Question about brakes.

[Rabble]

When i build a car, they tell me something about brake efficiency not being up to snuff.
How do i fix that?
I use assisted car building, should i use advanced?

Was i selling cars without brakes all along while still winning awards?

[Eric.B]

The term 'Brake' in this regard has nothing to do with the system that stops your car.
The term 'Brake' when matched with something like 'Horsepower', (Brake Horsepower) is a methodology of measurement. In very simple terms it's measurements off the flywheel of the engine. (Or in very laymen terms, it's the measurements before the engine is connected to anything else.)


So what are you seeing? The Brake Specific Fuel Consumption. That is how much fuel the engine uses before it's attached to a gearbox or a car or anything else.

If it's saying your vehicle is below 50% of the Brake Specific Fuel Consumption. This means that if the engine can get 20mpg but you stick it in a car and the car only gets 8mpg, then you're wasting all kinds of fuel potential with your design.


So why would an engine get worse fuel consumption in the car? There could be a number of reasons, such as your gearing ratio. Or aerodynamic drag of the car. But the biggest factor is normally putting a small engine with low torque in a heavy car. Think of it as a Honda Civic engine can get 30mpg in a Civic, but if we put that engine in a Panzer Tank it'd have to run at full throttle just to move the thing. Which means worse fuel consumption.


So in short if you're trying to improve fuel consumption, make sure that the engine power is enough for the weight of the vehicle. Sometimes you'll get better mileage using a bigger motor because it'll have to work less. (Using the Advance designer, it will have the prototyping tool which will allow you to judge possible fuel economy before you build the engine.)


Lastly, does it really matter? Depending on what Era and what you're building I wouldn't worry about the warning message you get. Fuel economy only matters for vehicle types that have high fuel economy requirements and when the price of gasoline is high. So 1900, don't worry about it. (Unless it's very very low.) 1970? Make sure you get every last drop of fuel!~


As for brakes that stop the vehicle, those are under safety and performance ratings. There is a slider for it!™ somewhere in Advance designer. :)

[Rabble]

The engine of my current sedan had max power.
I put the power slider all the way to the right.

I'm still a noob.
There probably LOT of things i haven't figured out yet.

[Eric.B]

Originally posted by Canuckistani Patriot:

The engine of my current sedan had max power.
I put the power slider all the way to the right.

I'm still a noob.
There probably LOT of things i haven't figured out yet.

A lot more goes into it than having the slider all the way to the right. A single cylinder engine will have less torque than an 8 cylinder engine. What is the torque values of your engine and how heavy was the car?

If it's not the engine, then your issue is probably due to your gearbox.