Zoomi Life

Kinetic Vehicles had a vision.  Their vision was MAX (Mother’s Automotive eXperiment) and that vision has become reality as a 100mpg biodiesel homebrew car.  Although the project was sponsored by Mother Earth News, the sponsorship was mostly moral support as the builder’s wanted to show that this could be done by anyone.

The car had several goals, including practicality, 100mpg or better, affordability, and the ability to compete in the Automotive X-Prize.  All but the last goal were met, and the X-Prize was not technical, but financial - the entry requirements became too expensive for the team without compromising their affordability plans.

The car runs on diesel, biodiesel, or straight vegetable oil and is now getting 70mpg+ with judicious driving.  The car is completely road-legal (as a kit car) and pretty awesome.

The first incarnation of the car (above) suffered a wreck when another car rear-ended the prototype not long after that photo was taken. That was in 2008.  Since then, the team rebuilt the car in another incarnation, changing some things they had planned to change after seeing them in action on that prototype.

That’s the car, above, after pulling in for the win in Las Vegas for the Escape From Berkeley Rally in 2008.

The 2009/10 incarnation will have improved aerodynamics and more changes to the power plant to improve the mileage and hit that 100mpg mark they’re aiming for. So far, the project (build) has cost about $10,000 and the other money they’ve spent promoting and driving the car was basically offset by the $5,000 win in the Escape From Berkeley.

Here’s some background on this cool kit car conversion.

The engine is a Kubota 1100cc industrial diesel at 32hp before adding a turbocharger. Once they had that, they had to have a donor car as the base frame and “mule” builder.  It needed to be rear-wheel drive because of their design and they wanted a small car, for obvious reasons.  They ended up with a “Corrode Warrior” Toyota Corolla station wagon from the 1980s.

The Corrode Warrior was relieved of its current engine, modified, and had the diesel engine installed and fitted to its existing drive line and transmission.  After testing to see that it ran OK, there were some problems.  Most of these had to do with the platform itself, which would have to be replaced.  To summarize, the Toyota was too short and would have to go.

The replacement was a home-brewed chassis and frame and the eventual addition (after wreck, see above) of an automatic Corolla rear axle for extra height. The Corrode Warrior was no more, but some of its parts live on in the new version of the MAX.

Once the details were worked out, the MAX was ready for body work and completion.

This is a very cool DIY build that is definitely inspiring. It was cheap (and could be cheaper, if you learn from Kinetic’s mistakes) and is extremely efficient.  Check out their website for a much longer, more detailed account of the build.