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Old 03-19-2014, 03:38 PM   #8 (permalink)
MetroMPG
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: 1000 Islands, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 22,527

Blackfly - '98 Geo Metro
Team Metro
Last 3: 70.09 mpg (US)

MPGiata - '90 Mazda Miata
90 day: 54.46 mpg (US)

Even Fancier Metro - '14 Mitsubishi Mirage top spec
90 day: 70.75 mpg (US)

Appliance car Mirage - '14 Mitsubishi Mirage ES (base)
90 day: 62.14 mpg (US)
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Congrats & welcome!

Love the custom look.

Quote:
Originally Posted by mozul View Post
It's use will mostly be a commuter car for me 11 miles slow California freeway/surface streets one way. It will also serve as a tow vehicle behind my RV.

Do you guys have any other suggestions or mods for this car?
I would strongly suggest a shifter-mounted engine kill switch. The first-gen IMA was very conservative about when it would kill the engine, and in your speed up/slow down commute, it would be an enormous efficiency boost. The Prius was/is far more aggressive in stopping the engine, and it shows in its higher city MPG ratings.

Google "calpod" switch mod for how to do it in the gen. 1 Insight. Not sure if it's directly applicable to the Civic, or if there's a Civic-specific mod out there.

On my Insight, it worked great. Shift to neutral, press the switch until the engine stops. And it left the normal "triggers" in place to instantly/automatically restart the ICE -- any one of: depleting the brake vacuum; pressing the accelerator; shifting into gear.

A kill swich is one of the coolest mods on IMA because of the auto-restart conditions. It would boost your mileage a lot.

There's a lot more you could do than that, but it's where I would start.
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Project MPGiata! Mods for getting 50+ MPG from a 1990 Miata
Honda mods: Ecomodding my $800 Honda Fit 5-speed beater
Mitsu mods: 70 MPG in my ecomodded, dirt cheap, 3-cylinder Mirage.
Ecodriving test: Manual vs. automatic transmission MPG showdown



EcoModder
has launched a forum for the efficient new Mitsubishi Mirage
www.MetroMPG.com - fuel efficiency info for Geo Metro owners
www.ForkenSwift.com - electric car conversion on a beer budget
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