Hi All, I’ve been Lurking for a while doing some mods and experimenting here and there so thought I’d share what I’ve been up to in my own Hypermiling/Ecomodding adventures!
My daily driver is a ‘98 Australian delivered EP91 Toyota Starlet - 1.3Litre (4E-FE) DOHC, 835kg (1840lb). Just clicked over 200,000km on the odometer so hasn’t had a lot of k’s done on it for how old it is. EPA specs on it are 6.8L/100km (35MPG) Combined – 8.8 L/100km (27MPG) City – 5.6L/100km (35MPG) Highway. Before I somehow got onto Hypermiling (can’t remember how I got into what has now become an obsession but the first memory of the word “hypermiling” was the biodiesel Ford truck hauling guy who lives in a Caravan or RV in California and took his alternator off, made it more aero etc.) I used to get about 7.3L/100km (32MPG) with my sheeple driving skills. My best tank so far has been 4.2L/100km (56MPG) in urban driving so clearly the EPA have no idea haha. I used to have an R32 Nissan Skyline and was fairly heavily into drifting having travelled to Japan several times to participate in drift matsuris (festivals) at Ebisu Circuit. However for daily driving I was always frustrated that I couldn’t have any fun without risking my license and having all this power was completely pointless. At the same time it costs a fortune to drift on the track and it sucks only being able to have fun once every two months so I just got over it. This is the main reason I enjoy hypermiling, it is legal to do, I can do it every day, it’s challenging/fun, and it saves me money as opposed to most forms of entertainment.
The mods I’ve done so far include:
• MPGuino as my car has no OBD port, was dead easy to install anyways after googling my engine’s ecu pinout. I’m still calibrating this as I’m on my first tank with it but even though the absolute numbers are not accurate yet it is awesome to see what gear/RPM etc is best to drive at when going up hills or what RPM my engine starts using fuel again when coasting down in gear. Really happy with it as it’s like playing a video game every time I commute!
• Engine kill switch which cuts fuel to injectors. So much better than turning the key (and safer!)
• Grill block
• Rear wheel arch partial wheel covers made from duct tape – future plan is to make full wheel covers out of coreflute and aluminium brackets.
• Passenger side mirror delete with internal convex mirror – interestingly, in Victoria unless you have a vehicle with internally obstructed rear view mirror you don’t need mirrors on either side of the car at all! But I like the driver’s side one so might make an aero version!
• Warm air intake – Just removed the cold air intake haha.
• Removed power stearing/aircon belt – It is such a small car so doesn’t need PS and at least now the steering is consistent when EOCing.
I Also have a DIY E-bike setup on an old 26” mountain bike. With a 1000W rear hub motor from Ebay and homebrew 15Ah 48V LiPo battery pack (made from old RC plane batteries) I can make the ~41km round trip to work if I take it easy. It is quite a hilly route so takes some juice to get up the hills if I don’t want to sweat too much. The E-bike is virtually free to run as I charge it up from a solar battery bank in my shed!
In the warmer months I like to commute to work under “man-power” on my conventional road bicycle which is obviously the best form of transport created by man but now that I’ve got an 8 month old I like to be able to get home earlier to see her before she sleeps so tend to drive more.
Anyways, this post is long enough so till next time I’ll be tinkering here and there on my Starlet looking forward to many more miles of sweet sweet EOCing
