02 Pontiac Sunfire Build.

[dirtydave]

The reason I said about other people is in regard of your previous post of a trip going 70mph with 2 passengers.

Dealing with an automatic is hard. You lose so much control and power. In my old mini van I accelerated hard and got to my target speed and into top gear ASAP I got about 30mpg vs 27mpg when accelerating too slow.

Good luck with the car!! I would love to pick one up with a 5speed!

[backpacker3]

Oh yeah that was just because after a weekend of camping and climbing we just wanted to beat the post game traffic because of the tigers game that night. In the long run it probably saved gas mileage over getting stuck in traffic on the freeway in downtown Detroit.

A few pics though I forgot the clear coat and the parts store closed early so I didn't get that done yet but here it is painted so far



And I got bored so I plasti dipped my HVAC knobs just for fun they're still drying but here's a few pics anyway







Btw I'm still going back and forth about a manual swap for my car it'll depend on if I can find the right parts car I think. But it is a pretty straightforward swap just FYI.

[dirtydave]

the new paint looks good!

[backpacker3]

It's not as dark as it looks in the picture, which is good I think once the clearcoat is on it should be pretty close to the rest of the car. Not bad though for 5 buck rattle can from O'Reilly's I was going to get actual color matched paint from napa but as we walked into the store an employee walking out held the door for us and it turned out that was the paint guy lol. So we had to get some oil change stuff for another car and I saw that in the O'Reilly's and figured I'd give it a shot for $5. I'm pretty happy with it though.

[dirtydave]

Damn! thats a rattle can job? I guess you took your time and sanded. the PO did not with my KIA so you can tell it is a spray paint job.

[backpacker3]

Yeah I wanted to make it look decent so I sanded from a 400 grit and worked my way up to 1500 grit and hit it with 1 more coat after for an even tone. Its not perfect but it's better than the primer rally stripe look lol

[Zenix]

I have a 2003 Sunfire, coupe with the 2.2 ecotec with a 5 speed manual. been having great gas mileage with it, around 30 mpgs when I dont drive nice and over 40 when i do. I recently found this sight and have been reading and realizing I already do a lot of the tips to improve gas mileage. my best mpgs from the sunfire was a 500 mile trip from northern Wisconsin down to milwaulkee and then back and I averaged 54.6 miles to the gallon. for the trip, i fitted a couple blockers on the vents and tape around the seams between panels and the pastic cladding. I also removed as much extra stuff from my trunk and back seats as i could. Good work on your build so far.

[backpacker3]

Originally Posted by Zenix

I have a 2003 Sunfire, coupe with the 2.2 ecotec with a 5 speed manual. been having great gas mileage with it, around 30 mpgs when I dont drive nice and over 40 when i do. I recently found this sight and have been reading and realizing I already do a lot of the tips to improve gas mileage. my best mpgs from the sunfire was a 500 mile trip from northern Wisconsin down to milwaulkee and then back and I averaged 54.6 miles to the gallon. for the trip, i fitted a couple blockers on the vents and tape around the seams between panels and the pastic cladding. I also removed as much extra stuff from my trunk and back seats as i could. Good work on your build so far.

Thanks and welcome! I'm pretty jealous of your 03 5 speed you should create a garage entry for it and then join team pontiac.

Here's the link to the garage to add your car EcoModder Fleet list - EcoModder.com

This is the link to join Team pontiac EcoModder Team Competition

And finally here is the link to the team pontiac thread http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ead-29257.html if you want to join in there too.

I finished the clearcoat this evening but the lighting wasn't good enough to get a picture by the time I was done so I'll try to get those tomorrow.

[Daox]

Very nice Zenix! I really wish I had a 5 speed... an ecotec would be nice too. You're doing a great job with yours I see. Welcome to the site.

[backpacker3]

You know Daox Ecotec engine/5 speed transmission swaps are pretty common.... Just saying...

Zenix nice first fuel log entry! You got us a lot closer to house of Tudor