Is there anyone here that has a basic understanding of automobile engines?

[ParticipatoryDem]

Please respond as I have a question to pose.

[OldSoldier]

1. In here

Rebuilt a VW engine, changed the clutch on a Honda...what's up?

[Bombero1956]

2. do my own

oil changes,brakes and what not. In my younger more adventurous years I replaced a steering box,installed lifters and rebuilt a tranny for a 1963 T-Bird.

[toddzilla]

3. rebuilt many, many engines.. everything from stock 4cyl to 440 horse v-8

shoot!!

[ParticipatoryDem]

4. Here the question

I'm having an argument as to which pollutes more...

An 8.4 litre four-stroke V8, one carb, single cam, 16 valve that gets 2 miles per gallon on snow.

-or-

A 1000cc four-stroke motorcycle engine inline 4, four carbs, twin cams, 20 valves that gets 20 mpg on snow.

[Character Assassin]

5. The bike pollutes less.

Unless it were a two stroke.

It's more efficient, uses less resources/energy to achieve the same results.

[ParticipatoryDem]

7. Yes. Thank you.

For whatever reason dozens of DUers on the following thread can't wrap their minds around this simple fact. Their hatred of snowmobilers is blinding their better senses.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=19809

[Wonk]

8. To compare apples to apples, how many snowmobiles does it take to

transport as many people as the snowcoach does?

Comparing one snowmobile to one snowcoach is disingenuous.

p.s. re: GD rule #6. You may not start a new discussion thread in order to continue a current or recent flame war from another thread. The moderators have the authority to lock threads in order to contain flaming on a particular topic to only one thread at a time.

I think that includes bringing flamewars from GD to other forums like the lounge, too.

[ParticipatoryDem]

9. It was not a flame war on my account. It was hijacked by snowmobiler hate

Anyway, that was not my point.
I wanted an honest answer to a technical question and I got it.

To answer your question...10 in a coach is the same as two each on 5 sleds. 20mpg / 5sleds = 4mpg so the sled wind. Not to mention you can stop and enjoy the trip where the coach makes you sit and smell eachother for hours on end.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

11. Its misplaced aggression

There has been a lot of snowmobiling backlash since alot of the Nat'l Parks have opened their back country to snowmobiles.

[ParticipatoryDem]

13. Actually, none of the park backcountry is open to sleds

They only use the roads (they are closed to cars due to lack of plowing) and when the snow melts all trace of their presence is erased. No harm done.

[jmowreader]

14. Depends...

I did a search for Yellowstone snowcoaches. One company I found runs ten-passenger snowcoaches, so let's use that as a baseline.

Assume company A has a full snowcoach, and company B has snowmobiles.

Further assume that company A's engines burn fuel as completely as company B's.

If company B puts one person on each snowmobile, the amount of fuel burned is the same. If company B puts two people on each snowmobile, the amount of fuel burned is one-half that of the snowcoach...then you get into weird combinations of mixed one-man and two-man sleds...so let's split the difference and say company B burns three-fourths the fuel of company A.

I'm going to assume that the V-8 doesn't convert fuel to work as efficiently as the bike engine, though; if it did it would either get more than 2mpg or it would make 800 horses and it would be in a stock car.

Now let's throw a wrench into the works: Fuel injection. If company A runs fuel-injected engines and company B runs carbureted snowmobiles (I looked, the Arctic Cat 660 Turbo line seems to be the only ones that have both four-stroke engines and fuel injection, and that would be a good sled to have if you were concerned about pollution. More air into the cylinders means more complete burning of the fuel means less pollution, and the function of the turbo is to put more air into the cylinders.), because fuel injection gives such precise control over the charge fed to the cylinders the big engine may pollute less than the smaller ones. There is a very good reason why all the automakers chose to install the most expensive form of induction known to man on all of their cars--it solves the air pollution problem faster than anything else you can do. Now! If Polaris, Yamaha and the rest would get off their butts and put EFI on their four-stroke sleds, we'd all be better off.

[readmylips]

6. Yes...

step on the gas, step on the brake and gas up. Don't know how to open the hood with out help.

[toddzilla]

10. do you drive a snowcoach around aimlessly for fun?

I don't think MPG is a good way to evaluate a recreational vehicle.

[ParticipatoryDem]

12. In this case it's transportation to get to a scenic location

The only viable means to get from West Yellowstone to Old Faithful in Winter in via snowmobile or snowcoach. In the Summer you drive your car or RV.