Good morning fellow ecomodders, hypermilers, and efficiency enthusiasts of all kinds.

The EcoModder blog has been inactive for over a year (save Tim’s two most recent updates), and I have been asked to help pick it up again.

So, since I also have not been active on this site for nearly a year, to start I thought I would re-introduce my self:

My name is Bakari Kafele.  My internet screen name (or at least one of them) is Jacob Aziza.
You may remember me from such internet sites as the EcoModder Forum and Instructables.com

I have an old (1983) full-size truck with a 6.9L diesel V8 that I use for deliveries and hauling and occasionally towing.  It would be a monstrosity for a commuter vehicle, but it’s about the smallest thing that could serve my work needs – most people hauling loads heavy loads (see below) would use a box truck, a flat bed, or maybe even a dump truck.

At the very least an F-350 or equivalent.
So, depending on how you look at it, getting 15 miles per gallon, (as I was five years ago), could be considered decent, given the type of work being asked of this old truck – 15 mpg being what I measured I was getting, which coincided more or less with what most people report getting in the same make model and year truck.

Then, in 2008, I read an article about Wayne Gerdes.

I found it to be revolutionary and inspirational.  It was one of those moments where it seemed like the idea should have been glaringly obvious all along, and yet somehow never occurred to me.  Slow down, accelerate with moderation, coast early instead of braking last minute.  Obvious stuff, right?

While I had always been environmentally conscious (I was running the truck on biodiesel most of the time,  and my personal transportation was – and is – mostly done by bicycle), I had also been a speed enthusiast in my youth.  The only reason I gave up on casual street racing, drifting, and other performance and trick driving in my Honda Civic was that I totaled it when I attempted to take a tight turn (the sign recommended 20MPH) at 55MPH.
I never put two and two together; never recognized the direct correlation between driving habits and resource consumption.

After reading the article, my driving habits underwent a 180 degree turn.
Despite having once received a letter from the DMV warning me that I was one point away from a suspended license, I now started driving below the speed limit, anticipating stops, and even coasting.

And after a few months, I was pulled over by the CA Highway Patrol once again.
Not that driving 50MPH on a 65MPH highway is actually illegal in CA; but because EVERYONE speeds here, all the time, the officer assumed I must be intoxicated to actually drive below the speed limit.  When I passed the breathalyzer, I was free to go.

I found that to be a (tragically) funny thing – I am surrounded by people breaking the law.  I am the one person NOT breaking the law.  And I am the one who gets stopped by law enforcement, because it is suspicious that I am not breaking the law like everyone else.  I thought that would be an interesting story to share, especially with people who were also trying to get the best possible fuel mileage from their own vehicles.
So I went online, and tried to find out if there were any discussion boards specifically dedicated to this “hypermiling” thing.

And that’s how I discovered:  EcoModder.com
Wow.  A whole new level.  Not only were there dozens of more in-depth secrets to driving technique, but people were actually modding their cars – not to make them faster or look cooler – but to actually make them more efficient.  Revolutionary, mind-blowing, and in the end as it turned out, life changing.

I won’t chronicle the entire process here, because I already did in the forums, as it was happening.

During this process a friend of mine (and fellow mechanic at the bikeshop I worked at at the time) convinced me to write about my truck mods for Instructables.com.

They happened to be doing an energy efficiency contest at the time, which I entered and took second place in, winning a T-shirt!
But even better, the founder and CEO of the company noticed my contest entry, and personally hired me to do a little work at his home.  How cool is that?

Throughout this time period, I had also been writing my own personal blog, and one of the founders of faircompanies.com, Kirsten Dirksen, happened to run across my article on anthropogenic global warming, in which I argue that the evidence is still inconclusive, but we should be acting as though it is true regardless of what science eventually finds.  She asked if I would post some of my content on their website, which I began doing.
About a year or so later she emailed me saying they were taking a trip to the US (from Spain) and asking if I would be willing to be interviewed on camera.

I was still new to hypermiling and hadn’t started ecomodding when the video was taken, so while I did mention driving the smallest vehicle that meets ones needs, fuel efficiency, and bicycles, the portion on my small home got most of the attention.

As my ecomodding habit began, since I was already posting eco related content to the Faircompanies website, Kirsten followed the development of the truck, and its transition from 15mpg to up to 30mpg. The next time she came to the US, several years later, she requested a follow up interview – and the new video which came out recently is all about hypermiling and ecomodding.

That brings us to today.

I recently looked into replacing the rear differential, as was suggested to me in the forums, but it turns out the 2.73  and 3.08 were never made for the stronger 8 lug / F-250+ wheels.  So I’m back to wanting to replace the transmission with one that has overdrive to lower my highway RPMs, but I haven’t found a diesel ZF with the granny gear yet.

I’ve been getting slightly lower mileage than my peak, just over 25 miles per gallon over the past 6 months, VS 29MPG average over the 6 months before that – but still a whole lot better than the 15MPG I started out at.

I suspect this is mostly due to having re-installed the alternator after my onboard 120v charger died, and being lazy about pulse and glide (as in, not doing it at all).
Between the video coming out and writing here, I’ve been more motivated to get my mpgs back up.

I’ll let you know how that goes.

UPDATE – I recently replaced all four tires with the General Grabber HTS, which is one of only two brands that is supposedly low rolling resistance in a tire with a 120 load rating.  I have only had them on about a week, so its too soon to say if/how much they will help (they are replacing on/off road tires in back, and dangerously worn road tires in front) – but what I can say is that the first time I drove with them fully inflated (the shop of course only inflated to 50 – even though I specifically asked them to go to the sidewall max of 80PSI) it was so easy to turn the (manual) steering wheel that for a split second I actually thought there might be something wrong.  I had gotten used to the old tires, and these ones turn with so little resistance that it feels like power assist by comparison.  That feels like a good sign to me.
I also just received my new battery charger (yesterday!) so I can take the alternator belt back off.  Between the two, I’m hoping to hit my 5th 30+mpg tank average – and then keep it there.  We’ll see…

EcoModder forum member, Brucepick has been working on an interesting alternator delete for a while now. He wanted to eliminate the load on the alternator, but didn’t like the idea of just replacing the starting battery with a deep cycle lead acid battery. The downside of doing this is that as the battery discharges the voltage sags lower and lower. The lower the voltage is the dimmer your headlights get, your blower motor slows down, etc.Some speculate that the lower voltage might also negatively effect the ignition system and thus lower engine efficiency. While most have found this is a negligible consideration, Brucepick simply didn’t want to deal with it, so he found another way to go about things.

Brucepick decided to add a second battery. This second battery would be a lithium iron phosphate battery (LiFePo4). The LiFePo4 battery has a higher voltage than a normal lead acid battery. With both batteries fresh off a charger the lead acid would be around 12.7V versus the lithium’s 13.2V. This may not seem like much, but when the alternator in a car is hooked up, it keeps the system voltage at 13.5-14.5V. When you go from that down to 12V, that is a ~15% drop in voltage. The lithium battery helps negate that penalty.

Brucepick’s setup is unique in that he starts his car with the lead acid battery, but the rest of his car runs off the lithium battery. He also has a few switches though, so if he has to travel farther than the lithium battery he can simply switch the alternator back on and run off of the lead acid battery like a normal car would. When he can, he plugs in the lithium battery to go back to running without the alternator.

For more information and a full walk through of what Brucepick has done, you can check out his forum thread.

EcoModder forum user CigaR007 has been working on grill blocks for his Toyota Echo for a while now. He started with some simple pipe insulation stuffed between the grill slats as shown above. This version worked well for him and didn’t look bad either as it matched the car’s grill color fairly well. It was also easy to adjust for winter/summer by just pulling some insulation out or adding some insulation back in.

However, he wanted to improve on things. So, his second version was made of coroplast wrapped in some carbon fiber vinyl wrap. This looked better than the last version and seemed to work a bit better at blocking the grill off.

A bit later on, he also did the lower grill block in a similar fashion. This time he used rigid extruded polystyrene foam (the pink/blue foam they use to insulate houses) and again wrapped it in carbon fiber vinyl wrap to make it look nice.

In the mean time he also played around with some ducting behind the grill block to ensure that the air that does go through the grill goes through the radiator instead of going around it. As a side note, the Toyota Prius also does this to improve cooling.

Still not satisfied with what he had, he set upon the next step in improving the grill block. He removed the front pumper cover, lined the grilled area with foil and newspaper, and then poured two part foam into the cavity. It then expanded and formed itself perfectly to the grill opening. With a little sanding, the foam takes its shape.

He also made a foamed grill block for the top as well.

The final step with the foamed grill blocks involved some body work. He filled the air pockets that the foam left with some body filler (bondo), and then put some epoxy resin over it. Then he primed and painted the blocks to the matching colors of his car. As you can see, if you didn’t look closely you wouldn’t even be able to tell that the grill blocks aren’t an OEM part of the vehicle.

For more information on the evolution of CigaR007′s grill blocks, you can check out his forum thread that details out every step of the process.

A while back I wrote a blog article on how to winterize your car ecomodder style. Now that its spring again I figured a nice topic would be how to summerize your vehicle for better fuel economy. So, here are some tips that the guys from the forum and I came up with:

Install summer tires (preferably LRR)
Winter tires get very soft in summer heat and wear very quickly. Those mushy tires give poor handling as well as require more energy to push down the road (there of course are exceptions). As things warm up, changing back to summer or all season tires is a good choice. If its time to get new tires for the car you should definitely consider a set of low rolling resisance (LRR) tires. They’ve come along way in recent years and generally don’t cost anymore or perform any worse than a normal tire.

Check tire pressure
For many ecomodders this is a normal task. However, with summer warming things up it is sure to affect tire pressure. You might find that your tire pressure is too high for your liking. Or perhaps you haven’t checked it all winter (like me!) and see that your tires need some additional air.

Install seat covers
A lot of ecomodders love beaded seat covers because they help to keep you cooler and stop you from sweating. This means you can comfortably drive in warmer weather with less cooling needs (be that A/C, fan usage, or windows rolled down). Another alternative is a fan powered seat cover. This will actually blow air over the area where your body touches the seat.

Adjust your grill block
If you live in a cold climate like me you can nearly get away with a full grill block through most of winter. However, that will not work well in summer at all (there are exceptions of course). Take some time to adjust your grill block and open it up a bit so that adequate cooling can be had. An easy way to see if your engine is running too warm is to install an indicator light that shows when your radiator fan is turning on. If it turns on all the time, you should open that grill block a little bit. Conversely, if you never see it turn on, you can feel safe blocking more of the grill off.

Adjust your warm air intake
If you run an agressive warm air intake to help keep engine temperature up you may need to tone it down for summer to keep that coolant fan off as well.

Adjust block heater timer
While a block heater isn’t as useful in summer, it can still help out quite a bit especially if you have a short commute. However, it won’t need to run as long as it does in winter. So, take some time and adjust the amount of time it is on before you leave.

Get out the window sun shade
A sun shade blocks and/or reflects infrared heat away from the car. This is a great way to keep your car cooler while it sits in the sun all day long. Some of our users even make a sun shade for their sunroofs. Hybrids especially benefit from a cooler cabin as the batteries don’t like extreme heat.

Verify optimal air conditioner operation
Try out that A/C before it gets scorching hot out. If anything is in need of repair now is the time before it gets too hot out.

General maintenance
Now that its warmer out its a great time to do a few simple things like topping off fluids, and cleaning out the car. For trucks and other RWD vehicles you can remove any weights you use for winter traction. A couple forum members recommend checking to make sure those salty roads haven’t bound up your brakes. Every spring they jack the car up and just make sure the wheels rotate freely. That would be a great time to check tire wear while you’re at it, and how much pad is left on the brakes.

What does a Ford Motor Company fuel economy technical expert do for fun at the end of the day?

He heads home to his own shop and custom builds an aerodynamically efficient, two-passenger, 3-wheel motorcycle capable of 125 mpg (US) at 65 mph (1.9 L/100 km @ 105 km/h) and a top speed of over 100 mph (161 km/h).  And then after using it for 3,200 miles (5,150 km), he puts it on eBay to make room in his garage for the next version which will be a plug-in hybrid.

“After working [on] improving conventional production car/truck fuel economy I wanted to try something with fewer constraints,” says EcoModder member John (HyperRocket).  Now there’s an understatement.

(It kind of makes you wonder how many house painters go home at the end of the day, budding Picassos, to toil on masterwork canvases…)

His street legal, 2-seat, tandem vehicle is registered as a motorcycle and was engineered for both high efficiency and fun:

• the drivetrain is from a Kawasaki Ninja: a 250cc liquid cooled, four stroke, DOHC 2 cylinder tuned with an exhaust gas analyzer for best efficiency & driveability

• six speed manual transmission

• weight: 505 lbs

• excellent 0.16 coefficient of drag, calculated through GPS-based coast down tests

• HID projector headlight up front, and LED’s elsewhere (front turn signals are integrated into the side mirrors for aerodynamics)

• safety features include 4 point seat belts, roll bar and front mounted IMPAXX crash foam as now used in NASCAR sides

John claims fuel efficiency of 105 mpg (US) (2.2 L/100 km) cruising on the highway at 65mph when equipped with the bling wheels and sporty gearing, and even better numbers with a couple of additional mods: “When equipped with the pictured motorcycle tires (not included) and a smaller rear sprocket it achieved 125 mpg @ 65mph.”  (1.9 L/100 km @ 105 km/h)

If you think a vehicle like this might draw attention, John confirms that with a good anecdote:  After being stopped by police and explaining the project to the curious officer, ‘back up’ was called in.  “Four squad cars showed up, several houses of neighbors came out and the whole thing turned into a spectacle. No ticket, everyone was genuinely interested in ecomodding!”

The trike’s eBay auction has a starting bid of $15,600 USD. While not questioning the design or workmanship that went into the machine, we wonder if that price will draw efficiency-minded bidders in these days of $2 per gallon gasoline.   Undoubtedly his work would have grabbed a lot of attention last summer, when fuel prices were driving people into a frenzy, paying utterly ridiculous prices for used Geo Metros to save money at the pumps.

Best of luck, John.   We’re looking forward to seeing what rolls out of your shop next!

—

Follow the discussion about the HyperRocket in the EcoModder forum

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A few months ago in a post about A/C alternatives I promised you I’d try some of the gadgets and get back to you. Well, summer has finally hit and in between sweaty drives around town I’ve been doing a little research. Here’s what I’ve learned:

1. the A/C shirts, according to some cycling reviews I’ve read, are kind of uncomfortable and don’t last very long. Coupled with the high price, I let this one pass;
2. this was the cheapest option, and therefore first on my list, stay tuned for more info;
3. seems like it would work better than #1, but again, cost is a factor. I might give this a try later;
4. definitely still on the to do list, expect an update on this before I shell out for #3;
5. this is definitely next up with the beaded seats already taken of, when I return from HybridFest this is my next mod.

Before thinking about these tricks for alternative A/C, I’d always thought those beaded seat covers were for weirdos. Luckily, the other founder of EcoModder told me that they did a great job of keeping you cool in the summer. I was a little skeptical, but when he showed me his beaded covers and I realized I could get a pair for just $26 dollars (shipping included), I figured it was worth a try.

The Komfort Beads showed up on my doorstep the day after I ordered them, and I went right ahead and threw them on both my passenger and driver’s seats. It wasn’t very hot outside, so I couldn’t tell how they worked during short trips around town, but today they got their first real trial.

The Date

When I removed my A/C (most of you will think I’m a fool, but it never worked anyway), I decided that the ultimate replacement would be found when I could go to a date and take a date in my car without showing up a puddle of sweat or reducing her to one. Today I got to put this to the test, as it was extremely sunny and blisteringly hot on the way to an engagement with a lady caller.

I won’t get into the date, but the beads were a success. When I showed up I was a little toasty, but my back felt much nicer than usual and wasn’t a pool of sweat. The seat was still slightly uncomfortable, but it was definitely refreshing to have my back feeling good. When she got into the car, she agreed. I’m sure she’s used to A/C, but I didn’t hear any complaints about the heat. The only negative seemed to be that the beads could tug at longer hair.

Success!

Yep, I’m going to call it a success. The beads don’t put you in a 70F paradise, but they greatly improve summer driving and reduce sweat. Especially for just $26 for a pair, this was a great deal. Does anyone have any other beaded seat cover brands they can recommend?

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