Aerocivic - how to drop your Cd from 0.31 to 0.17

[Bicycle Bob]

Some places won't let you re-engineer a unibody and drive on the street. I hope it is OK where you are.

[basjoos]

An interesting statistic about my car. When running at 60mph with the throttle set at the maximum lean burn position (6.1usec on the SuperMID), I am getting 50mpg. So this means I will be getting over 50mpg when running at my maximum lean burn speed of a little over 100mph.

[Chuck.]

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

Yo Basjoos, seems like some other person on some other forum thinks you should be crawling around and averaging 22 MPH so you can get super mileage.

.

regards
Mech

That's a bit distorted if it's the forum I help moderate. The branding might be overdone...it's not hypermiling vs ecomod - you can do both.

I'd love to have the know-how to do a 3-wheeled motorcycle like the 125mpg HyperRocket, but I'd probably still hang around in the 45-60 mph range unless I have long highway trips, then would do around 60 if not in a time crunch.

At about 50mph and above, most of the fuel is to overcome wind resistance.

I'd like to challenge those routinely above 65 to try going a bit slower if the commute is not a really long haul. I'm NOT talking about going 22 or close to that - just going the posted speed limit or somewhat slower.

In most cases the majority of speeding proponents are doing it for behavioral reasons.

Basjoos, I'm not picking on you.

[mfor4x4]

I'm not familiar with th civic lean burn system, I'll have to check it out on Mitchell on Demand.

I live in Saskatchewan , Canada where we are allowed to change the frame of our vehicles and the emissions equipment. We don't have smog here like the bigger cities.

[user removed]

Originally Posted by Chuck.

That's a bit distorted if it's the forum I help moderate. The branding might be overdone...it's not hypermiling vs ecomod - you can do both.

I'd love to have the know-how to do a 3-wheeled motorcycle like the 125mpg HyperRocket, but I'd probably still hang around in the 45-60 mph range unless I have long highway trips, then would do around 60 if not in a time crunch.

At about 50mph and above, most of the fuel is to overcome wind resistance.

I'd like to challenge those routinely above 65 to try going a bit slower if the commute is not a really long haul. I'm NOT talking about going 22 or close to that - just going the posted speed limit or somewhat slower.

In most cases the majority of speeding proponents are doing it for behavioral reasons.

Basjoos, I'm not picking on you.

Not distorted in the least Chuck. If you want to carry this conversation on use a PM and I will get you my email address.

I was a member of that forum with an idea I had worked on for a number of years. Literally 1000's of hours with some national recognition from respected engineering institutions.

The response I recieved from some members of that forum can be only described with one word, and I will not post that word here.

regards
Mech

[Chuck.]

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

Not distorted in the least Chuck. If you want to carry this conversation on use a PM and I will get you my email address.

I was a member of that forum with an idea I had worked on for a number of years. Literally 1000's of hours with some national recognition from respected engineering institutions.

The response I recieved from some members of that forum can be only described with one word, and I will not post that word here.

regards
Mech

It's OK to PM me.

I can assure you that the hypermilers at that forum average considerably faster than 22 mph. I understand you disagree, but characterizing their cruise speed as 22 simply is not accurate.

[user removed]

went back and checked the thread, noticed some offending posts have disappeared.

My original offer stands.

regards
Mech

[RobertSmalls]

I am amazed at how anti-aero the "other forum" is. The folks there are cold on aeromodding. I have been (mis)informed that grille blocks are not for aero; they're only for improving warmup times. They don't seem to mind when a car has 25ft² of frontal area and/or a high Cd (e.g. 0.25), figuring that driving a draggy car slowly is just as good as driving a sleek car quickly.

The bizarre thing is, I've done the math, and they're not strictly wrong. I could get better mileage by driving a draggy, stock Insight slowly, than an aeromodded Insight at the speed limit. But you know, what if you drive an aeromodded Insight slowly?

While "22mph cruising speed" is surely an exaggeration, the reports of hypermilers being harrassed by irate tailgaters are a clear sign that some hypermilers are taking it way too seriously and driving outside the bounds of what is socially acceptable.

Different forums for different audiences. I go to eng-tips.com and EcoModder for automotive engineering discussion, Jalopnik.com and "The Other Forum" for automotive-themed news and news discussion.

[Chuck.]

Originally Posted by RobertSmalls

...While "22mph cruising speed" is surely an exaggeration, the reports of hypermilers being harrassed by irate tailgaters are a clear sign that some hypermilers are taking it way too seriously and driving outside the bounds of what is socially acceptable....

I see other forums of people at or just above the speed limit having lots of problems with tailgaters....l-o-n-g thread at PriusChat.

Daily in the Dallas area I see at least one driver speeding and weaving like they carjacked it - I'd like to suggest not only is it more commonplace than hypermiling, but speeding is more condoned because people prefer doing it knowing deep down inside it's more dangerous.

_______________________

The "anti-aero" rhetoric is from the founder over there and honestly can't think of anyone else that is very vocal about it. It's a shame he's branding hypermiling by echewing streamlining - it's not an either/or.

Think it's clear I'm sympathetic with aero-mods and basjoos' efforts.

[3-Wheeler]

Originally Posted by RobertSmalls

....But you know, what if you drive an aeromodded Insight slowly?....

I drive my aero-modded Insight at the usual 45 mph on a 55 mph back-country road.

The road is flat and straight for literally miles, and on the rare occasion that someone sits behind me, unable to pass, I speed up. On the other hand, I've had people tail me for miles on a straight section of road, then suddenly pass very quickly for no apparent reason.

Am I one of the people "that gets it"? Sure, but I also want to save even more gas, reduce dependency on foreign oil, and help the planet. I ride the same way on my 23 year old motorcycle when going to work.

If I save an extra 10% while driving slower, that's also 10% less of the almost 1 billion dollars a day we send-over-seas for oil. Our country is getting poorer by that amount each day. Let's slow this trend down or stop it completely.

For others that "also get it" and want to drive faster, that's fine with me. But there may be long-term ramifications. Think of the gulf oil disaster. What if we did not use so much oil. Would it have happened? Something to think about.

Thanks Robert, for the clarification.

Jim.