I heard something odd the other day, I have not done any search on line yet but I thought i would run it buy you guys, Someone told me he wrapped his fuel rail with the engine heater hose, wrapped it all up so the fuel would be heated, he said he went from 15 to 21 mpg, Now being the skeptick I am i just said ok pal, great and walked away. Not that I am gonna run right out and warap my fuel line, But has anyone ever heard of such a claim. ???

Brian

 

Diesel or gas? If its gas, seems like you might cause vapor lock when it gets hot...

 

Honestly, if the manufacturers could get a 40% gain in MPG by simply wrapping a fuel line even their cheap-asses would do that.

 

It was gas, and i was thinking maybe vapor lock also, Like I said I didnt put too much stock into what he was saying just wondering if anyone else had heard anything on it.
Thanks Guys.

 

A few years back, before Al invented the internet, you could send away for plans to build what they called a vapor carb. Claimed it would make your 350 ci Impala get 40 mpg. Part of what it was a system to heat the fuel to get it to vaporize. Now for $$$$ you can find things on the net that will turn your fuel into plasma to acheive that milage with you V10

A fellow that I knew ran a dyno and had a guy bring in a car that he had the vapor carb on. He said the big ol Chev would get upwards of 20 mpg but that it was running so lean that it had no power. Said it did not stumble and puke or anything though. When you put your foot down it just slowly built speed. Felt like it had a small motorcycle engine under the hood. Sorry but I don't remember the HP numbers.

 

WHen it comes to performance work, the warmer the fuel the less power, thats why Flex a lite makes an in line fuel cooler. Thats one of the reasons that Kenne bell made there boost A pump, larger fuel pumps warm up the fuel making you loose power, I think its a myth.

 

The finned aluminum inline fuel coolers came to my mind. I've always heard/thought cooler fuel is better than hot fuel. I don't see how wrapping fuel line with anything is going to do squat. Try it let us know.

 

It does work to some extent with diesel, but I seriously doubt a 6mpg increase. Warmer fuel expands more requiring less of it make the same air/fuel ratio as you would need with cold fuel. On a gas engine I doubt it would do much at all, and if warmed too much the system would vapour lock.


Running a Boost-A-Pump has nothing to do with running the fuel pump cooler. It boosts the voltage so the pump will output more fuel for a high demand engine, typically used as a cheap way to accomidate the fuel requirements of supercharging, or turbocharging. Those higher voltages actually cause a fuel pump to run hotter, but does not have any negative affect on performance because of heating on a fuel. The fuel in the tank is still relatively cold, even on the hottest of days. The only time a submersed fuel pump is going to run excessively hot is when you run out of fuel altogether.

 

I remember seeing a program on the History channel, or Discovery or something, where there was this guy with a 4-cyl Fiero that had one of those setups on it.

He claimed something like 40 MPGs too.

However, I think this guy's setup was something that GM had tried out as an experiment or something, and other parts of the engine had been modified to accommodate the lean mix, which I took to mean compression ratio, cam timing, etc. It was setup to run on such a hot mix... It wasn't just a heater hose wrapped around the fuel rail.

 

From kenne bell
BOOST-A-PUMP™.It activates only at full throttle or boost, so it doesn’t “bloat” or “overload” the fuel system at idle or cruise where full time pumps and extra fuel are not required. So, the fuel isn’t heated (gasoline begins to boil at 95°). No “cool can” is necessary. And it’s much easier to install (cut one wire) and more reliable than fuel pumps.

Do I need larger injectors, auxiliary injectors, an oversize fuel pump, an FMU, a BOOST-A-PUMP™? We don't use or advocate larger "in tank" or "in line" fuel pumps" as they heat the fuel through the re-circulation process. Most of our kits include the Kenne Bell BOOST-A-PUMP™. It's adjustable from 1-50% more capacity, quiet in operation, doesn't heat the fuel, is easy to install and is maintenance free. Our kits vary. Some include larger replacement injectors and a BOOST-A-PUMP™ . . . whatever is required to supply adequate fuel and the optimum air fuel ratio for that particular application.
TH is is what they claim, I think the reason that fuel in a gas motor needs to be cooler is to lower the intake temps and help avoid detonation, unlike a diesel that basically operates on detonation, were it would probably help the combustion of deisiel.

As for boost a pumps, they work and I'm not a big fan of running that extra voltage to the fuel pump, but until it burns up my fuel pump I'm fine with it, also it only increases the fuel pressure as long as i am in the boost, so for me its normally only increasing the voltage for 30 sec and under (you can hear it on AM and CB's)

 

I doubt you could vapor lock at the psi's a fuel injected engine sees.

I don't see how the expanded heated gas would have more stored energy than the same amount at a lower temp. The molecules may be spread farther apart, but ...

The fuel spray actually cools the charge some. Maybe if you heat it up, the PCU pulls timing to deal with the heat.

Gimick!

 

it only sees like 30 to 35 psi at cruising ideal and 44-50psi at wide open throttle, personally i dont think its a lot, You can air lock a diesel fuel system and those things operate at 10x what we see.
just food for thought

 

And, there you go...

 

Cooler fuel / air means more oxygen content = more power
Warmer means lower flash point and possible detonation = less power
quarter milers try to chill the carb boxes.

 

Turbine engines have intercoolers that take the warmed engine oil and transfer the heat to the fuel to essentially atomize the fuel farther and cool the oil at the same time. Good idea for a turbine but can't imagine it would work on a recip motor since they tend to like cooler dense fuel.