The catch is that the car in question was a Pinto runabout, and the project took place 34 years ago "to ease the fuel shortage" of that era.
Nevertheless, most of their mods still apply today.
Quote:
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All we did was apply some race car technology to a street car. The result: a 25% increase in gas mileage from $10 worth of sheet aluminum, $1 worth of plexigass and a set of radial-ply tires. Gentlemen, man your tin snips.
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Everything old is new again...
The Pinto came to my attention in a
post Phil made in the "How to decide whether to remove a rear spoiler" thread. He mentioned the C&D article in that context about the "Crisis Fighter Pinto" because it had a sheet metal spoiler added on as part of its list of mods.
Phil must have also mentioned the article to the Edmunds.com writer who did the
piece about ecomodding this week.
Here's what
Car and Driver did:
- "LRR" (radial) tires replaced the OEM bias ply ones
- massive front air dam (2 inches clearance)
- partial grille block
- plexiglass headlight bucket covers
- 6 inch rear spoiler
- removed 2 blades from the OEM 4 blade radiator fan
End results: 18.2 mpg (US) in modded form, vs. 14.6 mpg in stock form, tested @ 70 mph.
