1986 VW Golf is now in my possession.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by vacationtime247

56 mpg is awsome! How much you think it weighs now? How much more you think is left to trim?
VT247

Truthfully, it ought to still be close to stock weight. I haven't touched it much yet. However, I'm going to roughly say that there's 500lbs to be lost. If there isn't, its time for a new chassis.

Originally Posted by robchalmers

Loving the updates Christ, makes me feel very lazy! Glad someone else is getting decent mileage out of an old straight D dub engine! (in your case AMAZING mileage)

Don't feel lazy on my account... Look what it took just to pull this thing out of the barn, my friend... Besides, I find that the best way to not feel lazy when someone is doing alot of work is to compare it to things you can/should be doing. Then, GO DO THEM! HA HA...

[Christ]

Has anyone made a hood from coroplast using the original hood support webbing, just bonding the coroplast in the same spots as the steel hood sheet?

[Christ]

Just ordered a cheap set of coil overs from some place in Europe, via eBay, for $319 US shipped.

I need new shocks/struts, mounts, etc, and the stock pieces would have cost me over $500US... Rather have even a half decent kit for less money. I'll probably never change them again, either. I'm like that.

[Christ]

Herbie has been parked at the shop yard since 4am yesterday, saving me 6 trips total, out of 8, at 18 miles each. I've been bringing the van home, since my runs have been scheduled in advance bya good margin lately.

In step, this also keeps miles of the van, and gives me a longer rest period, because my home is closer to Schlumberger's HNY yard than my company's shop yard is. I've saved an average of 12 miles per trip, and these are miles empty, which have a larger impact on my FE per cargo numbers. (the company doesn't keep track, but I keep a loose mental note of it.)

Some day, I'm going to try to convince the company to provide bonuses (monetary or otherwise) for drivers in each satellite office with the highest FE per cargo numbers, and the highest straight mpg numbers.

I drive 200+ miles on most of the days I drive, and in straight figures, I get 15.5-17 mpg. Our other drivers keep 13.6 as a rough plateau, often going as low as 12.7.

If we take 13.5 as a rough average, compared to my low of 15.5, on a 1,000 mile week (5 days), they're using 74 gal, while I use 64.5 for the same job. That's an extra $40 every thousand miles, per van, or 4cpm less if I'm driving. Over a year, it would be over $2000 in fuel savings, for each van. We have 4 here, more in other offices.

Work has been slow lately. Its warning up, so mileage per day is going to go up, as well. Close to $10,000 or more a year seems like a pretty good reason to implement some FE competition among drivers, eh?

The company also charges a 10% mark on fuel, so it's actually more than just the pump price.

[cleanspeed1]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

I see the lightening process is underway, without your help!

Do this to it:

Hey Frank, who did the three wheeler mod to the Metro?

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by Christ

Some day, I'm going to try to convince the company to provide bonuses (monetary or otherwise) for drivers in each satellite office with the highest FE per cargo numbers, and the highest straight mpg numbers.

Doo eeet!

[Frank Lee]

cleenspeed: I don't know.

[Christ]

My idea is actually that starting soon, I'm going to keep a "score board" of miles driven, heads in the vehicle, and fuel amounts for each fill up, which are typically once or twice per day.

I need to get a sheet to make a chart on, then I can log the miles in my hours of service logs, and do the chart workup at my end of day.

[vacationtime247]

You do deserve compensation for less fuel consumption. Most trucking companies offer this in the form of a bonus. Depends on how many miles are usually driven and the amount saved.
VT247

[Christ]

So, I decided I'm going to drive all this tank of fuel without during the engine off, just holding the throttle position constant and letting the terrain determine my speed.

If the tank fill changes drastically, I'll look into it. If the difference is noise, I'll dismiss it.