Sorry guys...I've been busy wrapping up the year at work. Also, I need to do a little research on some of my ideas first. My idea is to find a way (ways) to increase performance without compromising FE (or ideally, to improve it). Since I am very new to hybrids, I have to get acquainted with a couple of powertrain things before I just throw out unfinished ideas. Hopefully, I can post something this week.

 

ok, so I took the same trip again over the mountain but this time I didn't use cruise control and i did use a lot of neutral gliding (if you don't know what i'mt alkign about look at post 81 from this thread) This time around I did much better getting over 260 miles with a final mpg of 45.4. Not only that but I upped my speed by about 5 mph on this trip so I guess cruise control vs human foot does make a big difference in my situation (mountain climbing). Also, I had a passenger with me which weighed more then my last two combined. Oh, and remember that noise I told you about Duc? I took the car back to the shop and they foudn that the pipe was hitting against the body of the car when it vibrated so they reinforced one of the weldings and now the clunking noise is gone. One question i forgot to ask the guy from the muffler shop was if it was better for the pipe not to move at all, as it not to vibrate at all, meaning it would have weldings every few feet, or if it's better for it to have a little room to vibrate? I really can't feel the vibrations of it anymore unless i'm in the low revolutions which are anything below 1.5 rpm's

 

I asked about this on a forum with a good number of knowledgeable car people and the general consensus was replacing the muffler would make no difference on fuel economy unless the car was turbocharged. So I'm not really sure what to make of your results, and you haven't done any real scientific tests like doing the same route three times in cruise control before getting the exhaust mod, then doing the same thing after...

 

well, i actually have done the same route several times before i replaced the muffler and I did all of them with cruise control as I thought it wouldn't really matter that much (that was before i learned the various techniques for driving it). My first trip before the mod was a complete disapointment, I ended with 28mpg's when I got home, the second one was a little better, I ended with 35 mpg's, the third one I ended with 32. All of those trips, except for the first one, I would use hypermiling and would never put the car above 60mph unless it was going downhill. Also, a thing that I noticed this time around compared to the other times. When I got to the middle of the mountain climbing up, my battery would only have one bar left because assist would always be from 1/2 to full. With the mod, and at the top of the mountain, i had a little over 1/4 of the battery left, meaning that this time around the car didn't need as much assist even though I was climbing it at much faster speeds than I used to. So you see, compared to how I was doing back then, I do have to give credit to the muffler mod, because if anything, I pump on the gas harder yet see better results than before.

 

Right, you're driving differently than you were before. That's hardly a good basis for comparison then. For instance, driving up a mountain quickly uses less assist because you're not driving as long; there's less time for it to use up the battery.

 

Hey Malditos, I think that hissing noise is your cold air intake system, now that it is exposed you will hear it more often. The OEM plastic box that you removed would prevent that noise.

 

This may read rude/sarcastic but it is not meant that way I am just wondering where there facts come from.
Interesting statement from your knowledgeable car people, "would make no difference on fuel economy unless the car was turbocharged".

Why/how is it there are so many aftermarket exhaust systems and mufflers out there?
Why don't race cars (various types/non-turbo) use mufflers and resonators?
Are all the Dyno results performed by people/companies/magizines false?
Why is it the only car that could benifit from a muffler is a turbo car (seems like an off the wall comment from non-car people not knowledgeable folks)?

I have read up a lot on this and have modified/built exhaust/intakes for every vehicle (2 & 4 wheel) I have ever owned so I am either nutty or it does make a differance.
My mpg's have increased even with an more aggressive driving style, high 30's low 40's with the same style now yeild low 50's worse case. Another fact to back it up is that "my" car could not climb a hill without speed loss (7mph) and now can climp the same hill with a .5mph, that is a definite improvement. I will agree it is hard to swallow and when I do things I do them out of desire sometimes not improvement but seeing/driving is believing.

Once again not meant to be rude in any way I am just asking.
Clif

 

I should have linked to the thread -- it's this one.

 

First it was hard for me to take anyone seriously with the crap they have under there screen name. Maybe it's my military lifestyle or my intolerance for the way people are these days but only of few of the posts would I even consider noteworthy due to the side stuff.

On to the issue at hand:
I did do hybrid research and posted that I only proceeded after I knew of a guy who had done extensive testing and saw an improvement. I also posted my improvements based on cruise control use on the exact same route that I drive everyday, now I increased my speed but still drove the same path, here are some of the posts.
Pg1:
This morning mpg's increased from the norm (50ish norm 56 today) same as yesterday evening (52ish norm 59 yesterday
Pg2:
Broke my all time best going to work today by 3mpg and broke my all time best coming home by almost 9mpg.
Another thing worth mentioning is since I did the exhaust I have plused up my tank average by 1.2mpg, not a bad increase considering the tank had 500 miles on it when I installed the pipe
Pg2:
My bad hill (which you may have already read) killed my speed by 7mph, after intake 2mph, and after exhaust .5mph. If it didn't say it on the rear you wouldn't know it was a hybrid
Pg3:
I beat my best tank ever (with 500 miles on the tank before mod) mpg's and total. I am currently running 59mpg with 280 miles on tank and I have been using the cruise running at 70 to and from places where I couldn't get 50 before. Even in extreme hills running the same path as another HCH 5spd I overall beat him by almost 4mpg and I only downshifted once compared to his almost every hill.
Pg:8
When I can control myself I can get 60-65mpg driving like a hybrid owner, when I drive like a normal person I get 54-56mpg.
Hard to pin down a huge gain since I drive it like a mad man but when I drove it like this before I got mid to low 40's and now.......
Pg:8
I drove the hill country (2 up @ 60mph) and 40 miles freeway (70mph) yesterday and got 59.6 overall on a 59.9 miles trip. I am very happy with that, my all time best for that trip.
Pg10:
I have gained 7mph on a uphill climb, not sure what that equates to but if I could floor it and lose 7mph and now I can climb it without speed loss (not even floored) there has to be a gain.
I just returned from a freeway 170 mile RT at speed not below 60 and not above 80 (drove 75 most of the time) and got 55.2mpg. With pax and by no means flat terrain, not to bad IMO.

I did not post my everyday miles due to the fact that I was not interested in reading it more less did I think y'all would be. Every mile I drive (or so it seems) is an exact duplicate of the previous day or of a past weekend. Another words these are all comparisons of previous miles driven before the mod it just doesn't read before/after. I can definetly see the use for pre/post data but as my MPG database reads there is a noticable differance in something whether it is me or the mods there is an increase for sure.

Once again not meant to read rude just throwing info at ya so you know I would not/did not post with the intention of misleading people but that I posted what I truely felt was a beneficial mod.
Clif

 

I hate to say it, but the first paragraph came across as rude to EVERYONE. Not quite sure what you were getting at by saying that.

On a side note more oriented to the topic at hand, I did do the intake mod (air cleaner) on my Insight. Next is a "hot box" to enclose it in. Still looking for some decent material to build it out of. I noticed some nice sheet aluminum in my parents garage this morning, that may just do the trick.

You say you have military background. I'm not sure about the Hobby Shop down your way but the one up in Dyess (Abilene) had/has? a Dyno. Food for thought.