First post & acc here but been lurking around for a few months. This forum has so much useful information and got me quite excited about getting a little fuel sipper.
Decided to pull the trigger recently and buy a 2013 Mitsubishi Mirage, ditching my old Mazda 323. Paid $4000 AUD for it and had 180k kms on the clock, but ran well and compression test showed roughly 180psi on all cylinders.
(A little dusty)
I've had her for a few days now and jumped straight into modifying. First thing was to lose those pesky rear seats and a few other bits like the rear wiper, passenger wiper and rear seat belts. Took the panels off in the back but couldn't bear it so put them back on.
Made a quick front grill block, just black corflute and black contact (think laminating school books) attached with a few zip ties.
Also sealed up that big hood gap these seem to have, found a busted bike tube and that seemed to work nicely!
Wanted to monitor the temps these cause, especially as where I live can get quite hot. Found a secondhand Ultragauge for $60 AUD and that worked perfect! Ignore the numbers on it atm I'm still calibrating the fuel use. Also pumped up tyre pressure to the recommended 39psi while I was at it.
Tried a front dam for the car but found out it didn't like going 100kmh very much! So built a belly pan today and no figures to show but was definitely quieter!
Recently my focus has been on reducing A/C use on hot days, got some beaded covers and planning on making some sunshades, a set for use while driving (mesh) and a set for road trips or parked (reflective).
I've got quite a few more mods (smooth tires, smaller/removable mirrors, partial kammback etc) planned. I think my end goal is 3-3.5L/100km (67-78mpg) when doing 100kmh but we'll see how I go!
Plan on updating this thread to help track my mods, cheers
