Better gas mileage??

Question

hello i was wondering if you could get better mileage out of a car if you restricted the horsepower somehow by say restricting the intake? i just thought about this the other day because the amount of gas burned is proportional to the amount of horsepower (burn more for more power). anyone ever hear of this befor or have any thoughts? im planning on driving across canada and the more mileage i get the better.

Answer 1

hey, i live in canada!

anyways, the first answer is right. if you restrict the intake, that would be bad. you would have HORRIBLE gas millage. what you want is more air not less. if you get more air in your cylinders, then there would be more pressure causing a bigger band then increasing your economy and power. because then you'll be using less gasoline to push your car forward.

ways you can do this is by putting a cold air intake on your car, a turbo or a supercharger.

a cold air intake basicaly cools the air before it gets to your engine. since the cooler air gets the more dense it gets, more air can be fit into your cylinders, allowing more power and fuel efficiency.

a supercharger and turbo basicaly are simillar. a supercharger is hooked up to your engine's drivebelt and as the drivebelt turns, it spins the supercharger and it forces more air into your cylinders.

a turbo is the same concept but a turbine is connected to your exhaust pipe. and as your exhause flows out of your engine, it turns the turbine in the turbo and forces more air into your cylinders, thus increasing horsepower and fuel economy at the same time!!!

also make sure your airfilters are clean.

if you don't really get how turbo's, superchargers, and cold air intakes work, go to www.howstuffworks.com and look it up

have fun on your trip!

Answer 2

bad idea.

a smaller engine does use less gas.

an engine in which the air or gas is restricted will perform much worse, and get much poorer gas mileage.