Hi,
Decided to add to this topic as I don't sell Fitch... but have an interest in improving engine performance (especially mileage).
My friend Greg Hirst swears the Fitch catalyst improved the mileage on his softail Harley by 45 km/tank. If it's a standard 17 L tank and apparently they get ~45 mpg (6.3L/100 km)... that's about 16 Km/L. That's 272 km (169 miles) That's about a 17 % increase in mileage... which is very good.
My own testing on three Yamaha XT600's over a ~15 year period and 300,000 was inconclusive.
However as I kept moving the fitch pellets as the bikes got upgraded it didn't cost me anything to keep testing.
However recently a mechanic acquaintance specialising in performance engines told me Fitch was worth adding to the engine. He was also able to point out things that may have made a difference to the final result and which I hadn't considered. I also suspect I may not have been diligent enough with the testing (you should carefully compare your data over a long time).. so I decided to revisit the product.
There are a lot of reasons why testing can come up negative... even if the product does work:
You need to keep a very careful eye on the mileage before and after a test
I keep a log book over the entire life of a bike:
Mileage and maintenance or any changes get noted. The odometer is reset every time the tank is filled.
The tank is filled to the brim each time. This makes mileage calculations easy to do.
Most of my bikes do over 100,000 km before they are sold... so it's a longitudinal test (less prone to fluctuations).
The brand of fuel is usually the same... and it is noted if it changes.
The octane rating is always the same (with very rare exceptions).
Even the bowser is often the same one.
Thus you simply rule out any fills that you think might be suspect.
Make sure the driver remains the same. On my bike that's easy... on the car it's not!!!
In any case... being a longitudinal test it is easier to spot if mileage improvements are maintained over the life of the bike.
To make it more relevant this time I also decided to test the car as well.
One suggestion my mechanic friend made was to disconnect the battery to clear the computer in the car. The Fitch distributor made the same suggestion. This won't work on the bike... as it doesn't have a feedback system that could be affected.
I'm now testing on a new bike (Suzuki DR650)... but still can't swear the Fitch system has done anything for the mileage.
However on the car (Toyota Yaris 1.3L 2006 130,000 km) the power seemed to improve. The car was much more responsive to the throttle. As there is no way to verify this seat of the pants observation it's not proof... however it still hasn't been in long enough to get a good set of readings. Plus initially the fuel pellets got stuck in the fuel filler pipe... and weren't in the tank where they should have been N.B. The power increase only came when they finally entered the tank (had to poke them around the bend in the filler pipe with a stiff hose). Some cars have anti-theft systems (Mitsubishi Colt and most Mitsubishi's) which stops the pellets from reaching the tank (there's a narrow bit in the filler pipe). If the catalyst is not in contact with the fuel...it's not going to work? You can fit an inline kit... but modifying the fuel system will make the dealer nervous on a new car and same with a lot of mechanics.
However thinking back on the bikes and the car I realised that putting high octane fuel in the car had no noticeable effect on the mileage N.B. Some cars computers are able to respond to higher octane fuels with improved mileage... and some can not. If high octane didn't do anything for mileage on any of my vehicles it's likely that Fitch can't either (not without special tuning?). It may affect the power... but that's not something you can easily test? According to the Fitch tests the catalyst can also decrease the emissions... but also no easy way to test that?
One confounding factor when doing tests is that vehicles are different... and some vehicles respond better than others.
NB. A 5 % improvement is often quite hard to spot in the data... and even a 10 % improvement can be hard to spot if you're changing fuels and drivers all the time?
So after all that I still haven't been able to reach a definite conclusion:
However the 2006 Yaris test hasn't yet concluded. Unfortunately the car has passed out of my hands (my sister has it)... so it is proving difficult to conclude that test. I may get an opportunity to finish the test sooner or later?
Also just got a new 2015 Yaris. Just getting a baseline for mileage (only on it's second tank).
So why keep testing? Is it worth it?
1) A 5 % mileage improvement is like saving $5 for every $100 of petrol you put into your tank.
It takes ~20 ($100) tanks to pay back the original investment (assuming 2 pellets for $100). Or ~40 tanks if you use 4 pellets. Half of that if the saving is 10 %.
Thus break-even would be about $2,000-$4,000 of fuel at 5% improvement.
The average driver does 15,000 km/L yearly and the average car does 8 km/L. That works out at about $2,000/yr in fuel. Thus 1-2 years of fuel to break even at 5 %. Or half this if you get better mileage.
If you keep your car for about 10 years (not unusual) you would be saving $100/yr in fuel?
Or about $1,000 over the life of the vehicle? Assuming 150,000 km or better?
If it's power you're chasing or range (some of my fuel stops are ~550 km apart)... then those are additional benefits? There are probably more that most of us haven't thought of?
Once you prove one benefit exists then the others also do?
The devil is in the detail?
Anyone (other than a distributor)... willing to post their experience with Fitch?
PS. Anyone know of a cheap way to do an exhaust gas analysis? Or power output? In the case of Fitch both of those seem like good ways to test? ...but not easily done at home?
PPS. You can't rely on the computer to do your mileage analysis for you. I just checked the computers calculation manually (liters used v's km travelled) and it was out by almost 10 %.
Decided to add to this topic as I don't sell Fitch... but have an interest in improving engine performance (especially mileage).
My friend Greg Hirst swears the Fitch catalyst improved the mileage on his softail Harley by 45 km/tank. If it's a standard 17 L tank and apparently they get ~45 mpg (6.3L/100 km)... that's about 16 Km/L. That's 272 km (169 miles) That's about a 17 % increase in mileage... which is very good.
My own testing on three Yamaha XT600's over a ~15 year period and 300,000 was inconclusive.
However as I kept moving the fitch pellets as the bikes got upgraded it didn't cost me anything to keep testing.
However recently a mechanic acquaintance specialising in performance engines told me Fitch was worth adding to the engine. He was also able to point out things that may have made a difference to the final result and which I hadn't considered. I also suspect I may not have been diligent enough with the testing (you should carefully compare your data over a long time).. so I decided to revisit the product.
There are a lot of reasons why testing can come up negative... even if the product does work:
You need to keep a very careful eye on the mileage before and after a test
I keep a log book over the entire life of a bike:
Mileage and maintenance or any changes get noted. The odometer is reset every time the tank is filled.
The tank is filled to the brim each time. This makes mileage calculations easy to do.
Most of my bikes do over 100,000 km before they are sold... so it's a longitudinal test (less prone to fluctuations).
The brand of fuel is usually the same... and it is noted if it changes.
The octane rating is always the same (with very rare exceptions).
Even the bowser is often the same one.
Thus you simply rule out any fills that you think might be suspect.
Make sure the driver remains the same. On my bike that's easy... on the car it's not!!!
In any case... being a longitudinal test it is easier to spot if mileage improvements are maintained over the life of the bike.
To make it more relevant this time I also decided to test the car as well.
One suggestion my mechanic friend made was to disconnect the battery to clear the computer in the car. The Fitch distributor made the same suggestion. This won't work on the bike... as it doesn't have a feedback system that could be affected.
I'm now testing on a new bike (Suzuki DR650)... but still can't swear the Fitch system has done anything for the mileage.
However on the car (Toyota Yaris 1.3L 2006 130,000 km) the power seemed to improve. The car was much more responsive to the throttle. As there is no way to verify this seat of the pants observation it's not proof... however it still hasn't been in long enough to get a good set of readings. Plus initially the fuel pellets got stuck in the fuel filler pipe... and weren't in the tank where they should have been N.B. The power increase only came when they finally entered the tank (had to poke them around the bend in the filler pipe with a stiff hose). Some cars have anti-theft systems (Mitsubishi Colt and most Mitsubishi's) which stops the pellets from reaching the tank (there's a narrow bit in the filler pipe). If the catalyst is not in contact with the fuel...it's not going to work? You can fit an inline kit... but modifying the fuel system will make the dealer nervous on a new car and same with a lot of mechanics.
However thinking back on the bikes and the car I realised that putting high octane fuel in the car had no noticeable effect on the mileage N.B. Some cars computers are able to respond to higher octane fuels with improved mileage... and some can not. If high octane didn't do anything for mileage on any of my vehicles it's likely that Fitch can't either (not without special tuning?). It may affect the power... but that's not something you can easily test? According to the Fitch tests the catalyst can also decrease the emissions... but also no easy way to test that?
One confounding factor when doing tests is that vehicles are different... and some vehicles respond better than others.
NB. A 5 % improvement is often quite hard to spot in the data... and even a 10 % improvement can be hard to spot if you're changing fuels and drivers all the time?
So after all that I still haven't been able to reach a definite conclusion:
However the 2006 Yaris test hasn't yet concluded. Unfortunately the car has passed out of my hands (my sister has it)... so it is proving difficult to conclude that test. I may get an opportunity to finish the test sooner or later?
Also just got a new 2015 Yaris. Just getting a baseline for mileage (only on it's second tank).
So why keep testing? Is it worth it?
1) A 5 % mileage improvement is like saving $5 for every $100 of petrol you put into your tank.
It takes ~20 ($100) tanks to pay back the original investment (assuming 2 pellets for $100). Or ~40 tanks if you use 4 pellets. Half of that if the saving is 10 %.
Thus break-even would be about $2,000-$4,000 of fuel at 5% improvement.
The average driver does 15,000 km/L yearly and the average car does 8 km/L. That works out at about $2,000/yr in fuel. Thus 1-2 years of fuel to break even at 5 %. Or half this if you get better mileage.
If you keep your car for about 10 years (not unusual) you would be saving $100/yr in fuel?
Or about $1,000 over the life of the vehicle? Assuming 150,000 km or better?
If it's power you're chasing or range (some of my fuel stops are ~550 km apart)... then those are additional benefits? There are probably more that most of us haven't thought of?
Once you prove one benefit exists then the others also do?
The devil is in the detail?
Anyone (other than a distributor)... willing to post their experience with Fitch?
PS. Anyone know of a cheap way to do an exhaust gas analysis? Or power output? In the case of Fitch both of those seem like good ways to test? ...but not easily done at home?
PPS. You can't rely on the computer to do your mileage analysis for you. I just checked the computers calculation manually (liters used v's km travelled) and it was out by almost 10 %.
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