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Old 03-10-2015, 09:43 PM   #251 (permalink)
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A lot has happened since I updated this thread last!

Firstly, a crazy SUV driver scraped the side of my car while backing down the middle of the up-ramp in a parking garage. She got the front bumper, driver front quarter panel, driver mirror and driver door, with moderate scrapes on the paint and a few small dents. Her insurance was really good though, and the driver's side looks better than it did before the accident. The repairs covered some dings and scratches that were preexisting.

It almost makes me want to cough up to have the rest of the paint redone. Almost.






You might also notice that the headlights are looking particularly good lately. Though I did it a few weeks back (and thus a few posts back), I finally coughed up the $60 for some proper sealant, and sanded them to 1500 grit, followed by a polish + sealing.




My trailer project has progressed to a point where I can drive it around. I found that I can get 65-68mpg at 60mph, and ~50mpg at 70mph. The aero penalty is much more apparent at higher speeds. I'm working on a few ideas to improve this.


Recently I was down near Cowmeat's casa and traded him use of my grid charger for some extra strong, extra large coroplast sheets. Following his example, I installed a super awesome replacement 3d printed shifter from Daox (thanks Daox!) with an integrated kill switch, clutch switch and brake switch, and redid my belly pan:








As Cowmeat did on his car, I placed them over the stock aero panels. However, I mostly reused the bolts that were holding the original pan in place, with some screws (into plastic only, no frame) for extra support. Also following his example, I used sheets of aluminum between the coroplast and the exhaust to prevent the plastic melting, though I cut mine down to small strips and screwed them in place following the exhaust piping.

In the front, I just tucked the new panel under the existing ones, but I'm sorely tempted to take the originals off, given how un-aero they appear.

To make oil changes easy, I cut an access panel into the coroplast, so I can still access my fumoto valve without removing the pan.

~

My past few tanks of gas have been abysmal. It has been somewhat cold, and my wife has been doing 90% of the driving, almost entirely city, and the most recent tank suffered because half of it was spent doing 70-75mph pulling the trailer, trying to make it home quickly enough to avoid my wife's wrath, from my visit to Cowmeat. However, today was warm (~75f) and I had just installed the improved belly pan, and dropping my wife off at work I smashed my previous record:

Old record
70.9mpg from a cold start to the office
80.3mpg returning from the office with a warm engine

New record
74.9mpg to the office
85.3mpg back

On one particular downhill stretch on the highway, I normally have to keep the car in gear because I gradually lose speed down to <55mph. Today, I shut the engine off and actually accelerated up to ~63mph before reaching the bottom.



Last edited by Ecky; 03-10-2015 at 10:03 PM..
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Old 03-10-2015, 09:58 PM   #252 (permalink)
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I always got better mileage heading east than returning west. Even with a warm engine
The 75 feet of elevation increase and prevailing winds going west made it impossible.

regards
mech
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Old 03-10-2015, 10:05 PM   #253 (permalink)
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The office commute is east there, west back. I'm not sure what the total elevation change is, but it's probably close to zero. I'll check with my phone GPS tomorrow. However, my guess is that the differences in MPG in each direction have more to do with the hills being more steep on their west sides, and the placement of traffic lights.
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Old 03-11-2015, 05:17 AM   #254 (permalink)
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Princess Carriage - '20 Ford Explorer Limited

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Those pallet liners are pretty sweet, huh? That looks really good! I didn't realize anybody actually had the stock front aero panels, I thought it was mandatory for garages to throw them away!

Did it quiet the road noise on yours too? It made a big difference on Turtle. I might add one on Ron Burgundy, depends on how much time I get

I ended up ordering another shifter for the new Insight, I couldn't live without it after having it on Turtle
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Old 04-03-2015, 08:10 AM   #255 (permalink)
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The warmer weather is agreeing with me. Drove across town just before 5 oclock (plenty of traffic) and averaged 98.7mpg over around 5 miles of city driving, with zero net elevation change and plenty of stoplights. I even arrived at my destination with a full battery.

And yes, things are a lot quieter now!

This weekend I'll be driving down to Lakeland again to visit some relatives. I don't need the grid charger back yet (since I'm leaving the country soon), but I'm leaving the option for you.
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Old 04-04-2015, 06:05 AM   #256 (permalink)
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We'll be out of town today, but if you come back through Sunday afternoon stop by if you get a chance. My sons want to meet you and show off their rides, and it would be a good time to snap a pic of four Florida G1 Insights, lol!

I've had zero time to work on mine lately, and I really need to free up a day to install the shifter, EGR valve, belly pan, etc . . . I can barely hold lean burn it's bucking so bad at low load.
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Old 04-04-2015, 08:38 AM   #257 (permalink)
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I'll shoot you a message if I have time to come by.
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Old 04-10-2015, 10:40 PM   #258 (permalink)
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My Rostra cruise control unit came in today. I set it up, and found it doesn't work if I have LED brake lights! The unit grounds to the brake light ground, and I end up with lit brake lights rather than a grounded cruise control unit.

I also am in the works of designing a transition from the back of my car to my trailer:



I'll need to round the back edges, paint/color/duct tape it, and possibly add a strap to prevent it from torquing in the wind.
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Old 04-11-2015, 09:08 AM   #259 (permalink)
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Smart design, man! That should hold up well without requiring any kind of permanent attachment. Only other thing I would do would be to cut a curving slot in it where it will overlap the middle of the trailer. Then put a bolt up through the top of the trailer at that spot with a big flat washer and nut on it. When you hook up the trailer, run the bolt through the slot in the aero panel and put the washer on top to loosely secure it. That way it will stay relatively tight to the top of the trailer and not flap around, but the trailer can still turn freely beneath it.

How hard was it to set up that cruise control? Does it set by speed only? It would be awesome if it could be set by mpg. What kind of mpg range are you seeing using it? I could see there being a wild swing of mpg within a couple of miles an hour on the Insight, how sensitive is it?

I always use the cruise control on my wife's Explorer to speed up or slow down, rather than using the gas pedal. I'd say I have it on 90% of the time. By keeping the cruise on as much as possible and clicking it one or two miles an hour at a time to speed up or down, it holds the rpms (and mpg meter) way more steady than I possibly can with my foot on the gas pedal.
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Old 04-11-2015, 11:49 AM   #260 (permalink)
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Good idea with the bolt on the trailer. I'll do that if it flaps in the wind.

The cruise control took maybe 3 hours to set up, but I bet I could do it again in half that. There are basically 4 parts - 1) mount cruise control unit and run harness into cabin, 2) attach cable to throttle, 3) splice into brake and add clutch switch, and 4) splice into tach and VSS.

3 and 4 were easy because I had already figured out how to get to the computer when I tried the throttle-smoother, and I have already spliced into the brake lines. I did however have to add a relay because of my LED tail lights.

I sent an email to Rostra asking of it's possible to do fixed throttle position, but I doubt it. It basically functions just like any factory cruise control. I haven't done any highway trips with it yet, but the total cost was a hair over $300.

There is a switchboard on the Rostra unit that allows for adjustment, e.g. how fast it responds to speed changes. I decided to try a low value for that so that it might be able to stay in lean burn.

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