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Old 11-28-2009, 11:09 PM   #28 (permalink)
Christ
Moderate your Moderation.
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Troy, Pa.
Posts: 8,919

Pasta - '96 Volkswagen Passat TDi
90 day: 45.22 mpg (US)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MadisonMPG View Post
Look around craigslist/ebay and buy a hitch i'm sure the van has a place to mount one. It should pay for itself on the first trip. You could eve Kammback from the sides to the thing to help with aerodynamics more. I would not suggest slowing down. It's not "worth" it.

1 way:
57 hours @ 70
61 hours @ 65
72 hours @ 55

Well, dropping to 65 may be worth it. It is only 4 hours more. Check your economy @ 65 and 70 and report back to us, that will help us/you decide if slowing down is worth it.
Now those numbers may be wrong, I have stayed up too long. :P
Aero mods and driver mods seem like they're going to be your best friends here... Unfortunately, I still don't recommend EOC for automatic transmissions, because there just hasn't been enough data retrieved on the subject to verify that it's OK for all instances, but that would really rock the MPG world for you, especially over such a long distance.

A few simple things you can do is try to time your fuel/piss stops so that you're driving during times where traffic isn't at a peak or a valley. Middle of the line traffic, and basically following their speed creates a nice wall of air effect, especially if you're in a closed highway (sound walls). That helps to divide the aero burden of moving air over all the vehicles around you, instead of squarely on your nose.

Distance drafting may be your friend, as well. Get close enough to draft, but make sure the driver can still see you. I've found that the only time drivers really get mad about me drafting is when they can't see me behind them, but know I'm there. I keep a headlight poked out to the side for that purpose alone.

Check under your rear bumper and make sure it's not a parachute... there's a quick mod you can do that should help out a bit. If it's a parachute, you can add a piece of coroplast from the underbody down to the lower edge of the bumper, and that should keep the flow from being obstructed there.
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