Red bullet VVTI seloniod

I'm back! Just re-installed the Red Bullet! The climb out of the lab parking was faster, the cold start was much smoother. Pick up on the road was faster also.

WOW what a difference! I feel like experiencing the magic again for the 1st time. But this time i knew exactly what to do with the performance.

I tried utilizing the throttle as if I was on the OEM to compare. I soon realised it was too fast, the acceleration characteristics is totally incomparable. I had to actually back off the throttle to stay within the city speed limit.

I am going to start counting the range per bar of gas indicator after the 1st drop.

I think that will be a good way to compare the OEM fuel consumption.

Guys i am so happy to be back on the Red Bullet. Real satisfaction every time i step on the gas!
Just amazing!

 

It feels like falling in love again! You know like the 1st time. Very satisfying. But the pain of that 1st week, I'm not going to use the OEM again!

 

Feels good to be back!

 

Drive to lab today was smooth and steady traffic.
Was able to hit good numbers!

I went on a road trip yesterday, i had full load of passengers, two big guys and a girl. The car did hill climbs beautifully, a little on the high rev side going up some very steep climbs but I can feel the authority all the way. There was a point we thought we would get wheel spins if it was more steep gradient but we pulled through it no problem! I'll see if i can find the Google road view of the road we tackled!

 

That is interesting.
Can you post a view of the throttle controller?

 

Hi gents! I am back from my exam session!

It was a lot of work getting ready for the test, but now it is done and dusted!

In the mean while I have been accumulating the all-important MGP data for the Red Bullet v.s the OEM solenoid. This is not a review just saying it is more fuel efficient but an actual controlled test carried out by me for the Red Bullet against the OEM Solenoid.

This was done in a more or less controlled environment which eliminated nearly most of the variables. I will try to explain my method and you can be the judge.

1. The commute to my lab and home on a daily basis is very stable, fortunately with the exam and the Phd proposal at hand I make the trip 7 days a week for the last 2 months without much disruption, I know very sad.

2. I seldom deviate my route or experience any traffic flow variant, if I needed to go somewhere other than the commute, I utilize transit or Uber to not affect the test environment. Which makes a good basis for my test that is hard to beat! I have already gathered data for the OEM Solenoid in the post "OEM Solenoid after the Red Bullet" So this will be a caparison data side by side. I must admit driving the OEM was very dull and sluggish. The route might slightly different during the last week of the test on the Red Bullet due to me not going for my routine snacks after lab. I gained weight and lots of work to catch up was the main reason for the deviation.

3. With the hours I need to be at the lab, it was literally impossible to use the car to do anything else, which in this case is another good control factor by making sure we do not have different circumstances to affect our MPG between OEM and Red Bullet

The route:

The traffic is usually heavy on the way into town at 8 am and smooth on my way home around 9 to 10pm. I will attach the route via google maps below so to give observers an idea of distance and terrain. https://goo.gl/maps/arJnat8JRFxYj8qw9

There are 2 significant climbs in my daily routine, 1st going up the underground parking with a warmed up engine from the 3rd level basement and the other one going home which is a 200 meter stretch going up roughly18 floors equivalent on a regular office building.

These two factor are all taken into account and make up the distance covered.

The MPBar:

After a few attempts to demonstrate the MPG gain for the Red Bullet, we realized it is not enough to say “I made a trip today to so and so, which I noticed an increase on my fuel efficiency when I looked on the dash“ In order to prove the results we will have to actually measure the approximate distance covered with a specific amount of fuel and run the identical parameters to see if we have a better outcome by using the Red Bullet. Well documented data is a must and only then will be able to show a significant difference.

Conventional fill up the fuel tank and divide the distance with the amount of fuel will not give you an accurate reading because of the following variables; firstly the pump might not click consistently shutting off the same point when the tank is full and the calibration of actual pump meter might be off by a few milliliters on every liter, different pump with every little here and there adds up to an inconsistent measurement.

What I proposed and applied to this comparison is to skip all the external measuring and directly use the fuel gauge on the vehicle as a reference.

I also proposed to skip the first bar and to start our count from the second bar to get rid of the inconsistency described above. From the second bar onwards we register how much distance we were able to cover with one bar hence MPBar was used in the following comparison.

Below are the results from the OEM solenoid and the Red Bullet organized and presented to you side by side(Only the Red Bullet photos are shown here, if you would like to see the photos for the OEM please follow the link) OEM Solenoid test after getting the Red Bullet | PriusChat

The benchmark point

OEM Bar one @ 105.0km with 23.5km/L average
Red Bullet Bar one @ 123.8 with 26.7km/L average
(Distance difference between benchmark = 32km as reference only)
So this goes to show how much difference can actually come from the same pump on a different day and on a different fill up session. So now we have to benchmark starting point, let us get busy!

Bar Two

OEM @ 188.7km with 24.8km/L (MPBar= 83.7km)
Red Bullet Bar two @ 208.6km 27.3km/L (MPBar=84.8km)
Delta MPBar=1.1km Red Bullet

Bar Three

OEM @ 248.3km with 24.7km/L (MPBar= 59.6km)
Red Bullet @ 289.5km with 27.2km/L (MPBar= 81.5km)
Delta MPBar =21.9 Red Bullet

Bar Four

OEM @ 332.3km with 25.3km/L (MPBar= 84km)
Red Bullet @ 369.3 with 27.3km/L (MPBar=80.0km)
Delta MPBar= 4.0km OEM

Bar Five is pending on the Red Bullet

These are the results for your interpretation. Please note there is a significant drop of MPBar for the OEM @ Bar three, maybe I had to overtake or get out of the way of an ambulance plus going up on the two slopes back to back landed in the same bar more than the other, I really don’t know. I know Bar Five will be out shortly enough to give us a bigger picture.

The two solenoids tests were driven on near to identical route, just the distribution might be a bit different which I will try to cover that area of the city within my next update before the 5th Bar drops down.

The response of the engine with the Red Bullet on the vehicle is significantly better and you can feel it for sure, and maybe I accelerated harder on the Red Bullet runs too just because I could. Time will tell us more.

The 10% increase in efficiency is available for one to either use it on economy or use it on power. You can’t do both at the same time, one part of the equation will have to balance the other. The equation for the Red Bullet is OEM+10% = OEM+ Power + Fuel economy.

I hope you enjoyed reading this article! I look forward to comments and questions for upcoming tests! But please don’t make me do the OEM swap again. It was pure torture.

I will follow up with the bar 5 when it becomes available.

By the way I would like to update the Patent number D166964 for the Red Bullet which was given by the manufacture.