Blade It Up, Bro!

So I saw an article on The Blade at TreeHugger.com and figured I'd look at what this thing is, since I still own gas combustion vehicles. TreeHugger wasn't impressed, but they aren't generally impressed with anything that's not solar-electric or a bicycle, so I don't pay attention to their opinions much. They do come up with good links, though, so I still have them on my RSS feed.

It's an exhaust pipe ad-on that is basically a filter. Sort of like a gas mask for your tailpipe. Somehow, this raises gas mileage by up to 34% (around 6mpg on a small car). Soemthing to do with cold start emissions while your car heats up the catalytic converter so it can do its job. I guess it won't help me, then, since my catalytic sort of fell off the truck...

Anyway, it also reduces the volumetric air:exhaust ratio within the valve chambers. I'm not a scientist or a mechanic, but I know what that is. Mostly because you need to know that sort of thing if you're going to do the math to know how much you can bore out a cylindar in order to soup up your ride. That's basic tractor racing info right there.

So, this thing somehow reduces that exhaust backpressure that causes exhaust to return to the cylindar instead of continuing up the tialpipe. Again, I'm not sure how that is, but I'm sure they've patented it.

The Blade has been tested by the premier labs at Automotive Testing and Development Services (ATDS), which most major manufacturers use, under the [insert government numbers here] EPA guideline.

Best of all, if you do buy one of the $200 units, they're an easy DIY install you can do in ten minutes.