Quote:
Originally Posted by crmears
My situation is not one typically discussed here but the phyics of fuel economy are the same. My 2008 Class A diesel motorhome gets 8 mpg at 65 mph. I have a goal of getting a solid 11 mpg. It is 26,000 lbs, 8 by 13 feet for a frontal area of 104 sq. ft. It is shaped like a brick (front and rear) with rounded corners. It has 2 large ac units on top and a couple of vents stickins up also. The engine is a Cummins 360 hp, 8.3 liters, variable blade twin turbo, computer controled fuel injection and computer controled transmission.
My assumption is 70% of energy is used to overcome aerodynamic drag so that should be my focus. I own a body shop have the means to create a front end that looks like a Japanese bullet train with a remote controlled liftable air dam 3 inches from the pavement. I could also modify the rear to look like the rear of the bullet train.
Would this be enough to gain the desired 3 mpg? Or could it even give me more gain? Any other ideas.
Thanks,
Randy
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I am in the ecomodder mode with my rig. It has a Chevy 454 engine w/ TBI and automatic transmission. I have hooked an MPGuino to it and I have gained a lot of info on how to drive it. First, accelerate briskly, letting the tranny up shift as soon as possible. Each time it shifts up I gained fuel economy. I found that max economy was from 45 mph to 53 mph. Later I discovered I lost 3 mpg running at 53 to 54 mph. The brick wall effect is very pronounced. I settled on 50 mph and my last fuel check showed 16.4 mpg!
Here is a clip from my "blog post"
We got fuel in Westlake, Ohio. I again put $100 in the tank and since the price per gallon was $3.659 the gallons were 27.33. the miles driven was 450, that makes it 16.4 MPG. This is the best I have seen on the motor home so far. Slowing down 1-2 mph did the trick. Although 50 mph seems so slow, I enjoy it, since the driving is easier.
You can read it all here.
crazycomputers dot com/Fleetwood_Flair_26/]1993 Fleetwood Flair
My fuel saving tips are on this blog as well.
Cheers for saving fuel
