Biggest possible engine in prius

bore it, cam, headers then nitrous.

 

I was thinling of a one cylinder, well it's sort of cylindrical.
You could hook the 200 volts up to his little .......



---- wheel!

 

Oh, sure! Unfortunately, we don't have anyone serving 140 octane around my neck of the woods. If memory serves, that thing wouldn't run with less than 110 octane. I don't think 100 low-lead would do the job at all.

Although, that would be neat - I LOVE the sound those big radials put out. The only thing that sounds better is the Rolls-Royce Merlin!

 

Hi mpg...,

Well, as you can see on Prius Chat, this kinda talk is not appreciated.

But, your approach is not in sync with the vehicle either. Its a Hybrid. So, putting a bigger engine is just does very little for you. Your limited by the MG2 motor torque. Unless you regear the transmission, your SOL. Check out the Autospeed article about the turbo conversion for the gen 1 Prius.

If you want more accelleration, do it hybrid style. Get wheel motors for the rear wheels, and a second battery. Then figure out an electronics package to bleed charge from the stock battery into the seconday battery. Use the secondary battery to run the rear wheel motors, and voila- another torquey 30 hp for bursts.

 

Theoretically, you might want to convert the Prius 2.0 into a dragster to take advantage of the low cd and relatively light weight if you were willing to put a *lot* of work into it. I say this because it's been done before to an Insight, which was able to run a 9.74sec 1/4 mile (see references below). However, proposing to drop a 2JZ in (the front, at least) is deserving of the seriousness of these responses, although they are fairly entertaining.

references:
2004 Honda Insight Drag Car - Featured Cars - Honda Tuning Magazine
SEMA: Honda Insight Drag Car? | NextAutos.com and Winding Road
Honda Insight Drag Car Engine Work - Sport Compact Car Magazine

 

On a serious note, it is my understanding the ICE in the Prius' Hybrid Synergy Drive System, is the first ICE designed specifically for, and in conjunction with the rest of the hybrid drive system, and fine tuned designwise for the whole system. Other hybrids are, in most part, designed to work with existing car/ICE configurations, although with modification. What you want to do, could probably more readily be accomplished with one of these other hybrids. The Prius' Hybrid Synergy Drive System would problably not work efficiently, if at all, with an ICE that was not specifically designed to work with the HDS.
I did not intend to offend. I was thinking that you had realized from the other posts that transplanting a non designed-for-Prius ICE would be next to impossible, let alone one with more HP, bigger. And was just trying to be jovial.
If you persue the project, please keep us updated.
Good luck!

 

Toyota has already done it...unfortunately, it's only available in Japan.
I hope our Ford Windstar doesn't hear that...!

Toyota Estima Hybrid Van (Available in Japan)

It features a continuously variable transmission (CVT) combined with a 2.4 liter four cylinder engine, and 4WD.​

It represents a further advance in hybrid design in that it uses two electric motors. One is in the front, as in a typical hybrid design. But there is a second in the rear, driving the rear wheels. This type of design is ideal for a four wheel drive arrangement. There is no driveshaft transferring power from the engine to the rear wheels, as in a conventional four wheel drive vehicle. This reduces vehicle weight and complexity.​

Toyota Chief Engineer Shigeru Matsuhashi said: "We took our desire to create a vehicle like none before it and reflected it against the key automotive elements of 'environment', 'safety' and 'fun to drive'. We also realized that our new hybrid system was well-suited for a medium-size or large vehicle. The final product is a gleaming example of a leap in automotive evolution—the Estima Hybrid".​

The Estima Hybrid takes advantage of the electrical power available in a hybrid. Standard home electrical devices, up to 1,500 watts, can be plugged in.​

Other advanced features include a navigation and Electronic Toll Collection (ETC)-compatible multi-information display.​

A "smart" air conditioner is used, which monitors humidity, to reduce the use of the air conditioner when possible, for greater fuel economy.​

For 2006, Toyota updated the Estima Hybrid for the Japanese market. It's rated at the equivalent of 47 MPG in the Japanese test. The new model was built according to Toyota's Eco-Vas (Eco-Vehicle Assessment System). This reduces CO2 emissions at every phase of the vehicle's life cycle, including production and disposal. Careful use of materials means reduced volatile organic compounds (VOC), and toxic substances like mercury, lead and cadmium.​

The van has an EV Drive Mode, which lets the driver run in purely electric mode, subject to the amount of charge in the batteries.​

How well does a four cylinder hybrid move a van? According to Toyota's tests, the Estima Hybrid goes from 0 to 100km/h in 10.8 seconds (that's 0 to 62 MPH). That's pretty remarkable for a vehicle of this size that is so efficient.​

The van is available with all wheel drive, with an electric motor driving the rear wheels. This eliminates heavy and complicated mechanical linkage used in most all wheel drive vehicles. VDIM (Vehicle Dynamics Integrated Management), is used, which Toyota says "stabilizes the vehicle before it reaches a critical state by coordinating control and achieving an optimum balance among drive power, steering and braking, thus allowing higher preventive safety and dynamic capability". ​

 

NHRA, I like it. It's about time Toyota started kicking Detroit butt in every game they play.

 

Hi klod...,

Yep, Its about time they brought that Estima Hybrid over here. They must have Sienna production in the US and do not want to compete with it. The Sienna is a VERY expensive maxi-mini van, and probably a very nice cash cow for them. Those Siennas go for like $35K ! Yikes!

For completeness, the Japanese mileage test of the next generation Prius was like 103 mpg, and that was a 25 % improvement over the generation 2 Prius. Or 58 to 72.5 mpg US OLD EPA.

So, this Estima getting 47 mpg on the Japanese mileage test would be approximately equivalent to 47 * 72.5/103 or 33 mpg combined in the US EPA. But of course, being HSD, one could hypermile it quite nicely.

 

Hi All,

Another way to charge up the secondary battery would be a turbo-alternator. One would have to modify a turbo charger into such a thing, but its doable.

 

The Biggest engine:

A direct ratio between one's tolerance for wasting time & fuel
to one's tolerance to being called stuped
to one's bank account.

Behold the 3 wheeled Isetta ~ before & after:






Oh yea ... really gets the chicks

 

Forget the Hybrid Synergy Drive unit, throw a built 2jz in there (custom fab the engine bay to fit it), and then find an appropriate transmission to link up w it. My only concern is that there wouldn't be enough space to continue with FWD, may have to convert to RWD, which of course would require a boat load of fabrication to completely change the rear end set up. You could do it Maserati Quattroporte style with the motor up front and trans in the rear.

 

My advice would be to make a fiberglass mold of your Gen1 Prius, then place that over the car/engine/drivetrain you want. Much simpler than trying to modify the Prius HSD to work with a larger engine. (in the Prius, the engine does not power the wheels, it pushes against electric motors that power the wheels, as you 'improve' the engine, you need to 'improve' the electric motors)

And face it, the world deserves a Prius funny car.

 

I'd go with a good old 7.3L Powerstroke Turbo Diesel! Of course, I have to figure out how to beef up the suspension to handle the 1000 LB engine.

DBCassidy

 

what about a hyabusa?

 

you guys drove the op out.

 

Most likely the Op will never return as his only goal was to stir the pot. It has been six years and he never checked back even once. I for one am not holding my breath.

 

Just add an Iskenderian magnum cam to the original ICE , fast and still get 50 mpg

 

My other alternative is a small nuclear reactor. No CO emissions, no gas, electricity usage, it would run for many years before a refuel.

Of course getting into an accident would have issues as well.

DBCassidy

 

Someone in my town has one of those and actually uses it quite often. Either very brave or very foolish. lol