A few questions about my saturn.
 

VALLEY METAL is what roofers sometimes use in a valley on a roof. It comes in Al and Galvanized maybe copper too. The Aluminum stuff is very light and quite springy. It appears to be a fairly strong alloy but is very thin. The corroplast seems to be fairly cool under it. I don't have too much air gap. I carried a fire extinguisher the first trip. Probably should have left it in the car.

I moved the IAT SENSOR tonight to the middle of the air box. About 2 inches from the bottom. It showed less than 110 until the t-stat opened and then showed just a little over 140 F for a 65 mph run down the freeway for a mile. My cold air intake is completely blocked.

I had a peice of 1.5 inch OD tubing laying around from an old torch lamp that got discarded. It fit the airbox perfectly. I used about 4 inches of that. The hose is heat riser hose I bought at Auto Zone. This is precisiely what it is made for. It cost a spot over $10 but it was the right stuff and I wanted it so I paid for it. Some is just plain aluminum. This is Aluminum inside but has some kind of cover on the outside. It's not much different than dryer vent hose.

Ernie

Damn that is good. About the time I think I might be able to play in this game the target moves.

Ernie

-14*C outside today and about 7cm of snow fell overnight. 37.2 mpg for the trip to school.

Peakster: Assiniboine route, or old route? Did you find which one was better?

I used the old route. Assiniboine avenue route usually returns a MPG or two better. I just have a hard time waiting for that lengthy red light to turn green so I can cross Arcola Avenue when I have a free-flow right turn onto Arcola. The good news is that my tank should still be sitting at around 52 mpg (according to the Scanguage "gallons used" display and my odometer reading on the dashboard).

Winter weather just kills my FE, plain and simple. The car doesn't like to accelerate as well (especially now that that the winter tires are off) or keep a decent speed without excessive throttle. Even coming home from class was only 46mpg average on the TC highway when setting the cruise to 75km/h.

Winter: GO AWAY! :mad:

Edit: I just came back to school for my 2nd class today. Used the Assiniboine Ave route and got 38.8mpg. This time the car's engine was already warm and the outside temperature was -9*C. There was a lot more snow on this quieter road compared the the #1 Highway so rolling resistance is most likely what's killing the FE.

Not quite yet, I still have to ski some more. FE is second right now!!! :)

I woke up this morning to find that my windsheld washer fluid isn't working on my car, so for the first time ever this winter I had to scrape the windows by hand (whereas I'd just give them a blast of hot washer fluid).

Looks like I put the all-season tires on the Geo too soon. We had a big snowfall 36 hours ago and the roads are still caked with snow. This morning I took the "Assiniboine Route" and actually spun out 270 degrees by taking the easy left curve on University Park Drive (luckily there was no on-coming traffic). Couldn't believe that my car had that much oversteer without the winter treads.

Also today, I drove the Geo like a "normal" person (no EOC, only 4th gear @ 50km/h, 90 km/h on the TC highway, etc.) and got 37.2 MPG going to school. Didn't have to stop at any traffic lights though.

FE-wise, today was fairly good. Battery, that's another story.:( At lunch time I always go out and start my car and move it so the "today" trip doesn't re-set. Today, I almost didn't get it started so I let it idle for about a minute before shutting down. When I went to go home tonight it just barely turned over. I heard about people hving good luck with an Optima so I went and got one. Unfortunately I had to pay a tad more since I didn't have time to wait to have one delivered.:( The only trouble I had making it work was getting the negative cable attached. I had to tip the battery slightly to get the bolt started. I'll have to fab up a different hold-down too but I have a fresh battery now. I'm fairly certain that my battery was only the second one that's ever been in the car. I forgot to unplug my SG before switching batteries and I lost everything and have to start over.:mad:
Now for the FE.
1)59.0-5.8 miles(wife's work)
2)55.7-9.6 miles(my work)
3)64.8-9.6 miles(wife's work)
4)63.5-6.3 miles(home)
5)66.0-7.8 miles(get battery)
6)68.1-8.3 miles(home)
Average for today: 61.5 Temp was ~32F this morning and got up to 57F.

415.2 Miles / 10.7gallons = 38.8mpg

I thought this tank was going to be higher, but I guess the short trips bought it down a bit. I also found out that my car has a low gas light.

It looks like spring is around the corner (with temps in the 60s on the way).

My personal best tank....
 

48.90 MPG

I couldn't believe it!

- I haven't changed my driving habits.
- Used the same pump at one of the two gas stations that I always fill up at.
- The weather hasn't really been at that warm though it is starting to warm up.

I wonder how I got this high seeing as how it is pretty far out of place if you look at the rest of my gas log.

EDIT - Now that I think about it I did change my front pads and rotors. I think that my front left rotor was warped so that could have been rubbing.