2006 Aveo build
 

I wanted to introduce myself and my car. Bought my Aveo brand new in late 2005. I bought the car because it was the cheapest new car I could buy (10800 USD), and replacements parts (brakes/tires ect) are super cheap, I was not concerned about MPG. On my 1st tank, I got a very disappointing 280 miles (90% freeway at 70mph). This continued on for the next 10 years, and 200,000 miles. Averaging 250-280 miles per tank, depending on weather/traffic jams, and in city driving.

Last year I decided as my drive train aged (original engine/transmission) I'd attempt to squeeze a few more years out of her by reducing weight. From there I started to replace parts with more efficient parts. Then I discovered this website and currently want to take it to the next level.

List of current mods:
-Removed Interior (down to the bare metal, no headliner, dome light or visors)
-Deleted passenger seat/rear seat
-Deleted rear speakers/spare/jack/rear trunk lid/rear trunk carpet
-Partial hot air intake (intake hole which is under my intake is plugged, only air it sucks in is from the engine compartment)
-Deleted engine cover
-Added under Hood factory insulation
-ECU reprogram (Rev limit at 4000rpm, increase air perimeters, decreased fuel perimeters)
-Upgraded spark plugs/wires
-16" aftermarket wheels (bent my original 14" wheel in the winter)

Repairs (no break downs yet, only repairs)
-4 Valve cover gaskets
-Fuel Pump at 180k
-rotors/pads at every 45k
-radiator hoses/vac line replacement at 100k
-splice pack repair (common aveo problem)
-Daytime running light module removal (recall)
-Battery every 4 years (on my 3rd, I'm due)
-Drive shaft replacement at 90k and again this june
-All new suspension (struts/springs/arms/shafts/joints/axles, literally every suspension part replaced in june)

Future mods:
-Reinstall of factory steel wheels and tire size (due for tires before winter)
-Passenger Mirror and wiper delete
-Rear wiper delete and wiper motor delete
-Removal of all manual window hardware in the passenger/rear doors (this will result in full time closed windows
-A/C delete
-Common aero mods (side skirts/partial grill block/front air dam)
-Resonator exhaust delete, with new lightweight muffler (keeping the cat)
-Radio Antenna delete
-White plasti-dip hood/roof (cooling)
-window tint (cooling)

Currently:
As of now I'm averaging 360 to 380 miles on 10 to 10.5 gallons of gas (around a 38% increase in MPG if my math is correct). I drive 85% freeway (70mph) and 15% country roads (55mph) and use no hypermiling driving (pulse and glide ect), drive 60 miles daily for my commute. I drive with the flow of traffic. Mornings, there's no traffic. Nights, it's 30-45 minutes in bumper to bumper traffic jams. My eco goal is to be able to get consistent 40mpg tanks with no driving modifications. Started to recently P&G, trying to see where I'm at currently while slightly modifying my driving style. I'm at 300 miles right now, with a quarter tank left. Think I might hit 400 miles on this tank.

I'm open to all suggestions or questions. There's pretty much nothing I haven't experienced mechanically with the aveo, so I'm more than willing to help other aveo owners with trouble shooting ect.

Thanks for reading!!!!

current pictures
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k8...psto7y5ocd.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k8...psuzrykolk.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k8...psiz7u0vk5.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k8...pszphuk3hh.jpg

From what I've observed, weight reductions don't typically result in measurable fuel economy improvements, especially in freeway driving. They do seem to make our economy cars more fun to drive.

Have you considered regearing it? What RPM are you running at ~50mph?

Welcome to Ecomodder.

What's the use case — single seat commuter?

That interior is very similar to mine, except that I made a two-piece plywood deck to level out the floor. My car has more of a center tunnel, so there is a compartment inside the right-hand door for road flares and a 4-way lug wrench. In addition to being a utility van, it has a second function as a one-person camper, so it has welding-rod curtain rods, a Koolatron fridge and an extra 12v socket w/ 5v USB adapter. And compass.

If you snap in a 3/4 tonneau cover would it muffle the sound?

Between the 14" and 16" wheels look at weight (important in stop and go) and diameter (determines final gearing). You might do well just adding a flat wheel disk or four.

When I first removed all of my interior, I immediately saw about a 20 mile increase in my total miles on my tank. From high 200s, to low 300s.

At freeway speeds, I'm running 3000 rpms at 65mph. At 50mph, off hand, I'm running mid 2's RPM in 5th gear. I've thought about adding a custom taller 5th gear, but it can get pricey. I think what I would save in MPG with a better 5th gear wouldn't equal the money it'd cost me to get that done. Especially at 200k miles and maybe another good 48-60 months left of life for the car.

Mainly why I'm planning on dropping more weight, and adding aero mods. Only trying to squeeze another 5-10mpg out of her. The Aveo will never be able to achieve ecomodder top 10 status MPG.

Commuter driver. Point A to point B

I'm not concerned about the sound. You don't drive a chevy aveo for ride quality

My wheels were purchased before I even knew about ecomods. Looking back, it was a mistake. Should have stayed with the stock tire/wheels.

Thanks for the reply

Why not? My Civic used to get 37 MPG. :)

I removed my rear window hardware, but I'd leave the passenger window hardware in place! Being able to open both front windows an inch keeps me from sweating too much and shouldn't affect aero too badly.

I'd delete:
Power steering
Various brackets - Ones that hold wires can be replaced with cable ties. Little things add up.
Tar/asphalt sheets on the floor. I find then easy to remove in cold weather.
I've taken out a lot of unused wires. But I might be crazy. :)

I'd put the driver's door panel back on!
Lowering the suspension would help, especially with the weight reduction.

lol. All my interior is at the dump. My car is only worth 750 dollars now on the retail market. In another 4 years, I'm sure it'd be worth under 250, so I didn't feel bad about trashing all the interior since I'll be it's one and only owner.

I've been thinking about doing a power steering delete. Thing with my mods, as I have no mechanical skill, I have to pay for the work. If it's too much in labor, I don't do it because it'll take me so long to recoup that money in gas savings.

Also been thinking about lowering the car once I get the side skirts and front dam on, but instead I went with a complete factory replacement. Rides pretty high, but I think for the 300-400 dollars it'd cost to get drop springs put on, it again wouldn't be worth it in the gas savings.


Headed out to home depot today to attempt to find some plastic sheets to do my skirts and front air dam with. Wish me luck.

Good luck.

I'm impressed to see one at 200k-miles. They pop up here on craigslist all the time with blown head gaskets or transmissions, with half the mileage you've got on yours. Either you take dang good care of it, or you just happen to have the random odd one that's dependable.

Aero will get you to where you want to be, as you already appear to know. Best of luck!

At 70 mph aeromods are going to be by far your best thing to look into.

Well I've been the one owner. I've never peeled out, dumped the clutch, or had it above 75 mph it's whole life. I'm still on the original clutch, starter, alternator, radiator, engine and transmission, everything else has pretty much been replaced (hoses, belts ect). I do keep up on maintenance. Besides maintenance I think a lot of it has to do with how you drive the car. If you're driving it like a 911 turbo, an Daewoo Aveo isn't going to last. Also having 80% freeway miles help.

just picked up some material from Home depot to do side skirts and maybe a front air dam and partial grill block if I have enough mat remaining. Got some rust to fix on the rockers/bottoms of the doors before I can do the aero mods. Going to try to tackle it this sunday.
The material I'm going to use is actually commercial kitchen floor mats. They're rubber, approved for wet conditions, slightly rigid enough to stay straight, yet able to bend if necessary. Going to take some time to do the mods but I'm looking forward to it.

Also hit 350 miles with about 1/8th a tank of gas left. Tomorrow I'm heading down to my house from my apartment, about 35 miles. Pretty sure my next tank I'll finally hit 40mpg or more. Made some Pulse and glide mistakes that def skewed this gas tank.

A power steering delete should make a pretty big difference in that car. And it shouldn't affect your driveability too much since you're mostly highway.

It's a constant, parasitic power-sap.

Speaking of power-saps, if you don't mind the heat, you can always pull the AC compressor, lines, and condenser (maybe evaporator if your system will blow air without it).

You could also pull the passenger air bag assembly since you don't even have a seat there :-P

Sam

Thanks for the reply. I'm going to ask my eco-mechanic about some additional modifications (mainly the stuff you mentioned) after I do phase 1 of the aero mods. I have a few more basic deletes to do as well before I start to tackle removing systems (such as A/C power steering ect).

started to cut out my side skirts tonight. Bummer that my car has 10" of clearance by the front wheel, 12" at the rear wheel. Going with a 6" inch skirt, will be mounted to some stainless 3" L brackets I saw another ecomodder post in his thread. I have 69 and a half inches total length needed for my side skirts, and I'll end up with between 4" and 6" clearance. Figure I'm going to place the brackets 11" apart, 6 total on each side. If that doesn't make them rigid enough or flat enough I'll head back to home depot and mount additional brackets.

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k8...psmarkptgk.jpg

Just read through, nice work so far... I had a Suzuki Forenza, so I've had the Daewoo experience too, lol... I thought that engine bay looked familiar... How did you get the ECU reprogrammed? I couldn't find a tuner for my life when I had that car...

You could very well end up in the top ten here, given enough work...

I think 6" of air dam and side skirt should do fine... You might also consider doing a belly pan, it helped my car a great deal, and mines not even complete... Wheel skirts are also a big gain, but you would cover up your wheels, which look great IMO... Maybe you could use polycarbonate?

My mechanic has a program on his shop computer that allows you to go into the stock settings and adjust for modifications like an exhaust/air intake/ignition change. That's about all I know, as I don't physically do any of the heavy lifting with my car. Basically, more oxygen means less gas to fire. He only slightly modified the original settings. Only change I noticed is a slightly rougher idle in drive quality, lower idle RPM (from 1000 rpm stock, down to around 600 rpm after the mod)

Going to do these side skirts first, then tackle the front end. There's so many spots in the front end to catch air on the Daewoo. This will include the pass. mirror delete, pass wiper delete, antenna delete, as well as the grill block when I do the front air dam. Going to go low as possible with flexible ends on my dam so when I don't make clearance the dam bends slightly, yet stays rigid enough for the aero benefit.

For the wheel skirts, I'm tossing around the idea to get them professionally done, and if I do I'm going to inquire about getting a pan done, as well as the rear aero. I have no idea what's the best method for the underbody rear end.

Thanks for the interest and reply

Removing 10s of pounds and running empty means it's had a pretty easy life. Compared to say loading up all your buds and their gear and heading up a mountain pass.

OP -- While basjoos runs double walled side skirts very effectively, on the academic side you have Prof. Morelli and his 'banana car' so called because the rocker panels were radiused out to encourage crosswinds to pass under the vehicle.

Forcing crosswinds up and over the car will induce lift should you be driving sideways. I ask you, who hasn't driven sideways from time to time. In the 1990s there was a Eugene, OR band named Driving Sideways.

The alternative is wheel spats, the theoretical optimum best exemplified by Mr. aerohead's mighty Template.
http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-fr...584-bottom.jpg

Here's my own suggestion for a spat:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-fr...42-mudflap.jpg

The ones they put on new cars are as small as a lottery ticket.

@freebeard: Well the side skirts is only the start of the aero mods. Figure I'd tackle them first since it seemed the easiest to modify. I'm planning on doing a whole aero package for the Aveo. Front air dam, skirts, rear wheel skirts, belly pan, and a rear diffuser. I'm also making all my mods easy removable in case of poor driving performance or lack of safety. Depending on the performance, I can always modify to less aero (like spats over skirts) if I feel it's necessary. I'm actually tossing around the idea of doing door handle spats. One, it catches air on the side of the car, and two, my door handles let water in my door. Kinda killing two birds with one stone.

Also as far as my car lasting 200,000 miles because I dropped so much weight.... Well that's not exactly the case. I didn't remove my interior till this spring or do any other modifications till then. I drove about 190k on a bone stock Aveo. No modifications.

Thanks for the informative reply.

On the contrary, I'd start with the nose first... If the engine crossmember hangs below your bumper cover, or something like that, then bigger gains are to be had by doing the air dam, and grille blocks... Best I can suggest is to use paper and pencil, rub carbon on the paper to get the outline of your upper grille, and measure your lower grille(it's rectagonal, right?), and then cut these out of coroplast($15-25 for a 4x8 sheet, check sign shops), and tape em on at first... This allows easy removal in case of overheat... You then make openings in them to bring the engine temperature down to near normal(mine runs 5-10F warmer)... Of course, monitor these using an UltraGauge or the like...

For the wheel skirts, read MetroMPG's write-up, and possibly my thread in the Aero section... I spent around an hour making my clips and reinforcement bar, about fifteen minutes epoxying the clips to my fender lip, and then around a day making the skirts themselves(again coroplast is your friend, or maybe plexiglass)... I made the mistake of not mapping the curve beforehand, so it took forever, and mine came out less than professional...

I've seen his thread. I honestly don't know if the wheel skirts are possibility with my current wheels. They're 1 1/4" wider than my factory wheels (I get bad winters, was originally for more tire on the road during our bad winters). So if I still have these wheels, I'm probably only going to do spats in the rear. At the minimum with these wheels, I'm going to attempt to close out the excessive fender gaps. With the new suspension and weight reduction done at the same time, it left my car looking like a monster truck. If I do the full skirts, they'll have to bubble out quite a bit as the tires extend beyond the side of the car by about an inch.

My skirts bubble out by about 35mm at the bottom, due to tire stickout... I'm currently running a size wider tire than stock due to availability...

I'm going to have to look at it. I know the rear wheel skirts and rear end is the last thing I'm going to tackle. I want to get my fabrication skills up to pair before I tackle something like that. It's why I'm starting with the front and side first. Seemed easier.

I failed to respond to this:
Here are two example from different fields of inquiry. From the race cars, a Lotus:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-fr...80-silver4.jpg

It accepts air that has been mangled (in the sense of rolled flat) by the bellypan and combs it into a non-turbulent wake. This is sorted out pragmatically on racetracks in the real world where fabrication is an issue. Then you have the quackademics with their wind tunnels chasing a theoretical optimum. Here's a whole thread on the Morelli fluid tail by aerohead. http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ail-33283.html

aerohead's active in Aerodynamics, but I don't know if he ever visits Ecomodding Central. ...and he's a little busy right now. :)

http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/...itled12_20.jpg

No fender skirts and diffuser here. The wheels are turbines that suck air into a duct that squirts it into the problematic lower corners of the ring-shaped air flow.

So there's more than one way to skin a furry mammal.

I got some commercial fiberglass fenders skirts, but they won't fit my car because the axle end impacts the skirts latching mechanism. Probably it needs a picture, but the modification I came up with (I will implement if I find them again. They're most likely here somewhere) is a tube bent to fit the contour across the bottom of the wheelwell with flattened ends. There would be brackets fore and aft with a notched, semi-circular hole. The skirt is offered up at 45° so the flattened ends slip in, but when the skirt rotates upright, they are locked in. Then a Dzeus fastener or camlock of some kind (or two) at the top to pin it there.

Coroplast harvest is [election] seasonal; coming up again in November.

Edit: Note especially the last post in the Fluid Tail thread, which is all Ecomodder member's boat tails which have the ring shape but are longer than necessary (according to Morelli :))

Freebeard, thanks for the info, you really know your stuff. I'm definitely in need to do some serious research and learning on all of this eco mod stuff. Feel a little over my head.

Just trying to help. Seek a diversity of opinion.

Got pulled over today on my way back to my apartment. Guess a person called in the impaired driver number and reported me. Highway Patrol clocked me at 47mph and then when I passed him I was in a pulse, he clocked me at 65mph (in a 70 mph zone). Only in America would people be against others trying to save on natural resources. Didn't get a ticket but the Patrol told me to "keep up with the traffic". There was hardly any traffic and the minimum speed is 45mph.

Besides that, I hit 392 miles on my last tank when my fuel light popped on. Filled up with 9.8 gallons, approx. 40 miles per gallon. Made a few mistakes for about 200 miles on my pulse and glide, thinking this next tank (taking a new morning route monday to work) I'll be well within 40mpg plus with using P&G.

In case you were wondering, I discussed two differing approaches to side skirts and two differing approaches to the back end to show that there are differing opinions as to what works. A-B-A testing is the answer.

I find P&G works best in rolling hills, pulse up and glide down. My favorite hypermiling technique is to slow down early for traffic lights so I can hit them green doing the speed limit past the car in the other lane that sped past me into the red light.

Winter Tech Information - Size Selection of Winter / Snow Tires

http://tires.about.com/od/understand...ter-Wheels.htm

Narrower is better for winter...

I did not know that. Always good to get quality incorrect information from your local Discount Tire tech

It's not just snow, also standing water (hydroplaning).

What's the rolling diameter of the stock 14" tire?

If you seriously improve the aerodynamics of the car, one of the side effects is that you'll need to revise the axle ratio, most easily done by oversizing the tire. If your target diameter turns out to be 28" then you qualify for 30% less rolling resistance:

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/tir...155x70xR19.png
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/bridgestone-announces-large-diameter-narrow-tires-25208-9.html#post407899

Compare the BMW i3 bolt diameter to you car's. Fitting 19" wheels is the trick. The whole 16-page thread is here:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...res-25208.html

I honestly have no idea about my stock tire stats. Like I've said in other posts, I don't know anything about cars, aerodynamics, or pretty much anything else when it comes to cars. I'll have to review that thread. Thanks for the link and information.

Personally though, I feel my car performs much better in snow/rain/dry conditions than it did with the poker chips it came with stock. But maybe that's the placebo effect, mind over matter. Also, I got these wheels well before I was even aware of ecomodding a car, or maximizing MPG

I like nice wheels too.

Chevrolet Aveo 2005 - Wheel & Tire Sizes, PCD, Offset and Rims specs - Wheel-Size.com

BMW i3 2013 - Wheel & Tire Sizes, PCD, Offset and Rims specs - Wheel-Size.com

So, aside from wheel well clearance, the nut to crack is 4(studs)x100(mm) vs 5(studs)x112(mm). It's like putting Porsche wheels on a VW, you can use adapters or get blank drums and rotors and have them drilled for the correct pattern. But get the rims and first set of tires from a wrecking yard.

There's rim vs tread width, rubber compound, tread pattern, shoulder radius, inflation pressure. Different tires have different uses — street/track/off road.

thanks for the info. That was a considerable help to understand the benefits of tire size ect.

I actually had no desire to get wheels for this car ever. But my steel factory wheel got bent 2 winters ago by a vicious pot hole. I went in to get an replacement wheel, and my current aftermarket wheels were on sale for 29.99 each. Only reason why I got them.

I'm going to have to do some research and see if the cost to replace my current wheel tire situation equals the MPG savings to justify the expense.

I glossed over things like wheel offset and whether it centers on the bolt circle or on the hole in the center. :)

Will you let the projected savings dictate a budget, or cost out the swap and see how long it takes to pay out? Costs depend on a whole lotta things, new/used, etc. I suggested junkyard parts.

If you look at the car's energy budget, rolling resistance and friction go up with speed on a flat curve, but aerodynamic drag is on an exponential curve. So reducing rolling resistance offers returns at low speeds that aero doesn't.

It all starts at the tires contact patch. A tall, narrow tire on a light-weight rim gets you off on the right foot. Every other mod benefits.

When it comes tire time I'd go with these and keep the 16" wheels.

https://simpletire.com/nokian-195-55r16-t428758-tires

LLR, only one size wider than stock, 7% taller so a little more OD. Doubt the Aveo is much lighter than my Cobalt XFE and 195 seem narrow enough for good winter traction.

15" WRG3s are about $45 cheaper each so if you could find some cobalt 15" 4 lug wheel cheap could maybe save a little more.

For what it's worth, the traction in deep snow with my car's stock 165 width tires is a heck of a lot better than in my father's truck (245 width), or even with my in-laws's Prius (195 width). I can't count how many mornings I drove around my in-laws' Prius which was stuck trying to get out of their driveway, and my father's truck gets stuck in wet grass.

Granted, there are other factors. The truck is RWD, the Prius is heavier, and my Insight's rear wheels are closer together than the fronts, so it's not an apples to apples comparison.

Anyway, I'm following this thread with interest. It may take you a while to really sink your teeth into it, but your Aveo probably has some great potential.

7% will get you a ways down the road.

Did you notice in Permalink #35 the stock wheel spec says it's 13"? Maybe that's same year, same make, different model.