Starting to get the hang of P&G, me thinks (60MPG HWY)

[NoD~]

I have been getting a pretty constant ~43+ tank lately. This is primarily city, though.

I had a short trip of about 50 miles but had PLENTY of time to get there, so I decided to get some pretty slow pulse and glide going, just to see how it would do.

I would pulse from 40 to 55 (on a 75MPH highway) in 4th gear, keeping me between 2.5K-3K with a pretty open throttle (LOD doesn't work properly on this car, for some reason, so my best guess of 80%+ is all I got).

Now, I have P&G in the past, but typically have done 50-65, so dropping 10 MPH was interesting...

-Accelerating from 40 to 55 seemed like a shorter period of time versus 50 to 65.

-Coasting was definitely a longer period of time. From 65 to even 60 was very quick (a few seconds), where 60 down to 50 was quite a bit longer... but going going even lower was something new. From 45 to 40 was a VERY long time (in comparison to any of the above speeds... it almost felt twice as long as 50-45, but I would need a stop watch to know for sure). On some downhills, I would hold 45(ish) the whole way down!

I ended my trip there with a ~60.8 MPG AVG, according to the SGII, of course. I believe I could do better still because I started with (i think) 50-65 P&G, but shortened that within a few miles of the trip, after realizing I had plenty of time.

On the way back, it was cooler out (night time vs afternoon), had 2 more passengers, and I'm sure the elevation changes a bit between the towns, but I decided to try going 45-60 instead of 40-55. I ended up with around 56MPG AVG. Without some true A/B, I can't conclude that I actually lost ~4MPH with a 5MPH gain in P&G speeds, but I have no doubt there would be some loss.

Anywho, this marks my first 60MPH AVG trip in my recently rebuilt car. I still have quite a bit of aeromodding to do, which should improve my highway miles quite a bit. The technique of P&G and learning the proper speeds is definitely going to make a big difference as I go through the early life as a hypermiler, but I feel much better knowing I can get some pretty high MPG by taking just a few more minutes of time. Besides, gives me more time to listen to a few songs on an album... enjoy the road, people!

[Fat Charlie]

Wow! I can't wait until you really nail down your technique. Some LRRs and coroplast and you're going to be scary.

[NoD~]

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

Wow! I can't wait until you really nail down your technique. Some LRRs and coroplast and you're going to be scary.

I'm currently on some LRR's, but I only really have the front blocking (mostly) done. I'm on Continental ProContact with EcoPlus 185/60/15 on some Rota Slipstreams (non aerodynamic, but very light weight). A belly pan, wheel covers, rear wheel well cover, lowering, and (eventually) a kamback conversion is in the future, though. Just gotta get motivated again (spend a month solid rebuilding the engine and interior of this car, needed a break!)

[angleblue63]

What did you do with the rain gutters? I'm thinking about cutting them of.
I'm also interested in your kammback design. (on a 240 sedan this will be different, but i think it can definitely be improved with a spoiler and/or airtabs.