Hello I have been a member for some time and have a new project I feel I should share since I keep getting emails from ecomodder "Come back, we miss you"
My last car was an 85 turbo 300zx that had a fairly low c.d. at .29 but I could only manage to get 22mpg average mpg.
The new car is a 95 Volvo 850 with a 5 Speed Manual. So far i have increased the cars on board long term fuel economy by 2.5 mpg to 22.3. I just filled up the second tank and I got 23.5 actual mpg.
I plan on making the bottom smooth, the front slicker and modifying the variable intake runner timing. It has a c.d. of .32 which I feel isn't so bad. It has responded well to brisk acceleration followed by the smallest possible throttle input to maintain a speed within +10 mph/-5 mph of speed limit.
I put in new plugs, cap and rotor to yield almost zero emissions on my smog test (failed HORRIBLY when i first took it in due to a 20 yr old girl owning it for a year).
It has Michelin's on it that were run so low on air for so long the tires are about to delaminate. I am hoping to get some new low rolling resistance tires once I get some money.
I will troll the site to see if anyone has an 850.