2001 Saturn SL1 Mod Thread

[stefanv]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

Where does it pick the intake air from?

Cooling air comes in from underneath, being deflected up into the radiator by the air dam. Even before the mods, that's where most of the cooling air came from. The engine air intake is just in front of the radiator (where it's always been).

Both coolant temperature (91°C) and intake temperature (same as ambient air temperature) are unchanged from what they were before the mods.

Originally Posted by jimhs

Excellent numbers from a 1.9 l engine!
Is it a lean burn engine?
I struggled a lot with my BMW 1.8 to see less than 6.3l\100Km..
Good job!!

Thanks! It's just a regular engine, and I haven't done any tweaks to it (like messing with the ECU or fooling the sensors), nor do I plan to.

[stefanv]

First full tank results are in: 5.19 L/100 km, 45.3 mpg (US), 54.4 mpg (Imp).

A tiny bit worse than the previous tank (of which only 3/4 was with the mods in place). However, my wife took the car on a 56km trip, where she did about 13% worse than my average for the tank according to Torque. She's actually a pretty eco driver, but it was really hot that day, and she had the A/C on the whole way. If I do the math and factor that out, then I was burning 5.13 L/100km for the rest of the tank.

My average since I began hypermiling 60 days ago is now: 5.35 L/100km, 43.9 mpg (US), 52.7 mpg (Imp).

I finished my smooth wheel covers, although I'm not totally happy with how they turned out. I think I'll probably go ahead and put them on now. I'd really like to get below 5.0 L/100km (above 47 mpg (US), 56.4 mpg (Imp)).

EDIT: Based on the numbers so far, the mods seemed to have given me about a 5-6% improvement.

[Daox]

Thats pretty darn good.

[jimhs]

Great numbers!
What is your commute and average speed?

[stefanv]

My commute is 45km each way, and typically takes 38 to 40 minutes, so 68 to 71 km/h. Most of it is at 85-90 km/h, with several stop signs and lights along the way. About 3-4 km is "city driving". I also drive into the city once or twice a week for shopping, so I get extra city driving on those days.

BTW, my "lifetime" (of my 2009 Garmin GPS) average speed while moving is 67 km/h.

[stefanv]

This weekend, I put on the wheel covers:



I'm not really happy with how they turned out. They were made using the cotton-over-snap-in-covers method, and although I had the fabric stretched drum tight, when the resin cured, the tension in the fabric was uneven, resulting in waves and bumps:



I'm going to drive with them for a few tankfuls while I think about other ways to do this. One idea that came to mind was plastic (such as the KwicKan material) riveted to snap-in trim rings.

[stefanv]

Just finished the first tank with the wheel covers on: 5.15 L/100 km, 45.69 mpg (US), 54.88 mpg (Imp).

Only marginally better than the previous tank (5.19 L/100km). On the bright side, I expected this tank to be pretty bad, since I did a higher than normal proportion of city driving this time. So maybe the wheel covers made up for it on the highway. Too soon to tell.

I've also got Torque working really well now. Its prediction of how much fuel I had left in the tank was exactly right.

Also, this was my first tank over 800km, and according to Torque, I averaged 4.7 L/100km (50 mpg US, 60 mpg Imp) on the 35km part of my commute from my house to the gas station this morning. Nothing like running on fumes to promote eco driving.

PS. This is fun!

[Daox]

Great to hear you're enjoying it. I agree, it is a lot of fun. Nice job too.

[stefanv]

Another record setting tank. 825km on 40.06L for a fuel economy of 4.86 L/100 km, 48.45 mpg (US), 58.19 mpg (Imp). Torque came up with 5.07L/100km for this tank.

[gpfaster]

Good stuff you're doing with this Saturn.. hope to recreate some of what you've done with mine!