American Muscle Challenge!!!
 

Hey guys...
Yes, I'm a new guy... but I'm a go getter so I skipped the "Intro Forum" :turtle:

I have a 5.0L 1994 Ford Mustang GT... LOVE the power (mostly that sexy rumble)... hate the mileage. Now, I like my cake and I want to try to eat as much of it as possible. So... I've been practising "Hypermiling" and doing quite well for a youngin...

The challenge is... "Can we Aero my Five-Oh"...

I've read it has a 0.36 Cd (did not calculate that myself)...
Already have cold-air intake...
And have an aftermarket exhaust... given my body style.... what more can i do?
here's a good idea of what we're dealing with... i'm working on my own pictures...

http://ruddscars.com/218726__94_must...op_640x480.jpg

Thanks guys!

I'd start with some basics...

Where do you do most of your driving? (City/freeway?)

What kind of hypermiling techniques are you using?

Are you tracking your fuel consumption? How are you doing?

Got a ScanGauge yet?

It's a 94 darin!

uh... slower acceleration (probly the hardest one)...
keeping under 70 on the highway...
using more "engine breaking" then the actual break pedal(its a 5spd stick)...
also coasting more then braking...
using nuetral to roll down hills... etc etc

i JUST started with fuel consumption today... i know its not BAD (low 20s probly)...
looked for scan gauge but i couldn't find where to purchase one...

believe it or not... this is my commuter car :) i drive approx 40miles highway round trip... aside from that it sits in the driveway.

Are there any options for a 5th gear swap, it being used mostly on the highway...?

i'm pretty sure i have the stock gears (bought it from a friend a year er so ago)... i know i have a set of lower torque gears in the garage (4:10 i think) i know THAT won't help anything.
I rememeber my friend mentioning that this rear-end was a version that was very difficult to work with... meaning lots of money to swap the gearing (thats why the gears are still in my garage)

Grille block.
Spoiler delete.
Mirror delete.
Smooth wheel covers.

That should give you something to start with for improving your highway mileage.

For reference, I've stickied & updated the List of aero mods you can do to your vehicle .

where do you guys get your coroplast... HomeDepot... Lowes... what section is it usually going to be in?

I tried all the local home improvment, hardware, and even hobby shops and nobody had corroplast. I finally did some digging on gassavers.org and someone had recommended a sign shop. So, I called up the local sign shop and bingo, they have some. Still waiting on a quote from them though... Gotta call them today. Thanks for the reminder. :D

Doax... you're an angel :)
my brother-in-law works in a sign shop... what's that i smell?! "tha HOOK up!"

i can get 18x24 sheets for a little over $1 ;)

The local sign shop (which is walking distance to my house), sold my my 4'x8' sheet for $11.45 after tax.
A WHOLE dollar, whew, can we be so frivolous?
(don't take my tongue in cheek the wrong way, please, I'm a cheap B@$t@rd myself, I'm just jealous.) S.
lurk lurk lurk

i'll try to get some "before" pics up tonight :)

also... those who know what the 94 stanger looks like... what about those... "wind scoops"? on the sides behind the doors... would those help or hinder?

Prolly hinder...do they go anywhere or are they just looks?

unless they're cooling off the back wheels... i'd say they are "lick-em-stick-em" on looks

much like the "nostrels" on the hood... they're just pretties... don't go no where, not even relevent vents... black plastic

I would cover them up and streamline the sides then...No point having junk in the way that doesn't do anything, :p

might even be able to take the side peices off all together.... who knows.... on the hood i could always drill through the hood / plastic to MAKE them actual vents :)

You wouldn't need to do that much slower acceleration. Engines are most efficient at about 75% throttle, so just be sure to shift into the next gear before you hit 3000 rpm (preferably 2500 rpm) to get the best mileage while accelerating.

With their high power to weight ratios, musclecars tend to to have a higher most efficient speed range (typically around 60-65mph) than that of lower powered cars. This is because their engines are just loafing at the 40-45mph where lower powered cars are most efficient. But as they start going faster, the engine is getting more efficient as it starts seeing more load, so the mileage improves until it reaches the speed where the rate of increase in aero drag is greater then the rate of increase in motor efficiency with increasing load. So if you can drop your Cd, you can shift your car's most efficient speed range into a higher speed range than where it currently sits.

ok guys... you can mock my design... but leave my poor photoshops-manship out of it :*(
let me know what you guys think... i'm pretty sure cause of the engine... i'll need some sort of air damn that isn't covered in the front... currently there is 4 holes... one on top by the pony.. another at the bottom by the license... and 2 where foglights can go...

Also is a picture of the "side air duct" thing i was talking about... i can probly just fab a piece to fit right over the top of it...

Pre modding....
http://jebadiah.no-ip.com/premock.jpg

Mod Mock up...
http://jebadian.no-ip.com/mockup.jpg

Side "Air Vent"
http://jebadiah.no-ip.com/vent.jpg

feel free to make fun of my design... but don't make fun of my poor photoshop skills :)
pre - mod
http://jebadiah.no-ip.com/premod.jpg

mock - up
http://jebadiah.no-ip.com/mockup.jpg

also here's a pic of that side air dam thing i was talking about
http://jebadiah.no-ip.com/vent.jpg

you think i'll need to leave SOME sort of vent for my engine (pretty big engine...)

sorry for multi-post... browser froze :(

here is a good shot of the hood "nostrel" i described earlier
http://jebadiah.no-ip.com/nostrel.jpg

and a better shot of the Bottom air dam / fog light holes...
http://jebadiah.no-ip.com/bottom.jpg

question, Basjoos. my vehicle has a different power band than most vehicles (the legendary powerband of the AMC 4.0L I6). It's a low rev vehicle with a red line of about 5000RPM and it's power band is much like that of a diesel. Really low red line, but torquey at low RPM. It does about 1500RPM at 55 and its peak torque is at about 3000ish. Is there a way to find out if I should accelerate slow or not, or a website that has tests done to see if accelerating slower or faster is better on gas? It's drive train consists of a 4speed slush box with overdrive.

All gasoline engines are most efficient at about 70% to 80% of full throttle. Someone did some tests over at gassavers a year or so ago and found that they got better FE with a brisk acceleration rate as opposed to gradually creeping up to speed. But with an automatic, you're going have problems trying to accelerate at 75% throttle without it running the rpms well above 3000 before it shifts into the next higher gear.

So basically, this info only is good for manual tranny's. It'd be really hard to coax the engine to shift when you want it to without any control over anything besides the gas pedal and steering wheel.

Shifting for autos is done via modulating the pedal to get it to drop to the next gear. In either case, for acceleration w/o foreseeable braking more is better than less. Although the benefits are marginal because most of driving is not spent accelerating.

I know about easing off the pedal really quick so it shifts and then returning to throttle is how to do it. but at 75% throttle it doesn't seem to want to shift. That's what I was getting at.

Yeah, just go to 75%, then drop to shift, etc... Although the difference is very small like I said.

I like how you try to help people keep perspective on these things when they start fretting over the tiny details (*cough* lightweight rims *cough*).

Listen to this guy.

Hey meng, I'm driving around a free VW deesul. Or was until the damn IP started leaking. I'm the king of cheap. Except for maybe the_clencher.

Sorry guys... i wasn't aware my links were broken :(... this should work now

pre - mod
http://jebadiah.no-ip.com/pics/premod.jpg

mock - up
http://jebadiah.no-ip.com/pics/mockup.jpg

also here's a pic of that side air dam thing i was talking about
http://jebadiah.no-ip.com/pics/vent.jpg

here is a good shot of the hood "nostrel" i described earlier
http://jebadiah.no-ip.com/pics/nostrel.jpg

and a better shot of the Bottom air dam / fog light holes...
http://jebadiah.no-ip.com/pics/bottom.jpg

i am ashamed to say that my weeks average fuel economy was..... 18mpg :(

Sonic, I'm a muscle car guy too. I looked into your motor for my wife's 65 Mustang so that I could gain efi and overdrive, but never made the jump. I could be a smart alec and tell you to get an ls1, but I won't. In all seriousness though my 99 Trans Am gets upper high 20s in mpg and still can turn 13 flat in the quarter. Just food for thought if you get a newer muscle car in the future. The new Mustang sadly is only pulling low 20s in any form. A shame for such a nice looking car.

Anyway here our some things to try for small gains:

full roller rockers- the late 5.0s have roller tips, but not full rollers
headers
harder compound tires (you'll lose a little in the quarter)
aluminum driveshaft- inland empire has them
look into some of the Cobra body components- some may increase the aero package
fiberglass or carbon fiber hood- also trunklid
drop the car an inch or two

You don't mention if it is a stick or an auto. I'm guessing auto with 18mpg. Obviously that package is holding you back. I've read claims of 28mpg with the stick version of your package.

Don't forget weight. Especially rotational mass. Lowering weight where it makes sense can improve both your performance and economy. Gearing is the most important piece though.

Welcome to the site widetracker! And thanks for sharing your knowledge.

not a smart alec reply at all... i'm a chevy guy at heart... but the stang was a good deal ;)
for the record it is a 5spd.... but some of the issues with the 18mpg is the 120-ish lbs of sand in the back (its slick winter in missouri)

The guys have you onto some good and inexpensive ideas, but I'm afraid that sooner or later you will have to change your axle ratio.

Vehicles that don't seem to be sensitive to other things are often way over-geared. A guy I know with a Chevy dualley with a 454 and 4.56 gears got 8 MPG whether he was pulling his 32 foot RV or running light. That's a heckuva difference to not feel. The closer you get to being geared right the more sensitive (in both positive and negative ways) your car will get.

Figure out what axle you have and hit Randy's Ring & Pinion to see what gears you can get.

pretty sure it has stock gears... thats 3:73 for 5.0 5spd 94 mustang isn't it... i know i have some 4:10s in the garage that were never put on (came with the car when i bought it)

for the record... i had 3x 60lbs bags... so i had 180lbs of sand in the back... probly made a damn big difference... i'll check my mileage again this week (wife won't let me buy a scangauge yet... so its the old fashioned way for me...)

A T56 is in order IMO. Although I imagine there are cheaper alternatives, it's definitely the least hassle for the most gain if ya have a grand or two lying around.