Best FE Recipe for a 1990 Geo Metro Convertible...

[CoyoteX]

There are other ways to get 30lbs of weight out of the car. Take the soundproofing asphalt out. It is under the carpet and in the trunk. That was around 25lbs in my car. You can swap the seats for fiberglass racing seats and a 5pt harness. Each front seat and seatbelt assembly is about 40lbs. A racing seat and harness is probably 10lbs. There is other random stuff you can live without that can be removed if you want to go nuts.

I would also put an XFi cam in and advance the cam timing a few degrees, if you can live with taller gearing get an XFi or 4 cyl transmission for the 3.79 or 3.54 rear end ratio. If you put the taller gears in you really need the cam though, because it's power curve is lower in the rpm range so it works better with the taller gears. But even without swapping cam or gears you can advance your stock cam 5-10 degrees and it will improve your bottom end power and let you shift earlier and run much better at lower rpms and pick up a bit of mileage if you don't drive really fast.

Also you should sell me your extra convertible I have been looking for a convertible body to build into something strange.

[dissimilation]

I'm at work, so I'll reply to all your other great ideas and suggestions later today. Just wanted to answer the one about selling the parts convertible. I will be selling it, but only half. When harvest season is over, the other vert will be cut in half to make a matching trailer. The bisection will be right along the floor where the doors end at the back of the car. I had one guy who was very interested in making the remainder into a 3 wheel car, but I lost contact with him. The ECU, engine, trans and so on will be intact and included will be the exhaust system and gas tank. I would love to see the other car reincarnated into another cool vehicle. Keep in contact with me as I chronicle the build. I bought the parts car for only $375, so I'll be plenty reasonable on selling the remains.

I had an idea on the way to work... that cutting away the outer door skins from the donor car and using them to make a perfect fit wheel skirt would be just about the best sano look one could hope for. Simply putting some welded tabs within the wheel well to keep it from falling in and some fasteners on the inside at 10, 12 and 2 o'clock to hold them against the tabs. Perhaps narrower tires on the back end as well?

[jwxr7]

That is a nice looking geo .
If you don't want to alter the look of your car like I did, driving technique is a big help. Engine off coasting is a very effective technique. I was looking back thru my gas logs and noticed a good increase in mpgs after I installed my fuel injector kill switch. Of course it must be used to get the gains, but it made it much easier to coast with the engine off (as apposed to using the ignition key). Don't do it unless your comfortable with engine off coasting though.

Also good maintnence is key. Make sure your wheels spin freely and your tires are pumped up good. I've had several issues with brakes dragging and it really killed the coasting of the car.

edit: I forgot to mention that my geo doesn't get great milage at highway speeds so I take back roads. Keep your speed down if possible. I avoid going over 45 but I have a short run on the freeway where the minimum is 55. The gearing and aero drag really bring down the mpgs.

[Mighty Mira]

This car screams out for a tear drop roofline. Either just to the end of the trunk, or a bit further. Wherever you end it, make sure that it is going near parallel to the ground, and when it starts, it should follow the windscreen line and start curving immediately.

It's a very similar thing I was thinking of doing with a Ford Capri. But it has a better angle between hood and windscreen. Nice find!

[JanGeo]

There was a recall mod on my 1994 Geo Metro 5 door where they added a bleeder fitting into the MAP sensor which lowered the vacuum it would see from the engine and cause the engine to run richer - cost me about 5 mpg.

[dissimilation]

Originally Posted by trebuchet03

This makes me sad..... You say it's painted orange... but I can only see red :/ It makes me sad because somewhat recently, I've discovered that I'm in denial of my color blindness

Very nice car though

Don't be too sad. I do graphics work for a living and by those photos I'd guess the car was red. It looks like a orangey-red on sunny days, like the day those photos were taken.

[dissimilation]

Originally Posted by DaX

Personally I'd keep the AC - I have it in my Beater, and I'm still getting great mileage. All in all, you may save around 30 lbs taking all the AC components out, which isn't that much. The energy required to accelerate that 30 lbs isn't that great. You could loose the 30 lbs elsewhere and keep the creature comfort. As for the drag of spinning the clutch, it's almost nil when the AC is off. Keep that thing cherry!

I still have an extra can of freon to charge it, I just need to get it tested for leaks before I use my last precious can. As for the 30lbs, I'll start taking walks at night and loose 30lbs for the car. Should be fun to record my mileage and my weight and see how they correlate. If I run out of self modifications, maybe I'll be so hooked that I'll start cutting weight from the car. As far as weight goes, there's two steel beams that run below the car that were put there for extra strength and rigidity. I'm willing to bet those alone add at least 100lbs to the car. I'm going to be looking into if those can be replaced with lighter metal.

Originally Posted by DaX

As for the XFi transmission not being able to handle the extra weight of the car, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. I've got a CRX HF transmission in my 4-door Sedan. The HF is in the 1700 lb range, while my sedan is over 2100 lbs! Sure, I drive like a grandma, but that's what gets the best mileage.

You guys are bringing me around on this. The present trans will only last so much longer, especially racking on 70 miles a day - then I'll start hunting for an XFI trans. I already did a part search and found some with ridiculously low miles on them. Unfortunately car-part.com doesn't recognize an XFI engine as unique, so you can't do a simple search for it. Is there another parts site you guys have found reliable for searching?

[brucepick]

Originally Posted by dissimilation

... As far as weight goes, there's two steel beams that run below the car that were put there for extra strength and rigidity. I'm willing to bet those alone add at least 100lbs to the car. I'm going to be looking into if those can be replaced with lighter metal...

I hope you're joking. Volvo driver here, safety first.

I suppose you could engineer a lighter pair of beams out of titanium. If you can find the right engineering and metalworking skills for that. Or maybe high-strength aluminum??? But those little Geo's are pretty darn lightweight compared to other cars - I wouldn't go removing safety features!

Maybe remove other things like spare tire (replace with AAA membership and/or Fix-A-Flat can), rear seat, junk-in-trunk, a/c and power steering, etc. etc.

[mrmad]

From your photos, the Earl S paint job looks pretty good. How does it look up close?

[dissimilation]

Originally Posted by brucepick

I hope you're joking. Volvo driver here, safety first.

I suppose you could engineer a lighter pair of beams out of titanium. If you can find the right engineering and metalworking skills for that. Or maybe high-strength aluminum??? But those little Geo's are pretty darn lightweight compared to other cars - I wouldn't go removing safety features!

Maybe remove other things like spare tire (replace with AAA membership and/or Fix-A-Flat can), rear seat, junk-in-trunk, a/c and power steering, etc. etc.

Not joking, it wouldn't be replaced with something lighter unless it was equally strong. Safety aside, without that support the car would warp and contort itself into oblivion. I plan on taking some photos of the underside with some measurements and email my friend who cuts and welds metal to have him inspect whether or not it could be improved upon. If he thought it was compelling enough, I'd take one beam off the donor car and take it to him and go from there.

As far as the spare tire goes, it weighs so very little. It's actually an under sized spare, which for a Metro is way way small. I'll weight it and see exactly how much I'd save. There's no rear seat or power steering, Suzuki already did that for me.