Hi folks!
About a year ago a friend introduced me to the world of hypermiling and this forum. Been lurking ever since and during the last couple of months I've also been using the tools on here for keeping track on my fuel consumption. I really appreciate the time spent here, I've had a lot of fun and have learned a lot in the meantime!
My rust bucket is a Volvo V70 Classic(first gen v70) with 407.000km on the odometer since February 2000. She goes by Skrutten(tinpot, old and tired). We live in a hilly area outside Borås at the south western parts of Sweden where we do most of our driving. I would like to do more modifications on Skrutten but as of right now I'm trying to catch up with years of neglect, there is a lot of rust and rotted out bushings that I'm trying to fix at the same time as I need here for everyday use. Lot of late nights and weekend tinkering to keep us afloat. Skrutten is probably destined for the scrap yard but she is my first car and means a lot to me, and the longer I can do repairs the more experience I get.
At the moment I can't drive nor tinker. Confused a drill press for a merry go round in January. I had just filled the tank with the dino/ethanol juice we run in Sweden and didn't have time to drive more than 10km before the accident. Usually I'm the only driver of the vehicle but I asked my mother to use the car as much as she wanted during this time so that it wouldn't stand still for to long. When I'm able to drive again I'll head straight to the fuel pumps, fill her up, look at the numbers and see how she behaves when someone who don't try to hypermile is behind the wheel. Really looking forward to it!
My average MPG these last months is 32.67 which I think I can beat when the spring and summer comes. This autumn/winter I've driven a lot of bad back roads in fourth gear during late nights. When the days get longer, the visibility better and the road surface better I can use my fifth gear and plan my speeds better when it comes to hills and curves.
The best MPG's I've seen this car produce was 42.7 during a 160km trip on the flatlands last summer. Not something that I will be able to achieve at home, got to haul our bums up and down hills all day long. Go club Sisyphus!!
This is going to be my first post on the forum. Might look a little bit funny, got to befriend the interface and won't be able to embed pictures before I reach 15 posts.
I want to discuss some modifications later on but want to be able to embed pictures in the posts before I bring them up. Makes it a little bit easier to avoid misunderstandings. ^^
Have a good one folks and thanks for all the help you've already given me through your old posts!
Specs:
5 cylinder, 2.4 liter, 140hp, 5 gear manual gearbox, running 95 RON octane(roughly 91 MON U.S)
Weight reductions:
Ditched tow bar assembly
No second row seats
Removed AC-system
Skinnier tires(now running standard size winter tires)
No internal bed in the trunk due to ongoing welding
No reserve tire
No rear bumper due to ongoing welding
Lighter homemade high flow muffler
Most of the interior in the rear compartment stripped out
Aero:
Skinnier tires(now running standard size winter tires)
Added tray underneath engine
Dams in front of front wheels
Grill blocks, upper and lower
Removed mud flaps
Misc:
Low viscosity synthetic oil in engine and gearbox
Cancellation of factory cold air intake
Grill blocks to reach engine operating temp faster
Homemade high flow muffler running all the way from the cat to the rear end of the car, almost 3m as to retain a low sound volume while having a glass/steelpack design.
Iridium spark plugs
Planned mods:
Skinny tires all around
Air dams in front of the back tires and suspension
Belly pans, this car only have a small one at the very front from factory
New injectors
Aerodynamic wheel hubs from later V-50 Driv-e models(got them in storage)
True hot air intake
Funnel to direct air to/from radiator and gearbox
Maybe air curtains from the fog lights
Fill "bowl shaped indentation" behind door handles
Skirts for the rear wheels
Adjustments to the nut behind the wheel