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Old 12-22-2010, 12:37 PM   #8 (permalink)
Jim-Bob
Junkyard Engineer
 
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: New Port Richey, Florida
Posts: 167

Super-Metro! - '92 Geo Metro Base

$250 Pizza Delivery Car - '91 Geo Metro Base
Team Metro
90 day: 43.75 mpg (US)

Fronty the wonder truck - '98 Nissan Frontier XE
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gasoline Fumes View Post
Is it possible that the gearing change allowed the torque converter to lock up at city speeds? Or even just allowed the trans to shift into top gear more often?
I do not have the torque converter clutch hooked up in that car as I eliminated the computer and went with a Quadrajet from a 1979 Chevy van. The Quadrajet is another secret with that car. The small primaries of a Q-Jet give very good throttle response due to higher velocity through the small venturi and allow the car to run at basically a high idle in most circumstances.

The car now has more than three times the stock horsepower and double the torque ( 390 ft/lbs from off idle and a flat torque curve in excess of 400 ft/lbs until 5,000 RPM) that it had with the 231 V6 and 2 barrel it came with. Yet, it is better on gas in the city that it was with the V6 by about 1 or 2 mpg. It is worse on the highway though where the V6 got 29 mpg on a trip from Florida to New York and the V8 struggles to top 20 mpg. The small, low power engine is really at it's best in a car this size at steady state speeds where you do not need to accelerate often. This car took 22 seconds to hit 60 with the stock V6 with the gas pinned to the floor, or about 7 seconds longer than a 3 cylinder Metro. Merging onto the highway was a terrifying prospect and thus when it was used for delivery work with the V6 it only returned 14 mpg. The V8 means I don't have to work the engine as hard to get it up to speed and keep up with traffic.

The Cutlass is another of my "theory" cars but not optimized totally for fuel economy. Fuel economy played into the equation but so did performance. It was intended to be fun to drive around corners and comfortable for long trips. Then again, it was initially built when gas was $1 a gallon and I could afford to drive it everywhere. The Metro is a car for the new reality and the Cutlass will likely get sold next year as I simply cannot afford to use it anymore. It's a shame too as I had more plans for it- like a 5 speed conversion using 3rd gen Camaro parts.
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(Note: the car sees 100% city driving and is EPA rated at 37 mpg city)
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