So this past weekend I finished my first tank since discovering ecomodder.com and starting to pay more attention to my driving and I must say I quite like the results
Code:
Fill date Distance Fill amount MPG
2009-08-29 242 mi. 8.034 US gal 30.12 US
2009-08-21 242 mi. 9.39 US gal 25.77 US
As you can see a nice 17% improvement on my very first eco-driving tank. Having exactly the same distance for both fill-ups was a coincidence but I think it nicely illustrates how much actual gas one can save! I credit the SGII for most of that as I've had it for the whole tank, the other mods that I've done on the car have happened throughout the use of the tank, so I'm hoping I'll see even more improvement as I refine my driving techniques and the mods are on permanently and for the full duration of the tank.
What I've done so far:- SGII and driving techiques
- Tire pressure at 44 psi (about halfway through the tank)
- Full coroplast grill block (finished about 3/4 through the tank however due to the summer heat, the lower half had to come off again but will return as soon as temps start to drop)
- Using TC-W3 oil as gas additive (as per Been testing - LS1 Performance Information) I don't know if this one is actually helping my gas mileage, but I noticed and immediate change, my engine runs quite a bit smoother now, so I'm thinking I will stick to it
Some things I'm considering to do next:- Wheel covers, however since I have OZ aluminum rims and don't have the expertise nor the tools to drill and tap them, I am absolutely stumped as to how I could possibly go about attaching them in an easily removable but secure fashion
- Passenger side mirror delete
- Relocate the license plate to my upper grill block, I don't know if this will help much/any but it seems to me since it is hanging down in front of the lower grill, it just creates unnecessary turbulence (especially with full grill block in place), that could be avoided by moving it to my upper grill block
- Do the next oil change myself and use low viscosity synthetic motor oil
I'm aiming to achieve consistent 32+ mpg for my driving (about 60% highway, 40% city) and looking ahead to my road trip next summer it would be awesome if I could beat 38 mpg over the 7000 miles of the trip. Are those reasonable goals?
And here are the obligatory before/during/after pics for the grill block. I was thinking of painting the bolts and washers black but actually like the look, so I'll just keep 'em like that
