Stock 21 mpg getting 29.8 mpg ... room for improvement

[b1gmoose]

Greetings,

I am new here, but I have been on a quest over the last few years to get my car to be as fuel efficient as possible. Little by little, car by car (have gone through 3 in the last 5 years, 1 rusted, 1 got t-boned, and driving current car)

I have an 89 BMW 325iX All-wheel-drive with manual transmission and inline 6 cyl engine.

I run Amsoil 10W-30 engine oil, Amsoil ATF in the transmission & transfercase, and Amsoil 75w-90 gear lube in the front & rear differentials. I also have the bypass oil filter for 25,000 mile oil changes. I will be going to 0W-30 oil in 8,000 miles. We'll see if that will generate an improvement. I just bought the car 17,000 miles ago, so I had to start somewhere with it. And I had 10W-30 on hand from my last car and the bypass filter assembly.

I would have an Amsoil Ea Air filter, but they don't make them for my car :-(. So I'm stuck with a K&N panel filter.

Tornado fuel saver
Denso Iridium Spark plugs
Bavarian Autosport 8mm plug wires (removes resistors)
MSD Blaster 3 High vibration coil
Ignition Solutions PlasmaBooster (multi spark box)
SUN Automotive Hyper Grounding Cables (super low impedence 99.99.......% pure copper with gold plated connectors). I have a trunk mounted battery and ran a HG cable from the trunk to the engine bay. I used HG cables and grounded the block, head, intake manifold, fuse box, ECU, ICV, AFM, and all engine bay grounds to the cable from the trunk. Also grounded the battery to it's stock location in the trunk with a HG cable.

Anyways, I am still trying to figure out how to increase my fuel economy.

I came across a few threads reference the Zemco Fuel Saver. I bought one, it came from Great Britian, Under $40 shipped. There is another one on eBay right now. I don't do much stop and go driving but it can help. As with all of the parts, as long as I stay with a cap/rotor based gasoline engine, it is a 1 time investment I can take from car to car.

I did have some concerns about the fuel saver, but got over them after thinking them over. I know there is more wear and tear on an engine when it starts. Well I got to thinkin', if the car is starting and stopping all the time it'll wear my engine out pretty damn quick. Well I also realized that Amsoil sells a precharger to prevent engine wear. So my conclusion is engine wear happens when it is a cold dry start. So as long as your car can maintain oil pressure for the 3-5 mins it may be off in stop and go traffic, then you'll be all set and won't wear it out. You'll wear your starter out faster, but those can be rebuilt easier. So my next project is to mount the Zemco and see how it goes. I don't do much stop and go driving, but every little bit counts and this will pay for itself pretty quick.

I have some additional questions for increasing fuel economy.

Headers? They will help with scavanging and make the pulses timed better, resulting in a little less backpressure & loss of low end torque, but will I get better fuel economy at 65mph in 5th gear at 3200 rpms (redline is 6500 rpms).

Crank Scrapers. Less roating mass of oil, better fuel economy? They claim increased HP/Tq so fuel eco should go up too right?

Anything else? I do all the typical stuff with higher inflated tires (within reasonalbe pressures), easy stop and go, no a/c, no windows, acetone in the gas tank, etc etc.

Any more tips or projects? I try to keep the price of new parts down around the 150$ at most range. A lot of stuff I pulled off of other cars in junk yards (tornado fuel saver for 1).

I tune the car up regularly & run fuel system cleaners every 5K miles. I rotate my tires & check spark plugs every filter change at 12,500 miles, etc etc. I keep the car tuned up.


Electrocharger anybody? www.sigmaautomotive.com/electrocharger/electrocharger.php

Thanks,

~ryan