Quote:
Originally Posted by AndrewJ
The basic idea should be to keep your current FE as far above the average FE as long as you can, and minimize the time spent below average FE.
As for accelerating, it is allegedly more efficient to accelerate at a certian RPM range at close to WOT. The specific RPM you're shooting for, however, varies from car to car.
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Mine seems to follow suit quit well with this. I strive for flat level to keep instant FE above 42mpg. I too believe granny acceleration serves to only decrease FE for that acceleration stretch. No BSFC numbers. I use TPS and FF for that. I try for 20-25% TPS, which usually yeilds 1.25-1.75gph depending on grade and whether I was at dead stop or not. That puts the Civic shifting crisply (2250-2750), then at 40mph, I feather the throttle to get it into OD and set FE and FF from there. Once I'm at speed (55mph), I cut the throttle for 500msec then bring it back in to ensure I'm not accelerating on false hill. Rountinely on my routes, I found level sections that I can cruise at 55mph at 0.9-1.1 FF and average ~52mpg. These sections aren't level, but always have appeared so until monitoring.
On hills, I accept a higher FF going into the hill in order to build inertia, then set TPS for first half. Approaching crest, I roll it back to try to be at my target MPG at the crest. Once you get the TPS feel, monitoring Fuel Flow (FF) and FE is the easiest for me during accel.
Trying to deadeye the TPS and FF would be benifited by hand control which I'm considering. Prestage -Stage - Lights come down. Just to think, last year, I was getting 1.4gals/mile in the Coronet.