"MPGiata" modding thread: aiming for 50 MPG with a 1990 Miata. Update: success, 55 MPG!

[Ecky]

Any current pics of the rear wheel skirts? Are they currently on the car?

[MetroMPG]

Ecky - no wheel skirts on the car. I only ever made cardboard templates that were on for a couple of weeks.

Sad to report I only used the car for about 5 weeks this fall, and didn't add any new mods to it. I put it away last week.

Funny: getting back into the Mirage feels like the height of luxury. So refined! So comfortable!

This was my 5th season with the car.

Given how little I used it, I toyed with the idea of putting it up for sale. But as long as I have a place to store it, and if it's not costing me any (serious) money, I'll probably just hang on to it.

If life circumstances afford me more free time some day, there are lots of big aero mods I'd love to do to it.

Originally Posted by Ecky

You're definitely beating my fuel economy numbers, and the value of mine is certainly not going up.

Keep it long enough and it will eventually reverse course!

[Cd]

Big aero mods ?
You have our full attention !
Testing, and then posting results / video editing takes so much time and effort, but a just a few words on the forum lets us know you didn't give up on modding ( It's really good to see you here .)

[MetroMPG]

I put the MPGiata back on the road last month (it's best enjoyed in late summer / fall). I haven't done a thing to it since my last post in this thread.

Future modding plans: doing something at some point?

Latest fill was 54 MPG, so at least that's pretty good.

[MetroMPG]

We got an old-fashioned dump of snow on the weekend.

For the first time since I've owned it, I took the MPGiata out for a spin in the white stuff. Terrible traction = super fun!

This was decidedly NOT an MPG-friendly outing (I even idled it to warm things up a bit, since it was about -10C / 14F), but it was a hoot.

It doesn't have a limited-slip rear end, so I was spinning one rear wheel probably 50% of the time, while making hilariously slow forward progress. Lots of sideways action though.

[Gasoline Fumes]

Fixing my handbrake has made winter driving a lot more fun! RWD would be even better!