Hypermiling with a bus

[vectorg]

My neighbor wants to sell a bus (old greyhound) which has been converted to a motor home. He told me it gets about 10-mpg, so what if I used some hyper-miling techniques, what is the potential for mpg?

[GasSavers_RoadWarrior]

10mpg sounds pretty good already, I was thinking 7...

Large vehicles with a very low power to weight ratio are almost never overpowered to the extent that cars are, meaning that much advantage has to be taken of the torque band of the motor, and gears changed often... this tends to mean that just getting the thing down the road at all requires a lot of technique that might be described as "hypermiling"

However, adding in some coasting may or may not pay off, I'm fairly sure you'll be close to BSFC minimum already, just getting it to move, so doubt it'll add too much. With that you have to balance the pain in the neck of losing speed such that you need to go up through 5 gears again to get back up where you were, and if you mistimed it, the horror of having to crawl a hill at 30, when you could have kept momentum to start it at 60 and finish at 40-50.... with your foot to the floor.

Anyway, if you get 12 from extra hypermiling technique then you'll be doing real good.

On the modification side, arse end turbulators may gain a little, as may small proportion of Biodiesel (added lubricity) and HHO is always reported to give a solid 10% on large diesels with a suitably sized unit (No engine controls to mess it up)

[vectorg]

12 mpg is better than 10, and I just really want to get my neighbor across the street to go on a short trip with me. Please give me some advice on how to get this done.

[FrugalFloyd]

Well, I wouldn't buy an old Greyhound bus to impress her, that's for sure.

Maybe a day trip to Newport Beach, with dinner at the Crab Cooker. Or a trip to the San Diego Zoo or Seaworld, if you're closer to San Diego. Get her home early, and don't even think of taking advantage of her vulnerability. Act like a gentleman.

[vectorg]

Thanks for the tips Darrell. I would never take advantage of a woman's vulnerabilities. I've done that kind of a date before and I'm still single for my whole life and no girl-friend for last 25 years. Just looking something, anything. Maybe a bus

[bobc455]

How old is old? Manual or automatic transmission?

For their size, they are already quite efficient. I would just get on the freeway and keep the speeds low.

Powerball was just at 200+ million (not anymore). If I'd won, a Greyhound Bus wasn't on the "wish list". But actually it's not a bad idea, especially with about a million dollars in renovations...

-BC

[theholycow]

If you win Powerball, forget the Greyhound, buy something that's made for the job...a Prevost.

[GasSavers_RoadWarrior]

Is that one of the ones with a rear garage (Toad in the hole? ) so when you're fed up of getting 10mpg you can get the Bugatti Veyron out and do 4.

[theholycow]

I don't think Prevost makes any toy haulers.

What about this one, though?

[soda_pop503]

Originally Posted by vectorg

My neighbor wants to sell a bus (old greyhound) which has been converted to a motor home. He told me it gets about 10-mpg, so what if I used some hyper-miling techniques, what is the potential for mpg?

the nice thing about hypermiling with that is people wont expect you to accelerate so fast and such.
As opposed to my situation. I have 3.8L camaro, but most people see a Camaro, and expect me to accelerate very fast, and drive like an ***.