Vaporate fitted to AU2 I6

JC · 22-10-2005, 10:50 PM

I spent 5 hours today fitting vaporate to the wagon. It costs $289 plus fitting, and I thought "how hard could it be?". Well, never again. I have scratches and vruises all up and down my arm from trying to undo the inlet manifold bolts. Fat arms and confined spaces just don't go. Anyway, I had to take the inlet manifold off to fit the metal gasket supplied in the kit. AFAIK, it's only falcons that get the gasket. Next time I'll pay a mechanic the 2 hours labour they wanted!

The injectors themselves were easy enough, undo the fuel rail, pull the injectors off the fuel rail, remove the front O ring, replace the rear O ring with a new one supplied in the kit, fit the orange O ring to the front of the injector, then fit the two collar halves and the smaller o ring. The hardest part is then lining all the injectors back up to the holes in the manifold, but if you work from the back and line each one up, it goes on easy.

I've filled the car up tonight, so I should know by later this week if it works. Even if it only saves 10%, it's worth saving at $1.30 a litre. The gas also goes in next week, so the wagon is going to be hte econmonical car.

Oh, Why did I decide to try Vaporate? For under $300, I figured I didn't have much to lose. I've spent more than that on other mods that have made bugger all difference to the car (XR front, for example).

LUXO_8 · 22-10-2005, 10:53 PM

be interesting to hear your findings.
what exactly does it do?????? (if you prefer to link me elsewhere feel free)

vztrt · 22-10-2005, 10:55 PM

Would ethenol blended fuel damage the Vaporate device? Does it make contact with the fuel or does it just heat the injectors?

Just asking as your making it really economical to run.

JC · 22-10-2005, 11:00 PM

MADNC_8 - The collar that replaces the injector nozzle tip (I forgot to put that in the above - you have to use a pair of pliers to pull off the old tip from the injectors) is made of metal. The inlet gasket is made of metal. So the theory is that once the engine gets up to running temp, the injector tip heats up, supposedly fully vapourising the fuel as it shoots through the injector. I'm not here to argue if that's possible or not, just telling what the theory is - I guess I think it's possible because I bought the kit! Anyway, standard injectors supposedly leave 10-15% of the fuel unvapourised, which does not get mixed with air so does not get burnt and just goes out the exhaust as part of the waste process. Vaporate claims that it helps to vaporise and therefore burn all of the fuel, which is how it gets the savings - it is important to have your O2 sensor working properly, as it is this sensor that detects excess fuel in the waste exhaust, which aids the ECU to dteremine how much fuel to let through on the next intake cycle.

It may all be good in theory, but not in practice, but it's got to be better than adding napthalene flakes to fuel! I'll know in a week or so. For the record, the best economy I have got in the 6 over the last few months is 13.77 litres/100km. Usually it's around 14.3. Not too far off the XR8, in fact (which averages around 15, but with a best of 13.83). This is all city cycle.

JC · 22-10-2005, 11:03 PM

vztrt - I don't think it contacts the fuel, but's a bronzy/coppery looking collar, so I don't think a 10% ethanol blend would hurt it. I'm one of the few that actually believes in ethanol based fuel - but no more than 10% mix, unless your car is built specifically to run on a higher % blend.

vztrt · 22-10-2005, 11:08 PM

As soon as you said it was all metal I was thinking it should be fine. I've never seen this product but there has been a few thread's about it and has got me interested. Also thought about giving the E10 a go, because I've read that people have actually been getting better fuel economy with it.

But if you get better results with the I6 than I might go and get it fitted.

LUXO_8 · 22-10-2005, 11:31 PM

ahh ok, dunno why but i was thinking something along the lines of dodgily leaning the car up a bit, to give savings

as you said, sounds good in theory.... it'll be good to see how you go......

LG · 22-10-2005, 11:49 PM

Nice, I'm planning to do the same to mine soon. Without sounding rude.... Thanks for being the guinea pig JC, knew i could trust on you.

:

geckoGT · 22-10-2005, 11:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LG

Nice, I'm planning to do the same to mine soon. Without sounding rude.... Thanks for being the guinea pig JC, knew i could trust on you.

:

How quickly you guys forget, he is not the first guinea pig! Just joking

vztrt · 22-10-2005, 11:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by geckoxr8

How quickly you guys forget, he is not the first guinea pig! Just joking

I seen alot of V8's that have got it done but I wanna see how it goes on the I6.

geckoGT · 22-10-2005, 11:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vztrt

I seen alot of V8's that have got it done but I wanna see how it goes on the I6.

Any idea how they went as I have not seen any other 8's post results?

JC · 23-10-2005, 12:02 AM

Gecko - you were my inspiration in terms of giving me the idea to give it a go (ie after reading about yours, I figured I didn't have much to lose). So you are the guinea-mother! LOL.

vztrt · 23-10-2005, 12:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by geckoxr8

Any idea how they went as I have not seen any other 8's post results?

I was looking at the post and your the only one that has actually given it a good test. But there was an I6 that said he is saving about 1L/100km.

But BIGDOG (i think thats his nic) said his boss had one put in, and it's looking good.

geckoGT · 23-10-2005, 12:56 AM

so nice to be loved (blushing) 1L/100km is about what I am saving, maybe a little better than that. I would like to hear about some of the other 8's as well as the 6's. Good luck guys!

JC · 23-10-2005, 01:12 AM

If it's any good on my 6, I will be fitting it to the XR8 (AU) as well. 1L over 13 is about 8% saving, so it's better than nothing. If juice is 1.30 per litre, you're effectively only paying 1.20 per litre. So it will only take 2890 litres to actually make a saving after paying for the vaporate system! yippee.

One thing that has me wondering is why the kits for the 6s and 8s are the same price - I'm guessing the answer is that the parts are actually quite cheap, so 4 extra collars and a couple of extra O rings costs them next to nothing - we are paying for the "technology".

geckoGT · 23-10-2005, 01:20 AM

8 gets more collars but 6 gets gasket, kind of evens out i suppose

twr7cx · 23-10-2005, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JC-XRWgn

One thing that has me wondering is why the kits for the 6s and 8s are the same price - I'm guessing the answer is that the parts are actually quite cheap, so 4 extra collars and a couple of extra O rings costs them next to nothing - we are paying for the "technology".

Your spot on there! It's like an SS Induction, there's no ways that SS payed more than $5.00 for that plastic, but they charge you $250ish!
Glad to hear these are working. I've sold a few at work (casual kicker at Repco), and I've always told the people to come back and tell me how well they work, but they never do so this is pretty much the only feedback I've heard. Besides from one mechanic who installed some on a BA I6 taxi and said the driver was happy.

JC · 23-10-2005, 02:10 PM

twr - that's funny, the guy at repco I bought them off said much the same thing. He's had feedback that it increases performance (not sure about that yet), but nothing about economy, but the thing with checking economy is that it needs to be done over a few weeks or a month.

Cobra · 23-10-2005, 03:11 PM

Last time I was at repco getting some tools I had a chat to the guy about it. He reckons his old man has it on his car and it increased performance and lowered fuel economy. I'm still sceptical. Will be interesting to see how you go JC.

jonbays · 23-10-2005, 05:54 PM

I doubt it will work and I doubt you can accurately even measure your fuel consumption to anywhere near a plus or minus 10% accuracy on a street driven car. Good luck

JC · 23-10-2005, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cobra

Last time I was at repco getting some tools I had a chat to the guy about it. He reckons his old man has it on his car and it increased performance and lowered fuel economy. I'm still sceptical. Will be interesting to see how you go JC.

Cobra - I'm sceptical too, but rather than sit on the sidelines and wonder if it works (which is what I normally do), I thought for under $300, it was worth giving a go. So we will see.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonbays

I doubt it will work and I doubt you can accurately even measure your fuel consumption to anywhere near a plus or minus 10% accuracy on a street driven car. Good luck

Yep, 10% is going to be hard to measure, but the thing is, If I get low 13s or even under 13 l/100km, I will know it works, because the best I have ever got around town (driving like a grandpa, with the occasional squirt) is 13.77l/100km.

jonbays · 23-10-2005, 06:32 PM

My guess with most of these "inventions" is its mostly a placebo effect.

You want it to work especially after fitting it yourself and therefore you drive more carefully and it does work.

I noticed I am picking up an extra 20k a tank recently. What was the mod NONE just the price of petrol moderating the right foot I would guess.

sfr rob · 23-10-2005, 11:12 PM

hey, arnt you losing performance when you are using less fuel?

i paid 60cents a litre for gas today. It is ALMOST becoming pointless having LPG on your car these days..... mind you i was in the country!

vztrt · 23-10-2005, 11:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sfr rob

hey, arnt you losing performance when you are using less fuel?

I thought it makes the fuel burn more efficiently and hence the car uses less petrol with no decrease in power. Same idea behind higher octane petrol.

sfr rob · 23-10-2005, 11:36 PM

oh... ok..
that sounds alright then!

i thought that the collars somehow "choke" the amount of fuel being injected.

but then again i dont know JACK about the mechanics of an engine! LOL

vztrt · 23-10-2005, 11:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JC-XRWgn

So the theory is that once the engine gets up to running temp, the injector tip heats up, supposedly fully vapourising the fuel as it shoots through the injector.

I'm not here to argue if that's possible or not, just telling what the theory is - I guess I think it's possible because I bought the kit! Anyway, standard injectors supposedly leave 10-15% of the fuel unvapourised, which does not get mixed with air so does not get burnt and just goes out the exhaust as part of the waste process.

Vaporate claims that it helps to vaporise and therefore burn all of the fuel, which is how it gets the savings - it is important to have your O2 sensor working properly, as it is this sensor that detects excess fuel in the waste exhaust, which aids the ECU to dteremine how much fuel to let through on the next intake cycle.

Thats the basic idea of it. I assume if the ECU reduces the fuel sent into the engine than you reduce the amount of fuel used. Doubt it would work (if it works) on engines that arn't EFI.

geckoGT · 24-10-2005, 12:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vztrt

Thats the basic idea of it. I assume if the ECU reduces the fuel sent into the engine than you reduce the amount of fuel used. Doubt it would work (if it works) on engines that arn't EFI.

Due to the fact that it is a collett that fits on the injectors, it is impossible to fit on anything but EFI motors.

vztrt · 24-10-2005, 12:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by geckoxr8

Due to the fact that it is a collett that fits on the injectors, it is impossible to fit on anything but EFI motors.

Wern't there fuel injected engines that wern't controlled by a computer??

JC · 24-10-2005, 12:05 AM

vztrt - There's no way it would work on engines that aren't EFI. EFI = Electronic Fuel Injection. The Fuel Injection part of that means that you have fuel injectors, and the collar fits on them. I guess the closest you could get on a carbied engine is changing the size of the jets. Not sure about mechanical injection, but it wouldn't work as it relies on the O2 sensor to make the fuel changes necessary for the next intake stroke.

sfr_rob - the vaporate system works on the theory that around 15% of the fuel that is injected using standard injectors is unburnt (because it actually forms droplets and won't/can't burn). I know a lot of people think that it is the fuel that is being burnt in the cylinders, but it's actually the air/fuel mixture that is burnt. Too much fuel and you run rich, with lots of fuel unburnt. Too little fuel and you run lean which causes too much heat and can damage engine components. So by vaporising all of the fuel, it is assuming that all, or nearly all, of the fuel that is injected is burnt. So it doesn't run on a lean out philispohy, just on analysing the exhaust gasses and changing the mixture to get it right for the next stroke. By having a more efficient burn process, you can then use less throttle and revs to make the same power. I guess the benefit here is the more fuel you can tip in (at the right air/fuel ratio), the more power you can make too.

jonbays - I have already done the "control the right foot" mod, which is how I got 13.77 l/100km. Previous to that, I don't think I've got under 14. And I haven't been able to get near the 13.77 figure since (got 14.29 when I filled up yesterday).

I didn't go into this without doing quite a bit of research. As I have said, "in theory" this vaporate system seems to have a lot of plusses - the prrof will be in the pudding. If I can consistentlky get sub 14l/100km, then I know it's working for my car. Anyone who knows me, knows that I cannot just putter around all the time. The car gets a bit of a squirt every day - the biggest change in my driving habits over the last month or so is to take off from the lights at half to 3/4 throttle, instead of full throttle. I still believe in getting to the posted limit ASAP (to help with traffic flow, of course), but I'm not willing to tip $1 out the exhaust each time I do it.

AU:PROJECT:UTE · 24-10-2005, 02:31 PM

I can say that its does work and the percentage it saved me per tank of fuel is 12.2%, not huge but noticable when I fill an 82litre tank its makes enough saving to pay for itself in about 3months. I have noticed a slightly crisper throttle response too.

JC-XRWgn have you noticed any change in exhaust smell?, I cant describe it but it is just different post fitment to my ute. Just wondering if it is just me or if someone else has noticed this too?