[Regenerit]

Originally Posted by UltArc

You are welcome to do whatever you want, and I look forward to seeing results, but 3210 dollars for 95 lbs of saving does not seem very efficient. Especially if you are not going to increase your gearing.

And with just those mods, I do not know how feasible your goals are. I think in a standard, any vehicle should be able to get highway mpg in the city. I see 32 mpg in the city depending on distance, but 6 speed standard. Maybe the tuning will help, but it does seem a bit unlikely :/

Thank you for the support. I admit, the numbers are a bit high but not as much as you may think. When traveling at 45mph at 35deg F I was and with my 250lb cousin in the passenger seat, I was able to net 34mpg. At 50mph, I get about 32-33mpg, at 55-60mph I get about 30-31mpg at about the same temperatures. Lastly, at 65-70 I get about 28-29mpg.

Check out these fuel economy figures from Metrompg.com for the Honda Civic Hybrid at 60mph at varying temperatures.

At 60mph at 35degF I get 30mpg. If the temperature went up to 85deg F which is realistic for chicago's summer weather, my fuel economy would jump by 22% to 36.6mpg at 60mph.

Also, the ECU tune which will be done by BTRcc can be tuned according to which fuel I am using, in this case 93 octane. People on the forums at gencoupe.com who have gotten tunes from SFR and BTRcc have noted fuel economy improvements on top of the improved power. One said he noticed right away a good 2-4mpg improvement. Other's noticed a better fuel economy on trip back home from the tuning later that day as well as further after that. So being conservative and saying maybe 1mpg extra in city and 3 in the highway, I would be looking at about 39mpg highway at 60mph at 85deg F. Add in the weight loss at the wheels plus the other 60 some lbs and I think 40mpg is very doable.

Originally Posted by niky

Rather than a carbon hood, I'd put that money in a flywheel upgrade, to free up a little more power.

I really like this idea. I'll look into it and see what I can get and at what cost.

Originally Posted by redpoint5

You have chosen to replace components that have a high cost to performance ratio. There are tons of things you could do for much less money that would yield better results. The CF hood and trunk goes against what you say here; "or any modification that will easily make it obvious the car has been modified with often rather ugly", and at a very high cost without any performance benefit that will be noticeable to you. You won't notice the difference with the lightweight battery either.

From the list of your planned mods, the wheels will likely be the thing you notice the biggest difference from. But holy smokes, $1200! That said, I am considering Kosei K4R wheels at $800 for my car, really would rather find a used set.

If you're driving efficiently already, weight won't really make much of a difference in MPG.

With your cold weather, start with an upper grill block and paint it black so that it isn't obvious. Your car will warm up quicker, maintain heat longer, and be a little more aerodynamically efficient.

I like the look of the carbon fiber hood and trunk and they also give a performance aspect to the car. Also, when removing weight off a car, every little bit counts but I do not want to make it to the point where I am removing items that deteriorate the quality and look of the ride (removing rear seats, I occasionally have more than one passenger in the car without notice) or reduces the emergency readiness of the car (having the spare and jack removed). I understand I will probably never recoup the $3200 spent on items to improve fuel economy but the whole point of it all is to make this an enjoyable good looking ride that I can enjoy driving like gramps and achieving great fuel economy but at a moment's notice make it roar as someone challenges me or I have to bust balls to evade a potential acccident, etc.

I've used a grill block on my old 1993 chevrolet Lumina back when it was my beater and I didnt give a damn how ugly it looked. I'm kind of thinking about getting a grill block but then I remembered that the grill is the only area where fresh air comes into the air intake (the intake itself is sealed an has a tube which leads to a widened vent at the grill. I would not want to starve my engine of air at full throttle (although highly unlikely). I'll have to look into a material for the grill block (maybe an abs plastic dyed black or something and perfectly cut to fit the grill perfectly).