My unique experience

[Ratman667]

This comes from lots of driving to and from the doctors office, plus lot of free time.

The car: 2000 Chevy Cavalier coup.

Power train: 2.2 OHV (2200) paired with a 5-speed trans.

Mods: Hot air intake, front (lower) grill block, 38 psi in tires, oil catch can and a Scangauge II.

The driver: 23 year old, 160 lbs, male.

The mod list in my garage is a bit out of date. I plan on getting outside tomorrow and reinstalling the tachometer, draining the catch can and adjusting my rear brakes.

If you look at my gas log, you will notice that before I hurt my back, I had some pretty impressive numbers. Since the injury, my fuel economy has dropped off pretty drastically.

My car is only rated for 21mpg city; the majority of my driving is city (~90%). Even without actively "trying" to hypermile, I am getting 27-30mpg. All I am doing now is accelerate slowly, get in the highest gear and keep it at the speed limit.

What I have noticed about the HAI is, that anything higher than ~120 yields nothing but a noticeable decrease in power. Maybe, cruising on the highway, a higher temp would help, but I don't have any plans on a road trip in the near future.

The tire pressure, I backed down from 44 to 38 psi mostly for the fact that the higher pressure was too rough on my back. I have noticed a slight increase in rolling resistance. Before, I could throw it into neutral at a particular road sign at 45mph, glide to a particular mail box and put it into second and pull onto my road without ever touching the brakes. Now, I have to drive about 20 yards past the sign to do the same maneuver.

The oil catch can is just to cut down I have to clean the throttle body. Seeing as how the 2200 doesn't have a PCV "valve", just a vent, the oil builds up pretty fast.

After I get all healed up or at least start pain management, I intend to break my current record of 43mpg.