Another car for MetroMPG: convertible 1991 Pontiac Firefly (Geo Metro)

[Gasoline Fumes]

Suzuki actually made covers for the wheels.

[Christ]

Wow... those are sick!

Reminds me of the Mugen CF48 wheels that lots of older Honda owners pine after... they come with aero covers, or you can remove the covers and expose a very machine-like surface of cooling fins.

[MetroMPG]

Fumes: what a cool bit of Suzukiclone info! Thanks.

I picked up the wheels on Friday. They're in fair shape, need refinishing. They're sandblasted, I think, and one of the previous owners polished the lip on one.

Probably cost about 40-50% more than a comparable set of VX rims would have, but then again they're 14 in., and they're much, much less common. Supply & demand.



I took the 'vert to pick them up... I don't think I've driven any distance in an open vehicle since I sold my baby Ninja, and I forgot what it feels like to be out of the cage. OK, half out of the cage.

It's a more mentally expansive way to travel, for sure. Bigger picture. I hope I don't get used to that.

[MetroMPG]

Oh - and I can confirm they weigh between 10.5 and 11 lbs (0.5 lb resolution of the digital scale).

[MetroMPG]

So I put gas in the convertible today.

Assuming the previous owner reset the trip odo and filled it right up, the numbers are:

38.7 mpg (US) / 5.8 L / 100 km, based on 293 miles & 7.6 gal / 497 km & 28.6 L

Most here would find this to be horrible performance from this type of car. But it's believable, considering this distance is almost entirely the previous owner's driving - a non-hypermiler, mostly city use, during winter.

And it badly needs a tune up. Yes - the poor beastie really needs some love. I pulled the spark plugs today and I think they're original. Electrodes worn - the gap was a bit more than 2x spec! .080 in.! Replaced them with some good spares I had around. The electrodes in the distributor cap were also pretty nasty.

[Christ]

That with the plugs and cap/rotor were about what I was seeing with Gerald. One of the plugs I pulled that were in there was gapped to something close to .100... That's HUGE!

[Daox]

Gonna start a garage entry for the vert?

[MetroMPG]

Yup, soon.

Discovered another fuel economy sapping problem and did my first 2 ecomods today.

Problem was I noticed the temp gauge wasn't coming up very high, and seemed to drop on the highway. I wondered if the thermostat was stuck open, so I popped the rad cap off and did a cold start - sure enough, coolant was flowing vigorously through the rad when it shouldn't have been.

We already know that a cold engine doesn't get good fuel economy due to fuel enrichment (and boosted idle speed):



from Mini-experiment: cold start fuel consumption and warm-up time - MetroMPG.com

So ... vert ecomod #1: replaced the stuck open 88C / 190F t-stat with a 90C / 195F t-stat. Temp gauge is now sitting smack in the middle of the dial where I'd expect it to be.

And ecomod #2: changed the oil to 0w20 synth from whatever was in it (which was black, black).

Also removed a nail from a tire and inserted a plug with a $10 pair of tools and patch kit. That was super easy to do, especially after watching a guy do it on YouTube.

[crexcrex]

Bought the girlfriend one of those converts, when she took the top down it would not connect at the windshield frame and this happened at summer temps..............resolved by jacking the center of the car at the front end up then locking the top in place then letting jack down.

The problem with the convert is that they leak like a sieve and rust out the floorpan including the rocker panels, the only thing that holds the car together is the top..............

Threw on some moons all round, dumped the spare, jack and tire tools, vented the rear bumper covers and she was getting about sixty four mpg hwy,

when the rains came she was better off wearing a raincoat, they leak excessively and the windows are always fogged.

Would i ever get another? never!.........strictly my opinipn!the aerodynamics of the trunk lid when the top is down is such that the air and air is drawn through the trunk and acts as a spoiler a lot of down force over the rear.

[bestclimb]

Heat gun on the decals, pocket knife on the edge and it should peal right off.