I've been working on improved fuel mileage on my non-hybrid car. I basically drive the speed limit to and from work every day with this car, and that is at 60MPH. It is a 1990 and has only 48K miles on it, just purchased mid-June.

I'd like to replace the 215/60R14's with a nice set of 185/70R14 tires, but as far as rolling resistance, is there any one better than the others without getting too scary to drive in a panic situation. I was thinking about a set of Michelin HydroEdge tires. My car is a smidge lighter than a HCH and the only dimension that i'm larger is overall length.

Going to be swaping the steel front / rear bumper reinforcements for aluminum ones from the 2.5L cars, so I can drop enough weight that I can swap the 3sp TH125C transmission (2.39:1) final drive, to a 4sp 4T60 transmission (3.43:1) final drive - in forth (overdrive) I'll be at 2.41:1 overall effective ratio. Should be easier around town, and no weight gain.

A new set of shocks and struts so I can install a set of Eibach lowering springs, just an 1" but it is something I've wanted to do since I had my other car ('90 Z24-5sp - 34 MPG highway), should cut some of the frontal area of the car.

Of course exhaust, everyone knows a completely silent exhaust robs the engine of horsepower at all RPM. Definately not coffee can rice stuff, just nice 2 1/2" pipes vs the 2" stock pipes and nice Magnaflow mufflers.

The only other thing I'd like to get accomplished is turning on the highway (lean burn) mode in the ECM, so I can reap the benifits of cruising at a leaner than 14.7:1 air/fuel ratio.

If my old '90 Z24 could get 32-34MPG on trips, without the all the above except the exhaust, I'm sure I could do better.

I don't like all the 'tricks' used to get better mileage, if you can't just DRIVE the car and get excellent fuel mileage, what is the point. I work 8 hours a day as it is, i don't want to have to work 3 more (1.5hrs one way) just to get the maximum fuel mileage.

I'll be posting every tank, as I go and the mods I have done, I have 15 year old car and an engine 2-3 times larger than most of the hybrid cars, I'll see just how far up the ladder I can go.

Jeff

 

Welcome to GreenHybrid!

It sounds like what you are doing will help. If I were getting an older car, I'd target cars I knew got high fuel economy, such as the Honda CRX HF I had. Realize it's too late, but hope your results will be good.

 

Take a look at how this guy spoiled his Beetle...
He used Michelin Energy LRR Tires too.

 

I had a '00 Toyota Echo AT, and my wife could get 39-41MPG out of it all the time. I on the other hand could barely muster 36 and most of the time it was 33MPG.

This car really was a terrible car as a driver, the way "I" drive. No fun at all, I fixed most of the leaning with a set of 16" wheels with 205/45R16's, but you just had to drive slower than my grand mother to get 40's MPG

My Buick with the 3.3L V6 I don't feel like the slowest in the crowd on the highway, and if I want to lay the hammer down, I really can.

I'm going to drive this car until October and then switch over to my '93 Bonneville until April, let the Ohio road crews tear that car up with the road salt, etc. Over the winter I can work on the Buick for next 6 months of driving.

I'm thinking that that transmission project will be a great winter project.

Jeff

 

One of the greatest myths ever concieved is that a car just "Gets what it gets".
While it is true that an Insight gets better MPG than an H2 how these vehicles are driven directly determines their efficiency.
While you (and many others) don't like all the tricks, you could get far better fuel economy by modifying driving habits alone, versus spending alot of money and time into modified equipment.
An added bonus is the efficiency can be freely transferred to any present or future vehicle you drive.
A good example that I know of is our Grand Caravan that went from mid teens MPG to mid twenties. No fancy exhaust pipes, intakes or gimicks.

Another popular myth!
My drive is 1.25 hrs long, and I'd gain a scant 10 minutes each way driving "Normally".

BTW
Thank you for the post and welcome to the community!

 

I will second that last remark. I found a new route to work that avoided the highway and was actually shorter by a few miles. This new route increased my FE from 70 to 85 MPG. The benefit is twofold, less miles traveled and less fuel consumed while traveling. Maybe the Saudis arent shaking in thier boots yet, but if more drivers would enjoy the extra 10 or 20 minutes it takes to get to and from work, we would all be sending less money overseas feeding our fuel habit. I spend those extra 20 minutes per day relaxing, listening to XM radio seventies on 7. I arrive at work ready to take on any and all challenges. When I get home, no stress, just a feeling of exhilaration for having cheated the Saudis out of another couple of bucks.

As I always say, less is more, more or less.

 

Hi Hot_Georgia_2004 and Krousdb:

___Excellent comments indeed!

___Jhill98, spending money for what you hope to be higher FE sounds like a really large hack and the results are probably going to be far less then you had hoped … I have seen used 03 Toyota Echo 5-speeds up on E-Bay for < $5K. With a small amount of setup and training, that thing is easily worth 55 mpg and you don’t have to pull a tranny, lighten it up with non-OEM bumpers, change exhausts, lower its height, or other such sundry items. Changing its tires and rims to larger non-OEMS is going to kill it however. Another … I received what I thought was excellent FE in a bone stock and not setup in the least – 2004 Buick LeSabre Custom with the 3.8 L V6 from Avis out of Sky Harbor about a year ago: Can't wait. Other options?. Those results were achieved while running full A/C - 100% of the time across the deserts of AZ. and CA., across and up the Sierra Nevada’s multiple times (Yosemite was beautiful), 1 + hour long jam at Hoover Dam in 105 + degree temps, a 100 + degree - 1 + hour - 5 mile tour of the Strip in Vegas when we arrived, 1 + hour stop in 100 + degree temps to see Fire fighters put out a brush fire along the roadway at Tejon Pass, a trip through downtown San Francisco and Sausalito during rush, a drive through LA County’s Freeway nightmare at rush, and loaded to the headliner with personal gear for the family.

___If time is of concern; you might want to consider an alternate high FE car using FE saving techniques for higher speeds. In the following pic, you can do the math if you are interested in excellent FE at above the limit type speeds? My commute is a nasty long SOB too



___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

 

I'm really not doing anything I haven't done before. I met my wife on the internet 10 years ago, and used to drive out to see her once every other week, so it was 400 miles one way, 800 round trip and a perfect opportunity to try a whole bunch of things to see what worked and what didn't.

The one thing that worked the best was a good ole fashion Autometer vaccum/boost gauge i had from another car. I found that I could pull the hills at 2in/hg or 10in/hg, but at 10in/hg I was getting better mileage. AND you couldn't tell the difference in the vehicles feel.

I started running 40psi in the tires, netted a smidge better aveage mileage. Swapped the 1990 exhaust system (2" complete), with the older '87 exhaust (2 1/4" complete), Dynomax muffler, and better converter.

I just pulled my third 30MPG+ tank so i know I can easily and repeatably do 30+ in a car that definately never rolled off the assembly line with any real hopes of doing it.

The 3.3L is a small 3.8L Buick V6, the new 3800 Series II is much more refined. I'm starting with a 15 year old product. Why? I can fix it in my sleep. No ODB II computer. No ABS, No Airbag. I purchased the car in June ($2900) with 46K miles on it. It is beautiful, a diamond in the rough. One thing about all those first GM FWD cars is they always had some shortcoming.

The 3.3L is gear bound with the 3 speed automatic and the TH125C doesn't coast. The 4T60 (4sp auto) will coast when you lift, so the car will roll down even slight grades. The TH125C needs a real hill to gain any speed. I'd gain 30lbs with the trans swap, also should help around town because of the increased ratio. The aluminum bumpers is a stock OEM part from a 2.5L model of the same car, so I can lose at least some of the weight.

The the tires are exactly the same size, just thinner. 215/60R14 stock, 185/70R14. The stock size on the base model Skylark is 185/75R14 i just would have to swap the speedo gear in the trans if I went to that size tire.

Lowering the car, this is something I think you missed the point. My car is like a 4x4 at the OEM height compared with many many of the new models, I'm just going to even the bar a little bit. 1" isn't slammed.

I'm here to learn a bit from you all, and I hope at some point in this long process you might learn something from me.

--------

I have 1.5 hours to drive about 13 mies fairly flat, and then the rest of the 41 grades down toward Lake Erie. Slight grades nothing terrible. I'm trying to even my speed out, and go through the only slow part when there is much less congestion. (4 traffic lights with about a mile between) I know most of my mileage loss is along that stretch, also with all the construction on the interstate, I have been going through town to an exit a bit more north of where I normally would get on, which is another issue. This the straightest fastest route to my destination.

 

Well I changed the tires, Goodyear Regatta 2 - 185/70R14, the other tires had 2 plug in them and the fronts were a bit long in the tooth, so it was definately time. Last tank was terrible at 29.7MPG, but it is Football Hall of Fame week last week and traffic patterns were terrible. Lots of wish I would have gone another way to work and all.

The week I have driven more even and basically 55MPH through the construction and even the short spots in between, and then less traffic where there are 4 lights along my path, and then 60MPH the rest of the way. I'm sitting at 256miles and there is still air between the needle and 1/2 tank (which isn't exactly 50% of the tank by any stretch.) So it should be another 30.5 or so tank.

My biggest question is coasting, as I've stated before the TH125C transmission in my car the output shafts cannot overrun the forward/reverse sprag, so when I set the cruise and drive the car does exactly 55 or 60MPH uphill-flat-downhill with very little toterance. Also if the rpm is at 1850rpm at 60MPH it is that way the whole time it you drive it.

I'm a real car guy, so to swap the transmission is a 1 day project start / finish and the transmission I'm proposing actually came installed in that body style.

The TH440T4 or 4T60 as it was called later is a 4 speed automatic vs a 3 speed automatic. This transmission with stock gearing can be had with the same ratio in top gear, and this transmission was redesigned to allow the output shafts can over run the 4th/reverse sprag and it will gain speed going downhill and the engine will basically idle down while it is doing this.

Is the ability to coast worth the effort? The swap would get me down the 1/4 mile alot faster on the weekend. =)

 

I suspect the ability to coast could gain you significant fuel economy, with a minor change in driving habit. If you take your foot off the throttle when you see that there is slower traffic, or a red light ahead of you, the gentle decelleration of coasting could save fuel big time over the "engine braking" of the 3 speed.

Using this technique, along with driving at consistant speeds, around 45 on rural NY33, NY262 and NY31, and 55 on the interstate [even in 65 zones] has kept my "other" vehicle's mileage about 20% above EPA, 15 city and 20 highway on a 97 Dodge 360 (5.9L) Cargo Van.

Although I can't seem to get similar city mileage improvement from my '04 HCH CVT, the same trip gets me 60+ from the rural highway travel. Best on the run from Buffalo to Rochester was 68 mpg, but I never seem to beat 50 going the other way.