be Genie. I will post pictures soon. I waited 7 yrs. to buy my Speedway Blue TACO (Couldn't find a doublecab speedway blue that anybody was willing to sell in 7 yrs.). My Fiance finally helped me find it. Hence the reason I Love the girl more than the truck though

My goal is to make my 4x4 Tacoma the most fuel efficient 4x4 TACO possible. With most of the stuff I've done, I'm hitting numbers of about 20mpg city, and 24mpg highway...approximately. EPA sticker on this truck is 17mpg city, and 19mpg highway. Eventually I plan to make my TACO a hybrid...and I will explain how. My initial goal is to reach 20mpg city/25mpg highway (almost there). My ultimate goal is to get 25mpg city, and 30mpg highway. Most of you are probably saying "Good luck buddy!", and I thank you for the warm wishes, because trust, I'll need em'. This aint no simple task.

Most of my work is already done, so I probably can't show how I did it, but I will easily explain all of the mods I've done and where I got the parts. I know a lot about Tacomas (they are my favorite vehicle on the road), so if you have any questions, let me know

Pictures Coming soon...

 

I can get 19 in the city and I have gotten 23 on the highway, just depends on how you drive. Most of the time now it is closer to 14-15 in the city (although I do need to change the plugs) and 19 or so on the higway. Good luck

 

Hypermiling in a Tacoma? Interesting choice

 

Absolutely lol. Hypermiling. Why don't I just buy a Prius? BECAUSE I HATE PRIUS. They are dispicably ugly. They deliberately make them ugly so people will buy a gas hog instead. Car companies and Big Oil are in cahoots...

 

Very true, 80% of it is how you drive. I'm driving heavy on the pedal in the city though and still pulling off 19-20mpg. On the highway now, I don't have to go over 1100 RPM to go 70mph.

Most of what I've done is weight reduction.

 

What?! I'm at 2000 at 55 mph.

 

I'll post more about my mods later...I know a crap load about efficiency... I'm obsessed with it. When my engine blows, I'm making my truck full electric with 300hp.

Go to YouTube and look up "White Zombie Electric Car"...I'll have a similar setup. Electric is waaaay better than combustion. We are in the 2000's now, it's time we take off our combustion training wheels.

 

I bet if you get that oil leak fixed you'll get an extra 1 or 2 mpg

 

Lol. No, there is only a 1% chance that the leak is hurting my mpg. If you don't believe me...idle your engine until it is warm...then unscrew your oil filler cap and listen to the engine change it's RPM slightly. The oil leak will have the same effect as removing (or at least loosening) the oil filler cap.

It messes with the vacuum compression (ever so slightly) inside your engine.

I hope to be a teacher amongst many. lol. Just call me the profit of efficiency.

 

To keep you occupied while I arrange the pictures, here is the idea of how I plan to make my Tacoma a hybrid. It is called the Goodwin Assist, only I will not be paying him $20,000 to do it, I know how to wire it up and install it myself for about $1,500 - $3,000:

http://www.hlineconversion.com/goodwin-assist

He uses two different types ofmotors:

1. Brushless Golden Motor (Blackmotor as shown on Hummer/Made In China)

2. Brushless PMAC motor from ElectricMotorSport.com (Made In USA)

I'm obviously going to be using the motor made in Murrrrca.

The motors will add about 20 horsepower (HP) to your drive...in other words...it will have the same effect of completely removing your serpentine belt and going for a drive. Here is the breakdown of efficiency in terms of how many HP your accessories use from (idle– redline). Please note, 0.746 Kilowatts (KW) is equivalent to 1 HP. (e.g.): rounding up on the kilowatts, every 750 watts = 1 HP. Again, the items listed below are assuming all your accessories are at redline RPM (with A/C compressor engaged):

1. Tensioner: ~0 kW
2. AC: 4kW (5hp)
3. Alternator: 5-6kW (7-8hp)
4. Water Pump: 10kW (13hp)
5. Power Steering: 2-4kW (3-5hp)

This is why the Prius is said to not have a serpentine belt to run all these accessories. It is simply inefficient. Adding the electric motor into the serpentine belt to boost it by about 20 HP, would act as if there is no serpentine belt in place to run the accessories, nearly.This is said to boost your MPG by 3-5mpg. It is called a “Mild Hybrid” setup, or “Simple” Hybrid.

The only thing stopping me, other than the cost, is the extra weight of batteries lugging me down. I’m not sure the truck would be fun to drive with an extra 150-300lbs added onto it.

Long story short, it you do not have the A/C on, and you are not redlining your vehicle, you will have a parasitic loss of about 10 HP - 15 HP, just from everyday driving. Having the electric motor in place would completely eliminate the parasitic drag...at least until the stinkin battery dies that is...

Let me know what ya’ll think, peace.

 

Why invest money into a gas pump, when you can invest it into your vehicle? Big Oil doesn't need our money, we do...truck, van, or car.

Also, I'm doing this for 3 solid reasons:

1. Better Fuel Efficiency

2. Better Performance

3. To Simply Prove that it can be done.

I'm tired of the same old mentality about mileage being this mystical thing. I simply do not want to drive a Prius...or a car for that matter. I love my Tacoma, and feel that with my knowledge, I can make it...more efficient...extremely efficient. Why would that degrade the image of a truck. If anything, that would help the image of a truck, because everybody sees them as gas guzzling monsters. I just want to have a gas sipping monster lol, that's the only difference. It'll happen.

 

Sooo, what exactly have you done to your truck?

 

Hes a troll.

BS is being called on the 1100 rpm at 70mph unless you put in some really tall gears which i doubt since it is a 4x4. You would not pay that much for the swap.

To offset the cost of the parts it would take to long.

 

Simple stuff so far...when I first got it with 121,000 miles...everything was stock...for starters...everything was original. I seriously couldn't get past 300 miles per tank highway. Now I'm pushing 400 miles per tank city - 450highway.

 

I'll take a video of me driving at 1100 rpm at 70mph if you'd like lj973gm

 

In the city...yea I don't drive like a menace...and also on the highway I don't have to rev the rpms, because it is so in tune I don't have to.

1. Changed O2 sensors at 129,000mi. $500...went from Denso to Bosch *Wideband* (most expensive thing I've done) 2 upstream came from O'Reilly (because Rock Auto didn't carry the wideband ones that give a better reading / performance slightly), 2 downstream came from Rock Auto.com

Now I have a backup pair...my old ones are still good, they are just not great...they are pretty messed up and the manual says to change them at 60,000

Think of it this way...O2 sensors are the main brain of the gas system. At 100,000 to 150,000mi. you are losing about 1.5mpg and 150,000 - 250,000 you are losing about 2.5mpg. My dashboard light was not on, but I read online that changing them before hand can extend the life of your CATs...and provide some extra MPG...

This is entirely true. I gained about 1.5mpg back.

 

2. Flexalite Electric Fan (DO NOT TRY TO DESIGN YOUR OWN FAN!!!)

I wasted $75 trying to go the cheap route with a 2,500 CFM fan...uuuhh no, sorry Dean...

Flex a Lite was $359...and worth every pretty penny.

I also wired up a thermostat $50 at local auto store, and this enables you to not always have the fan on...

I know what some of you are thinking already..."I just took the load off the engine and added it to the alternator"...

That is partially true, but the Flex a Lite fan only takes a very small amount of electricity to run...and it provides something like 3,500 CFM.

Because of this mod, I can burnout in my automatic from a dead stop too

 

3. Instead of having a 50lb battery under my hood...I now have a 25lb. battery that was $5 cheaper than factory replacement and a little bit stronger too...

This really helps in terms of turning corners. 25lbs matters.

 

prophet

 

lol OZ-T...prophet...yea I could get used to this...

I'm not lying, I swear. 400city and 450highway are my extremes...if I'm babying the gas pedal and I'm not idling too much in traffic.

4. Removed the "SplashGuard" skidplate and used rubberish plastic to make another one $20 plastic Home Depot + $5 Spraypaint matte black. It weighs about 10 oz

skidplate doesn't hardly do anything for crawling, and weighs a good amount for nothing...I think it's like 10 - 15lbs of solid nothing/and very bendable...and is there to protect from splashing? Why not have plastic instead...