[j12piprius]

previous east/west 250 mile round trips:
33.7 mpg ~ before ultragauge / 67-8 mph
43.9 (41.8 / 46.0) ~ ultragauge / P&Dfco / 58.5 mph
49.6 (48.3 / 51.1) ~ grill blocks / P&Dfco out / P&Eoc back / 55.8 mph
52.9 (55.9 / 49.9) ~ wheel covers / P&Dfco all the way / 48 psi / 53-4 mph
51.3 (49.2 / 53.4) ~ changed lower grill block / didn't check tires / 55.5 mph
54.4 mpg (48.2 / 60.6) ~ p/s delete, 52 psi tires, disc. fan, taped hood, 1/2 rounded bumper, 55.5 mph

I've been trying to figure out why my best mpg east trip was so much higher than the others. The main thing that trip was using old plant pot plastic for a 75 percent lower grill block, perpendicular to the ground, and curving around to the sides. The car was coasting awesomely during Dfco coasting, but I changed the grill block, and no other trips had come close in that regard, until the west trip today.

For this trip I had removed power steering, disconnected the fan (a mistake on the hill but otherwise fine), taped the joints in the front, and installed a rounded nose on the driver's side half of the bumper (made from gorilla tape and half of a $1 sheet of foam from the dollar tree). The latter seemed to make the most difference, as my east trip a few days ago had only a 48.2 mpg average. The mid 90's temperature probably made a big difference too.

I used P&Dfco the first 25 miles of the trip today right into a wind and managed to better my previous split by 1.2 mpg, to 50.7. Now the wind was to my left and I could feel it pushing through the slightly opened window. There were no other cars or trucks at this point, so I immediately changed to P&Eonc and noticed the difference right away. Wow, my car was coasting again like that previous trip, even better! My car has been coasting just as well with Dfco as with Eonc, I think because the aerodynamics were so terrible. Now with some improvement, the Eonc is getting much better. By 50 miles I was 6.7 mpg up my previous split, to 55.4 so far!

The next 10 miles were climbing, with 2 miles at 7%, and the average went down by 6.6, but gained 5.5 down the other side, still 6.0 ahead at 75 miles to 54.3 mpg. The remaining 50 miles were up and down, mostly down, and I managed to better my previous west average by 7.2 mpg, for a new totally unexpected record of 60.6 mpg!