Having fun with a tuning forum
So my girlfriend got a new dslr camera and I've been tinkering with it and taking "car magazine" pictures of my car. I posted a few pictures in a "subaru tuning centric forum" under a photography thread.
Then someone with a keen eye spots my grill blocks, side skirts and rear boat tails. Knowing that members of the forum are speed freak meat heads, I kept my answers short and sweet to avoid a flame war....this is what ensues
Masthead 1
1) What did you do to the front lower grille?
2) What happened to the passenger side mirror?
3) What rear spats and side skirts are those?
Meathead 2
^^^ Thats got to be one off hand made skirts and rear spats and front grill lol +1 for trying to be creative but -1 for looks unless you are rallying or doing something crazy with the car
Meathead 3
Agreed. An STi shouldn't have gardening hardware on it. Looks horrible
Me
1) lower front is a grill cover I made out of fiberglass.
2) I took the side mirrors off and replaced them with smaller mirrors
3) the rear spats are a temporary skeleton to build rear boat tails (similar to a gen 2 prius), to eventually fiberglass/smooth over into the rear diffuser I'm making out of fiberglass.
4) side skirts are abs plastic
5) the whole underside of my car is smooth paneling that I made out of a combination of abs plastic and aluminum.
I drive lots of freeway, so these aero mods help me keep the rpms down while cruising on the freeway. I'm getting about 35mpg cruising at 60mph. I'm averaging combined hwy/city of around 27.9 tank mpg.
Meathead 4
Are you serious? I can't tell
Me
Of course I'm serious
Here's the theoretical math.
20mpg steady state cruising for 20 sec = 20 average mpg.
If I get 15mpg to speed up to 70mph for 5 sec, then I shift to neutral and get 120mpg for the remaining 15 seconds that it takes me to coast back down to 60mph. Then my average mpg will be higher. Of course I have to be sure that when I speed back up to 70mph, I don't put too much load on the engine that I'll put the engine into fuel enrichment.
Meathead 6
...or you could've bought an Impreza. I was sure you were joking until I looked at the image of the back of your car, and sure enough...a sheet of ABS plastic underneath it.
If you wanna hyper-mile...you're doing it wrong.
Meathead 7
Well....I live in california....I would get pulled over by the POPO for driving that slow in a fast car lol Its 80 all da time or bust!! VROOOOOOOM!!!
Meathead 8
These are the people everyone on the road hates because they don't know how to drive. Wasn't sure if serious or trying to act young ricer boy but now he sounds serious. The more I learn about some people the more I love my dog
Meathead 9
This is the guy I want to kick his ass when I'm stuck behind him, I'm like why is he accelerating then slowing constantly.... Seriously though can I buy your STI side mirrors!
Meathead 10
you guys realize that if you're in neutral, you're using more gas, right? anyone with a wideband gauge can verify.
when you're in neutral, the injectors have to spray gas so your engine doesn't stall.
This Meathead kinda gets it:
He means compared to leaving it in gear. The movement of the car keeps the engine turning so it can shut off fuel delivery. However, for hypermiling, this is detrimental because (theoretically) the amount of kinetic energy lost from engine braking the car is larger than the amount of energy spent using gas to keep the engine turning when you're doing highway speeds in neutral.
However, I too think that hypermiling a WRX/STi is a bit retarded. Maybe start with something that already gets decent mileage and doesn't have huge mechanical losses from a full-time AWD system.
Meathead 11
100% will tell you how much gas you're using if you read it right. It'll tell you AFR, which is air fuel ratio. How much fuel you're putting into the motor. No it won't tell you zomg you're getting 35 mpg, but it'll tell you how much fuel you're using. I can tell you if I stay out of the car (keep it in high green, yellow) I will get a few more MPG. But seriously who the hell bought this car to hyper mile? Or even for MPG in general.
Now they start to turn on each other:
Meathead 12
Some cars stop fuel delivery entirely when you're in gear and you let off the throttle, allowing the turning gearbox to keep the motor spinning instead of using gas to idle the car. I haven't checked whether the GR's ECU does this or not, but it's entirely possible.
Meathead 13
Pretty sure the subaru doesn't do that lol. It's not like the EJ is new technology
Meathead 14
Injectors are off while you are coasting in gear and off the throttle. The wheels are turning over the engine. Pretty much any car made in the last 20 years does this.
Meathead 15
furthermore being on the road with the car in neutral is just retarded.
Meathead 16
this is exactly the point we're trying to make. why is the dude with the STI w/ the plastic undercarriage and homemade body kit speeding up to 70MPH then shifting to neutral to coast to 60MPH? is this some fuel saving technique we don't know about? because our wideband gauges don't agree with it.
Now they start to regroup
Meat head 17
guess it's more of a confusion of terminology.
Nothing, he's an idiot. Hypermiling in an STI is stupid.
Also I call complete bull**** on 30+ mpg
MY FAVORITE RESPONSE
Meathead 20
or he can be a complete genius and is somehow getting 30+ MPG with an STI with these advanced driving techniques. LOL[
Meathead 21
Lol he's an idiot for screwing garden divider for side skirts
Meathead 22
You are the reason people want to kill some one on the road. You drive like an idiot and piss everyone off. Oh and you bought the wrong car go buy a prius
Meathead 23
y GAHD I just wish you'd drive your car off a cliff!! I swear I will throw a banana peel at you if I ever see you driving down the I15 lol You're the reason why there's traffic when there's no reason there should be!! And how the hell to you drive 5-10 miles UNDER the freaking speed limit!!? Douchebag