Built-in FE

[krousdb]

After a few years of hypermiling, it begins to wear on you. It is especially difficult when you hit a wall that you can't seem to get past. While I am not there yet, I fear that this summer I will indeed hit that wall. Hopefully it will be north of 70MPG.

Anyway my point is this. There are several factors that influence FE. Technique is related to the driver while vehicle weight, aerodynamics and rolling resistance are related to the vehicle and route. Anything you can do to your vehicle/route to increase FE will still be in effect should you change your driving style/technique. That is why I am concentrating on aerodynamics, weight and rolling resistance, or Built-in FE. If anyone can drive my car and get 50 MPG, that is quite an accomplishment.

So my next area of concentration is rolling resistance. My current tires did great in the snow but are not optimal for summer driving. So I have done much research on LRR tires. Within the next few weeks I should have new HX wheels with LRR tires and hope to see some improvement from them, although tires need a few thousand miles on the to begin yielding the best results. The new tires are back to the stock diameter so my ride height will go down another inch which should also help with aerodynamics. Each wheel/tire will wheigh less than 25 lbs so that will be a 36 lb weight reduction of unsprung weight.

I hope this makes a significant difference. Prolly good to do a sidce by side comparison with the different wheel/tire setups.

[Compaq888]

you haven't hit anything. You are far from maxing out your mpg. There is plenty you could do.

Have you thought of a different engine or using lighter engine components.

I doubt you are even using aluminum brake drums.

Why not do a Full LED conversion? there is 1-2mpg improvement in that alone. You don't have to do the whole car. Just do brake lights, turn signals, instrument cluster.

Lighter driver's and passenger seat. You don't have to get a sparco seat. Just get a $60 racing seat. Their light like crazy.

Lightened flywheel, even if it's lighter by a pound a rotational mass multiples this.

There is so much stuff you do that 70mpg can turn to 90 or even 100mpg easy.

[Compaq888]

Also do you have a citi card credit card with 5% off on gas, grocery and parmacy purchases. Every time you purchase gas that adds up and when it gets to $50 you can ask them to send you a check. I made $60 in 4 months.

There is many ways to skin a cat.

[krousdb]

Originally Posted by Compaq888

you haven't hit anything. You are far from maxing out your mpg. There is plenty you could do.

Have you thought of a different engine or using lighter engine components.

I doubt you are even using aluminum brake drums.

Why not do a Full LED conversion? there is 1-2mpg improvement in that alone. You don't have to do the whole car. Just do brake lights, turn signals, instrument cluster.

Lighter driver's and passenger seat. You don't have to get a sparco seat. Just get a $60 racing seat. Their light like crazy.

Lightened flywheel, even if it's lighter by a pound a rotational mass multiples this.

There is so much stuff you do that 70mpg can turn to 90 or even 100mpg easy.

Compaq, there is a point of diminishing returns. All of the weight reduction that you speak of might be worth 1 MPG at best. At $2.50/gallon for every $100 I put into weight reduction, it would take me 150,000 miles of driving to recoup the money spent. Hell, I have already spent more money than I will recoup, but I just needed to find out for myself.

You are also being optimistic about FE savings from LED's. Another 1 MPG at best if you always have your lights on. Since my lights are rarely on in the non winter seasons, there will be no difference at all.

[krousdb]

Originally Posted by Compaq888

Also do you have a citi card credit card with 5% off on gas, grocery and parmacy purchases. Every time you purchase gas that adds up and when it gets to $50 you can ask them to send you a check. I made $60 in 4 months.

There is many ways to skin a cat.

The way I skin the cat is to use my discover card (1% cash back) to buy groceries (and everything else for that matter)and for each $50 in groceries I get 10 cents off per gallon. I save about $25/month on gas and $300/year cash back.

[Compaq888]

gas is $2.80 for regular here. I could buy a civic and save myself gas money but I'd waste a good amount of money and that will never pay off. And the fact that I'd be downgrading.

Have you considered boosting your spark energy??? It will make a more complete burn.

[Matt Timion]

I've considered this myself krousdb. There comes a point when so much effort and work starts to wear on you. I just view it as an ebb and flow thing.

I've been a little out of modififying my car for the last few months, mainly b/c it's winter here (yeah, it lightly snowed yesterday, wtf?). It's really difficult to be motivated to work on my car when it's freezing outside.

That being said, I can't wait for the engine swap. The notion of "built-in fuel economy" is an excellent one. Sounds like a wiki entry waiting to happen. When I get my new engine put in, with the new tranny, I should *in theory* be getting upper 40s and lower 50s without much effort. then the aerodynamic modifications can begin like the belly tray and the wheel skirts, both of which I plan on accomplishing this summer.

I honestly don't care how my car looks, I just want to be able to go for a drive and not have to worry about refilling.

Oh, and I spend about $20/mo on gas, sometimes even less than that. That's how little I drive. For me ANY modification I make is essentially already never going to pay for itself. Heck, I havn't even really broken even on the engine repair I had last May that led me down the road of never going to a mechanic again.

IT's a hobby though, and a fun one at that.

I think we'll all hit a wall for a while, and then something new will come out and we'll all be excited.

Ebb and flow baby, ebb and flow.

[krousdb]

Originally Posted by Compaq888

Have you considered boosting your spark energy??? It will make a more complete burn.

Again, Im not gonna spend $ on something likley to be worth 1/2 MPG or less. Show me some data on greater than 1/2 MPG improvement and I would consider it.

[Compaq888]

I got data that it makes the motor get more power, nothing of fuel economy. But when you make more power you can press the gas less.

[thisisntjared]

hondas ignition system needs little to no modification. it is already wonderfully efficient and many tests have been done with aftermarket plugs, wires and msd stuff. all results have shown no improvement and that new oem parts are just as good, if not better than the aftermarket goodies.

the side gapping and indexing of spark plugs is still undetermined however. i have not seen any data supporting or denying its claims.

anyway, back on topic: i feel the same way about having the built in efficiency, thats also why i drive my car just like any other person would, and perhaps more agressively on the throttle. yes it costs money for some of these modifications, but the reason we do them(within a budget) is because its fun to learn. i am willing to break even with $ spent on mods vs $ spent on gas. but thats also because all my mods have another motive: performance.

i have also wondered where my 'glass ceiling' of fuel economy lies. when i approach it i will tattoo it on my left bicep....er... maybe not, probably just make a sticker out of it and have it be my number for auto-x.

in short, i agree with your philosophy and support it