70 mpg modded Volkswagen Rabbit

[Regenerit]

I found this neat article of a Volkswagen Rabbit that was modded to achieve 70 mpg. A lot of what they did is what we already know to do (belly pans, smooth wheels, grill covers, etc) plus a lot more complicated stuff like getting a diesel engine, clutch kit, etc. Many pictures and neat ideas that I haven't seen before so check it out!

The Rabbit Sipster

Ideas they mentioned not mentioned in the 65+mods:
greasing caliper pins on the brakes
adjusting rear drum breaks (if able to) to be slightly loose
Redline oil has gear oil and LSD friction modifier
aero front bumper to deflect air off of the side of the tire (pushing out vs. down)
aero hood vent (creates low pressure system above the engine to suck hot air out)"Basically, we cut two H-shaped slits in the hood, grabbed onto the sheet metal with our bare fingers, and bent the back of the steel down into the engine bay, and the front of it up into a little Gurney flap that should ensure a low-pressure area right over the opening to vent engine heat."

[JethroBodine]

Yup. Home page Ecomodder.com, about half way down is the link to http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...dded-7176.html the build thread that the guys from that project started and kept us up to date on what they were doing and some of the members on here helped them out. Good read.

[Regenerit]

Oh... I feel dumb now for not checking the front page. lol ;(
And I also noticed as I was looking through the forum post in the front page that the link to the news article is broken (page was not found when you click on it). Here: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...dded-7176.html
The link in the first post is broken.

[niky]

Fantastic guy, that David Coleman. His current project is a Hayabusa-powered Miata.

You can read details on Sipster on his current website/publication, here:

http://www.motoiq.com/magazine_artic...t-sipster.aspx

Whole buncha nerdy technical stuff on motoiq.com. If you like cars, you should like what's there. They even did some modification on a puny Honda Ruckus.

[arcosine]

I always thought that putting a rabbit diesel in a sirocco would the thing to do.

[Frankencar]

Originally Posted by arcosine

I always thought that putting a rabbit diesel in a sirocco would the thing to do.

That would be cool - but both the Rabbit and the Scirocco have horrible Cd.

[BrianAbington]

Dave coleman used to write for sport compact car, the guy is a freakin genuis, has a steering axis point named after him, and last I heard he was working for mazda as a suspension engineer after leaving the magazine. He is from my understanding a big part of why the mazda speed 3 handles so well.