Motivation?

[Litotes]

Hi Guys,

I am not trying to start any arguments or controversial discuss but I merely curious about your motivations for ecomodding.

So my reason for coming to look around the community and ideas here is to try to reduce my outgoings on fuel, so must be cost positive in 2 years/18000miles or so for it to make sense for me.

Some of the mods I see hear cost money that will take a lot of miles to recover in fuel cost savings.

So is it the engineering challenge?

or is it to reduce car emissions?

(and if this is the case how to you offset that against the impact manufacture of the products used in the modifications)

I am looking forward to hearing opinions.

[dcb]

I'm a tinkerer, though I started out as a tinkler. This seems like a good use of such activities, saves energy and any money and time spent is experience/education (which winds up saving me even more money). Calming down on the road probably is good for me too.

[Phantom]

I do it because I like cars have fun taking things apart and spending less money on gas is good as I can spend it on other stuff.

[skyl4rk]

I see ecomodding as a performance enhancement hobby. Its not tire burning performance, its efficiency performance.

Driving skills, and the fun of driving/hypermiling are a big part of it.

I also like to focus on aerodynamic mods that I can make. The right shape means I can coast and coast and coast...WOW!

I actually drive much more than normal if I am out trying to hypermile. I ride a bicycle to work and don't need to drive at all most days. I have had tanks of gas where all I was doing was joyriding through the countryside practicing hypermiling techniques. If I had the time and money, I would plan cross-continental hypermiling jaunts just for the fun of it.

If I was out to save money, I should just sell the car and ride a bicycle.

Hypermiling is a sport that I like.

[Angmaar]

It's a good green hobby and I enjoy learning new things.

[Old Tele man]

...my "interest" was spawned back during the first OPEC Oil Embargo (1970's) when my '70 AAR Cuda (see my avatar!) was getting only about 12 mpg in-town.

...when there IS no gasoline, you gotta make what little you have left sloshing around in the gas tank **last** until you find a service station that's open and has gasoline to sell.

...that, or walk.

[bestclimb]

Hypermiling is a form of performance driving that I can do to fill the boring drives I do that will keep me from getting tickets. I enjoy the challenge. The ecomodding I do is to improve things a bit more. Also I get to save a little money.

If I thought my driving was going to wreck the world or that I could save the world by reducing my fuel consumption I would likely go all monkey wrench gang.

[cfg83]

Litotes -

- I started a 35+ mile one-way commute in 2005.
- I've always been what I would call a "pragmatic treehugger".
- I like the idea of making my Saturn S-Series shine when it comes to MPG.
- Back to that commute, I've turned my nightmare into a hobby, aka lemons to lemonade (at least that's the hope in all of this).

CarloSW2

[RobertSmalls]

Originally Posted by Litotes

So is it the engineering challenge?

Yep! I enjoy the challenge, and the environmental and political benefits are a nice bonus.

There is also the fact that owning a very efficient car means that a future oil crisis wouldn't affect me much.

In America at least, gasoline is perceived as cheap right now. When the price rises again, I bet we'll see more people looking for and talking about only the money-saving mods.

[Old Mechanic]

40 years ago before the first energy crisis, I read about an Opel Kadett station wagon winning a fuel economy contest at something like 125 MPG.

They used the P&G technique or accelerating to 45 MPH and coasting to 15 MPH engine off.

The only other mods were a block to limit accelerator pedal travel, disconnecting the secondary on the two barrel carb, and radial tires inflated to higher pressure.

Of course those techniques date back to WW2 gas rationing.

The first really economical car I bought was a 1984 CRX 1.5, serial number 1018 made in July 1983. I averaged 44 MPG in that car.

My recent patent is based on the belief dating back 40 years, that if you can make a vehicle that has pulse and glide capability without the necessity to change speed and use the mass of the vehicle as capacitive energy storage, you will go a long way toward burying the OPEC monopoly.

When I first really looked at the rotary aircraft engine of WW1, and realized the two critical advantages of the design, I started with the idea of an engine that could transform itself into a flywheel for energy storage. After building a demonstration model of the engine, I discovered, almost by accident, a configuration that allowed a direct in wheel drive with infinitely variable displacement.

Combined with short term energy storage the 40 year dream of pulse and glide without vehicle speed changes has been accomplished. Now the difficult job of demonstrating the concept with a working prototype has begun, because most people won't believe the potential benefit, either due to alternate agendas, or some lack of understanding, until they are shown indisputable evidence of the benefits.

regards
Mech