[orange4boy]

OK,

Loving this car. It coasts so beautifully. It's quite astonishing. I'm still adding too much speed because I'm used to lower CD cars. It just goes forever.

Done so far: Checked spark plugs. They were excellent. They are indexed on the insight which means they are installed in such a way that the gap is "aimed" in the right direction for best ignition. This is to avoid the lateral electrode shadowing the combustion chamber from the spark. They were almost loose. I guess the crush washers were a bit thin for the job. Will have to replace the crush washers to index them again.

Mods: (I take pains to incorporate reversible mods to preserve the original vehicle.)

Grill blocked with foam pipe insulation. The ten minute job. May do aluminum block later.

Basjoosed the headlights and the front hood with weather stripping. That way it's reversible and almost invisible. I calculated that I blocked about 26 square inches around the headlights and hood! Never underestimate Basjoosing!

Installed low profile wiper blades. Eliminated about 15 square inches of profile area there.

I looked at the under belly to see what I might do there later and I saw that the under panels in front of the tires were missing. No spats! Now I'm on the lookout for a replacement set. Any pointers as to where to look would be helpful.

Shot term plans include moving the 12V battery to the back of the car as low as possible for better weight distribution and handling. It already handles like a go-cart.

As for the 65mpg I mentioned before, That's on highway runs. Tooling around town, I get more like 45-50 ish. Just by the display.