1966 Hybrid Mustang - 65% increase in MPG's!

[Ladogaboy]

I think some on this board might be a little subjective simply because (in my experience, anyway) it can be easier to improve city mileage. Even without extreme hypermiling techniques, I've been able to come close to matching my city with my highway mileage, and that is with LRR tires.

[mcrews]

A very rare aftermarket bolt on kit.

[cfg83]

Frank -

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Thanks for chiming in.

I saw pics of an old Mustang, and pics of electric motors, and a pic of a battery, but I never saw any pics of an old Mustang with electric motor or battery IN IT.

I've seen a 1st-gen Camaro that was converted to electric. Here is one :

Gadget's Electric Garage

An innovative team of Los Angeles-based auto mechanics convert regular production cars into clean, fast, 100% electric cars. In the pilot episode a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro is converted to electric for Red Hot Chili Peppers lead singer Anthony Kiedis, who shows up to the garage to help the team gut and convert the Camaro.

This was done by the Hippy Motors dudes :

Welcome to Hippy Motors

CarloSW2

[ngrimm]

Originally Posted by Ladogaboy

I think some on this board might be a little subjective simply because (in my experience, anyway) it can be easier to improve city mileage. Even without extreme hypermiling techniques, I've been able to come close to matching my city with my highway mileage, and that is with LRR tires.

I wish I could get my city mileage (15) closer to my highway mpg (24) in my Bronco II 4x4. Maybe it's all the hills and short trips. Gotta admit I've been planning something similar but cheaper using a dc series motor and lead acid batteries and recharging over night.

[larrybuck]

No glitz here, but in the early 80's, I had a stone stock '65 Stang, 200 six w
3sod manual.
At a constant 55mpg., w 2 people in the car, I drove down I-5 from Portland to
Long Beach, CA.(Formula 1 race) and back; mpg was right at 30 on the nose.

I should mention though; that my car had 13 inch wheels, and sat a little low,
almost Chicano style.

A few 1st gens. really came that way. When I went to sell, a guy showed up
w his two teenaged daughters claiming he was president of the Portland
Mustang Club, and was furious at me for ruining the car by putting a Falcon/Comet
chassis to the car.

The 13's are legit, I ordered actual Mustang hubcaps for it. He wouldn't believe
me, and stormed away!

He could look at the hubcaps,but still didn't believe. I do believe they were
somewhat rare. Check your parts sources!

Anyway, I'm sure the lower stance helped the mpg. at least a little!

That's my 2 cents worth! I don't know what the diff. ratio was.

[Ladogaboy]

Originally Posted by ngrimm

I wish I could get my city mileage (15) closer to my highway mpg (24) in my Bronco II 4x4. Maybe it's all the hills and short trips. Gotta admit I've been planning something similar but cheaper using a dc series motor and lead acid batteries and recharging over night.

For me, it has all been due to route choices and timing lights/traffic. My car doesn't P&G so well, but at < 45 mph, I can neutral coast for fairly long distances.

In my opinion, for a hybrid option anyway, a DC motor setup would be the way to go. I couldn't see needing to go faster than 10-15 mph, and for that, the amps are going to be more important than the volts. You could probably do that with a 48-volt system, but given the weight difference, Li batteries (~16 cells) would be the way to go. I'd have to do more research, but maybe 200 lbs for the whole system?

[ngrimm]

I agree that driving style makes a big difference and it doesn't cost anything. I was actually averaging 13 mpg city but I am up to 15 which is still pretty sad. 90% of my driving is short trips in town but I only spend about $150 per month on gas so replacing the Bronco doesn't make sense since it serves my purposes and I don't have much money into it. I figure I could save one third of the fuel or about $40 per month by subsidizing it with grid power. I already have a spare dc motor, six deep cycle batteries and I can build another controller for $200. If I had to spend a couple thousand to do it it wouldn't be worth it to me. Would you believe I'm thinking of mounting the motor in place of the AC compressor (doesn't work anyway) and using a chain drive off the crankshaft?

[ron]

my son and I have a 67 mustang (his first car)total rebuild from a POS. now a 72 250ci six He drove it to high school and only got 15mi average mpg and rr tire was always a problem along with the driveline,ready again for a rework ,have granada front disc ,98 exploder rearend/w discs and highway gearing ,subframs have been installed I might consider the electric assist If I can get the time.

[ncwa]

Hi Everyone – thank you all for the great stories regarding your older Mustangs and cars! I have enjoyed reading them.

So I drove over to my local Classic Ford shop and I asked about proper tuning and other methods of achieving higher mpg’s. After they spent a fair amount of time, enjoying the hybrid installation, one of the gentlemen asked if I bypassed the pink wire. I’ve read about this pink “resistor” wire but I have never messed with.

So the next day, I went ahead and bypassed the pink resistor wire, raising the voltage to the coil from 8.5 to 11.8V (I must still be missing something because I don’t have the full 12.5V as measured from the battery). The mustang seemed to have more torque between 2500 and 4000 rpm and no longer has as much of a lagging feeling at the higher rpm’s.

So today I went out for a short (20 mile) highway drive at ~60 mph. Using the same pump, with the car in the same filling position, I recorded freeway mileage of 34.7mpg’s! I am sure there is error in such a short trip, but it is encouraging nonetheless!

Now I wonder what will happen to my city mpg’s of 22 (with aggressive driving)….

Oh yeah – I now have no idea what my base is without the electric motor so I guess my percentage increase is null and void.

Happy driving!

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by ncwa

howtobuildahybrid.com

http://howtobuildahybrid.com/howtobuildahybrid_003.htm

For this hybrid conversion, we choose on a BLDC, permanent magnet synchronous motor from motenergy.com. This motor has a low power to weight ratio, excellent regenerative capabilities and was affordably priced.

I do not understand how this motor was installed.

Do you have a gallery or album which I'm not seeing?

I owned/drove a 1966 Mustang from 1979 to 1982. It had the 6 cyl Sprint 200 and an automatic trans. Good and bad memories of it.