[justme1969]

As repairs to my hatefull little honda have exceeded $1500 with me providing the labour, I put my old Kia back on the road.
This car was destined for the crusher with brake issues, suspension, axles, motor mounts, broken windshield, engine misfires, stereo stolen, dash cracked, passenger seat broken, bad clutch, power steering hose burst, etc. etc. etc. It was more parts car than car. I parked it after the powersteering and brakes left it useless.
Well with junkyard parts fixed engine miss and much of the list above except brakes are still sub standard and power steering is shot out.
Brakes on these things are not too good to begin with so I simply adopted safer following distance and at times downshift and /or apply scooter brakes.
depending upon fear factor!
I found after the engine and brakes were fixed enough for locomotion that the power steering should have been optional in these cars.
It steers fine and I actually like it better with the improved driver feedback I get. I did keep pump in place due to belt driven oil pump or balance shaft following it. very little parasitic drag after I loosened that belt up alot. {so add that one to your list ecomod mods.}
With that hydraulic drag gone I am sure it improved mpg.
I found that the squealing sound was alternator dragging due to bad bearings. When replacing it I used a junkyard Toyota unit with much larger pulley, it fit fine but I had to replace the Toyotas plug to match my harness.
Thus Ive introduced a underdrive junkyard style so more mpg.
{there is 2 now for your list ecomod moderators.} And there is a question for future what is the most efficient alternator?? not all made equal Ill bet.
The engine performance was a faulty injector and a combination coil /wires issue. massive mpg there!
Both were working but both worked intermittantly in addition the engine recieved new denso plugs, air filter, and pcv.
The motor mount issue caused tire wear issues that I corrected with the next taller sized tires. this placed final drive into a 75mph sweetspot that has nearly effortless ride as here there is very few hills and biggest restriction against glide is head wind from sea to shore during pm.ride home.
all said It has come from 17mpg to 24.5mpg and better if I would just quit being in a hurry to get home. I am single dad of 3 so my life is on a tight schedule till they get old enough to be trusted more alone.