It's my theory that the times I've seen the best gas mileage are when I've used the least gas pedal depression I could manage and still get down the road.
Some people seem to worry about how high they run up RPM-wise...but for mpg purposes...throttle position is the key?
With a 4 cyl car...I'd say generally that 2500 RPM is usually needed to get down the road in a reasonable fashion.
With V6-V8s...maybe around 2000-2200 RPM? .....or less?
But it how you get to that RPM that counts?
So my low tech idea is to use an extension spring and an adjustable section of chain to fashion a DETENT in the throttle control.
The spring would be just strong enough to allow you to feel the place in the throttle travel where it came into play...so reminding you to not push further.
But if you needed the extra go power...you could easily overcome the extra spring.
Would need to be set up so that it didn't interfere with the throttle obviously...and would be made to be adjustable using a small chain.
The fixed end of the spring would have to be fastened to the engine...not the car's body etc...due to the fact engines move on the mounts.
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Leading the perpetually ignorant and uninformed into the light of scientific knowledge. Did I really say that?
a new policy....I intend to ignore the nescient...a waste of time and energy.
Connect it to the gas pedal inside the car and make it connect to an adjustable knob on a threaded rod so you can fine tune the load position . . . makes me want to go out and build one right now! My gas pedal is way too light and I have to hold my foot off the pedal all the time.
Personally, I don't know about the throttle versus rpm debate, but it seems that darin has made the switch from minimal throttle pressure to moderate with no hit in gas mileage, and as mira has said, the real issue is what you do to lose that speed once you have gained it, not so much how you get there. I generally practice low throttle because it's easier for me to do consistently, but I often do the moderate throttle thing when the benefits are obvious.
I have a test setup on the V6 on the engine....looks like it should work pretty well.
In this case I used a fairly weak, but long spring...fairly easy to tell in use when the spring starts to extend...but it isn't too difficult to put the pedal to the metal.
Guess you'd have to try various types of springs...mostly depends on the amount of travel needed and the distance from the pivot point.
__________________
Leading the perpetually ignorant and uninformed into the light of scientific knowledge. Did I really say that?
a new policy....I intend to ignore the nescient...a waste of time and energy.
Got this setup on the auto V6. Looks like having the spring engage at around the same throttle position as you use when cruising in top gear at 55 mph or so works best.
Would be most effective with a manual trans...and no tach.
With this car it is surprising what little throttle opening off of idle is required at cruise...it's only 1/8" or so.
This actually trains your pedal foot to tend to stop at the DETENT...and since your foot is connected to your brain...you learn.
__________________
Leading the perpetually ignorant and uninformed into the light of scientific knowledge. Did I really say that?
a new policy....I intend to ignore the nescient...a waste of time and energy.
Got this setup on the auto V6. Looks like having the spring engage at around the same throttle position as you use when cruising in top gear at 55 mph or so works best.
Would be most effective with a manual trans...and no tach.
With this car it is surprising what little throttle opening off of idle is required at cruise...it's only 1/8" or so.
This actually trains your pedal foot to tend to stop at the DETENT...and since your foot is connected to your brain...you learn.
Is this the same car that you have the Condensator on?
i would think that raising your cruise to even 3000rpm would yield even smaller tps %...which depending on your fuel map curve programmed in your ecu...could equate to savings...
the obd1 honda world has the datalogging advantage to see your maps and where you are pulling from live in the cockpit
if i could ever get mi shiz working...for the love of the jesus
When I used to have the altima and I was into gas mileage it never saw 2500rpm at all. For the streets it was about 1700rpm and 2150rpm for the freeway.
With my civic I can't get used to the damn pedals. They are too hard. The clutch and the gas pedal. So I usually put too much throttle down because I can't finesse it yet like I did with the altima.
I'm sure once I learn to finesse the gas pedal and learn how to shift into 2nd faster I should see a 3-5mpg improvement in FE.
a new policy....I intend to ignore the nescient...a waste of time and energy. 
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