Okay, first of all, I win.
I caught that view count just at the right time!
I mentioned the P/S bypass in my previous post, but what I didn't mention was that I made some front wheel deflectors just like I hinted a post before that.
Here they are:
Slight improvement in coasting noticed, lots of scraping noticed
. I've caught some cringeworthy scrapes on my dashcam.
I will have to use some extra hot glue on the thing, the back plate screws don't want to stay where they are supposed to. Even with this new mod, no new best trip yet, weather is getting colder.
My tank avg right now is around low 30s or high 20s. Errand running and shorter trips will keep this tank from being stellar. That and I taught another guy to drive stick. (That is 9 now, in case you were keeping track)
As I let him drive around the campus loop after an hour of parking lot practice, He stopped at a stop sign and got nervous. Guy came up close behind us, cop in front of us, my student stalled twice before I hit the flashers. Nothing. Dude behind us didn't go, he just honked
. Eventually my student got rolling, and the cop pulled out behind us and turned on his lights!
First time i've been pulled over! (although I wasn't driving at the time, so I can still brag I have never been pulled over) My student was pretty nervous, but since we didn't do anything wrong, I told him he had nothing to worry about. Cop came up suspicious, shined his flashlight in the back, then approached us. I told him right away I was just teaching him to drive stick, he told us that's what he thought was going on. But he had to pull us over for erratic driving just to make sure. Cool cop told us he was teaching his daughter to drive stick too, made sure my student didn't have anything going for him, and we were free to go. No warning or anything, not even a "do this somewhere else"
I was (like always) hoping for a new best trip after removing the P/S belt, but I had to fill up on the way, which took off a few mpg, then there was some traffic, and I have more grille block on than usual so I had to run the heat with blower to keep engie cool. All these combined to give me a trip of 39.8.
Another mod I did fairly recently was to make a bellmouth (venturi) for my airbox. I had been reading up on acoustic horns recently, and wanted to make one for my engine! The objective was to amplify intake noise, cause intake noise sounds *****in'. However, instead it just made it quieter from inside the car
. Still pretty quiet from outside, so who knows if it's working. I will probably make a wood contraption to get a better shape out of the pipe, my limiting factor on this attempt was the lack of curvy stuff to press the PVC into.
Here it is hooked up to the airbox
The flared end
Straight end
The first time I tried to put the contraption in, the horn and rubber grommets fell right off! So much for tape. Screws and nuts worked much better
Here is the better attachment system. I got really lucky and was able to jam the stock intake grommets together and hold the horn on really well, which results in a pretty good seal.
I looked at a sound file taken inside the airbox in audacity and found the intake noise to be right around 100 Hz. I know from reading about acoustic horn design that the longer the horn takes to expand, the lower Hz sound it can amplify. Conversely, horns that expand quickly are good for amplifying high frequency sound. A horn with a 40% expansion rate per foot has a cutoff point of about 30Hz, so I should be aiming for an expansion rate of maybe 50-60% per foot. Right now, my "horn" is at an expansion rate MUCH higher than that, and it isn't an exponential horn, which pretty much explains why it isn't working right now.
So, here is my new plan to put a better curve on the horn:
I used the process on the bottom. The process on the top involves sticking some wood together, then cutting off excess wood to form the desired shape of my horn. I will have to rotate the PVC pipe a bunch, but I think this will work!
Finding this video was what made me tackle this job.