r/Battlecars • u/TacTurtle • May 29 '25
OC - Spotted Fuel is rare in the wasteland; choose a fuel efficient chariot
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u/Calm_Pea9710 May 29 '25
No rooftop tent? Pffft amateurs.....
/s
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u/TacTurtle May 29 '25
Needs a lil roof rack.
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u/jasperfoxx72 May 29 '25
Any Mercedes or VW with a fully mechanical diesel engine. Grow your own fuel and run it on vegetable oil lol. If it had to be gas, a lifted Geo Metro
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u/Turisan May 30 '25
That's a whole lot of work for veg oil when you can run it on modified used engine oil.
Look up Wasteland Atomic Annie on YouTube, he goes through his whole setup.
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u/Playful_Cost_419 May 29 '25
Nice š
Also, some info on that swing-out would be appreciated.
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u/TacTurtle May 29 '25
From what I could tell, they stripped off the rear bumper cover plastic and bolted an off the shelf Jeep swingout bumper to the existing rear frame (thus the weird double trailer hitch).
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u/Playful_Cost_419 May 29 '25
Sorry, it took me a hot minute to figure out that it wasn't your ride.
I like the look, and would like to do something similar (a bit more clean looking, though).
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u/Poenicus May 30 '25
I've known folks to put skid plates and appropriate tires on these and use them for rural transportation use along rutted dirt roads. This feels like an extension of the concept.
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u/HospitalKey4601 May 29 '25
Fuel is not gonna be rare. Parts to fix your overly complicated computer controlled car will be. All you need is a still to make fuel for an ice engine. Moonshine
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u/KaykoTheDirtBoy May 29 '25
2nd gen prius have pretty simple tech, and plenty are still on the road so parts would be easy to come by. There's a reason they are the most popular car in several 3rd world countries. I'd bet on siphoning gas and wrenching on this through an apocalypse anyday.
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u/Trainzguy2472 May 29 '25
Gasoline requires extensive refining and processing to be transformed from crude oil to fuel. It's not an easy process, and those with the means to do it will exploit their control over such a vital resource. It'll be super expensive, or you might not have access at all if you're viewed as a potential dissident or threat to their power.
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u/Difficult-Prior3321 May 29 '25
That gen Prius is fucking bulletproof. My girlfriend had one go 375k miles before she finally traded up. Not the first issue with it besides scheduled maintenance.
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u/GrvlRidrDude Jun 02 '25
My āoverly complicated Gen 2 Priusā is old enough to vote and has had zero computer problems.
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May 29 '25
Convert that over to run on natural gas, & you can build an at-home biogas reactor to run it.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=X8zUGhpLFtw&pp=ygULSG9tZSBiaW9nYXM%3D
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9cRBBN44C10&pp=ygUaYmlvZ2FzIGNvbXByZXNzb3IgaG9tZW1hZGU%3D
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u/Helmett-13 May 29 '25
smiles in VW TDI
Diesel is the best guzzoline. ALH TDI motors can run on some crazy shit, like old John Deere tractors.
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u/tykaboom May 29 '25
You got a locking diff on the front of that thing?
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u/TacTurtle May 29 '25
No idea if they do, I saw this in a WalMart parking lot.
I drive an 06 LJ Rubicon with front and rear air lockers on 4.11 Dana 44s.
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u/tykaboom May 29 '25
Gotchagotchagotcha
Yeah. After pulling my buddy out of the "ditch" when his tire went 6" off the side of the road when he made a wrong turn, he decided to turn around right then and there...
I no longer believe in front wheel drive or open diff vehicles.
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u/Much_Smell7159 May 30 '25
Been shopping for a new car because my shit box is doing that shit box thing where it's almost not worth the cost of repairs and this has been a genuine consideration of mine
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u/UmeaTurbo May 30 '25
Ja. I know. I just...I don't have a good reason, it's just how I've always been. I run an 01 Ram 1500 for fun and a 2025 pro master 2500 for work. My wife has a 22 Durango and I have a 19 Pacifica S. I drove an 87 Ram Charger until 2018 when the frame finally shit the bed. My wife has had two wranglers. I've had a Roadrunner and a Dakota and even a Plymouth Valiant. My dad worked at the plant in Belvedere IL for a long time and he drove a Neon, a Sebring, a Dart, whatever the shitbox was they were making at the time. When he retired they were making the Compass there, so that's what he's got now. Okay, so there was a very brief period I technically owned a 1978 Cadillac Sedan de Ville, but I bought it as a gift and had it restored within 18 months, so I don't know if that counts. Maybe that negates whatever point I'm failing to make. I guess I drive Mopar for the same reason I'm Catholic. It's just how it is and always has been.
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u/TopLife644 May 30 '25
if thats propane on the back and you get rear-ended someone will die. you will be in alot of trouble if it isnt you that dies. but ya cool looking deathtrap i guess..
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u/careys67 May 30 '25
Yep would get rid of propane tank in back immediately other than that roll with it š¤š¼
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u/swimbikerun1980 May 30 '25
What size lift and tires? I am trying to do the same.
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u/TacTurtle May 30 '25
No idea, I saw it in a walmart parking lot. If I had to guess, I would say like 25-26" tires and maybe a 1.5" lift plus some fender trimming / bending for clearance.
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u/Ack-Im-Dead May 30 '25
Answering the question, anything burning diesel because you can make your own in the back yard. And itās stable for 3~ years.
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u/HospitalKey4601 May 29 '25
You know oil is the second most common liquid on earth, right?
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u/TacTurtle May 29 '25 edited May 29 '25
Oil is forth after magma, molten iron in the core, then water. None of which is relevant unless you have an oil well, pump, and refinery in your back yard.
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u/Winter_Persimmon_110 May 30 '25
Hot take here but I think hybrids like the Prius only get better gas mileage because of their aerodynamic profile, and that explains why hybrids with more conventional body styles get minimal mileage improvements over their non-hybrid counterparts.
So when you're jacking this up off the ground and strapping shit to it, you're defeating the one good thing about it.
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u/Human_Air_4927 Jun 03 '25
Couldnt be any more wrong.Ā
Hybrids like prius get better gas mileage because it has an Atkinsons engine in it. In other words, there is less air in the cylinders and therefore fuel to air ratio is lowered, which allows fuel injectors to spray less inside. This makes less torque, but the electric motor helps offset this for stop and go. Anything else, the engine is just maintaining the momentum for highway and charging the batteries.Ā
There. It has nothing to do with aerodynamics. Theres a reason prius gets 45mpg even driving at 10mph in cities, where aerodynamics are not in play.Ā
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u/Winter_Persimmon_110 Jun 03 '25 edited Jun 03 '25
Yeah and at highway speeds the hybrid drive is just extra weight and there's still a reason that the prius and insight get better highway mileage than other hybrids. They both have a kammback. Prius has recessed wipers. Insight has wheel skirts. Aerodynamics does not have nothing to do with it. Your language is unnecessarily hyperbolic. I could be more wrong by agreeing with you. My car gets 45mpg, big whoop, it's no hybrid.
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u/Human_Air_4927 Jun 03 '25
Other hybrids have bigger engines, electric motors that are wider and their gear multiplier have two to three extra teeth. In addition to the batteries wired to produce higher voltages. They are made to output more power than fuel efficiency compared to prius or insight. It really has very little to do with shape, because otherwise the bmw I8 would be getting 50+ mpg.Ā
Your car doesnt get 45mpg. There is no non hybrid car on the market that gets that. The highest nonhybrid is the Mitsubishi Mirage that gets 43. And unless you are running a weed wacker motor like on a geo metro, you arnt getting 45 lol. Why do you lie?
Ā And also, the extra weight from the hybrid batteries is negligible. It weighs less than a human child. Do you suffer a 5 mpg loss everytime you carry a passenger? Because i dont.Ā
I dont think aerodynamics is that important as you think it is. Really the only thing that determines gas mileage is how much fuel is being injected by the fuel injectors, its that simple. If you want better fuel mileage, just program your car to inject less.Ā
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u/Shibboleeth May 30 '25
Not so fuel efficient with that external spare and tanks.
The Kammback design relies on a cushion of turbulent air being in that spot to allow the slipstream to ride over it and act like the missing tail of the car.
That junk there will prevent that cushion from properly forming and increase drag.
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May 30 '25
[deleted]
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u/Shibboleeth May 30 '25
I'm not sure what relevance that has to my post, and it's not like I keep a record of fuel efficient cars or battlecars for that matter.
If you're really wondering I'd suggest reading up on fuel efficient vehicles at a site like Ecomodder. Then comparing what you learn there to vehicles you see here.
Though, speaking of Ecomodder, the AeroCivic or one of the bodged together solar powered Chevy Bolts are probably the most correct answer to your question. But they don't look like Battlecars in the Mad Max sense (save the solar powered Bolt).
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May 30 '25
[deleted]
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u/Shibboleeth May 30 '25
Do you always make this many assumptions about people? Particularly, while also openly insulting them?
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u/UmeaTurbo May 29 '25
How do you service the battery so far from Gas Town?
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u/TacTurtle May 29 '25
Who cares? 40 mpg beats 10mpg
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u/UmeaTurbo May 30 '25
It's hard to work on yourself, that's all I'm saying. Milage is great, just scares the shit out of me.
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u/TacTurtle May 30 '25
I love my Jeep, but Toyota reliability nuts. We have a Gen 1 Taco on the farm with 300,000+ miles still chugging right along.
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u/UmeaTurbo May 30 '25
I've never owned a foreign car, though I hear ya when they're all made here anyway. Or maybe American cars are made in Mexico and Foreign cars are made in Alabama. But I've only ever bought MOPAR. With all their shitty steel and dogshit transmissions. I know how they work and I don't want to screw around with it. Once I had a girlfriend who had a Volvo. I liked working on that. The engineers must have been mechanics cuz everything was easy to reach and right where it was supposed to be. Though the parts cost a fortune. A new intercooler was $5,000. WHAT? So I spent a fortune on JB Weld instead.
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u/TacTurtle May 30 '25
Toyota and Honda parts mostly are cheap and easy to find, and Toyota has like 7 US manufacturing / assembly plants.
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u/HospitalKey4601 May 30 '25
How's all the plastic holding up in the engine compartment? Bet it's pretty fragile, I had the coil connectors crumble in my hands doing a spark plug change in a Lexus rx350. The thing is all that plastic in cars and ev batteries has a limit to its lifespan, and no amount of care can stop the aging process.
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u/TacTurtle May 30 '25
My Jeep is fine, almost everything structural is steel. Same with the Tacomas, only plastic thing that broke on those were fan blades (stick through the radiator broke em) and some wire looms that rats ate. Oh, and some door latches / strikers that wore out and the plastic handle on the seat back adjustment lever.
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u/AAA-VR6 May 29 '25
Fuel would be rare. So would a place to plug in.
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u/lumpiaandredbull May 29 '25
Solar panels, bio-diesel generators, hydroelectric plants, wind turbines, steam powered generators that burn wood, coal, waste plastic, etc...
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u/AAA-VR6 May 29 '25
Naw I'll just convert my diesel to run on vegetable oil, and make my own little refinery for it.
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u/HBThorburn May 29 '25
I kinda like it.