Been Hypermilling, now I want to see what else I can do

[mattsk1]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

You're not going to see much with concave mirrors!

I do see your point about the moon caps not having much effect and I did consider that. I just wanted to do something quick up front just to get started. I am curious about how you got your Tempo to get x2 better fuel economy. It looks like you did your research on the best bang for the buck modifications with deletions of A/C and Power Steering and some other items, which not only remove weight but parasitic loss from the engine. It was helpful to look at what you did to see how to make improvements different ways. In the calculator on Ecomodder Tools I did notice that improving engine efficiency had as great or greater effect on fuel economy than decreasing Coefficient of Drag and Frontal Area.

[Frank Lee]

Nyyeeessssssss.

[mattsk1]

I did see that I can use 0W20 Motor Oil. I'll try that the next oil change. I can also drain the stock Transmission Oil and put synthetic Transmission oil at a lower viscosity. Still have more research to do that.

[mattsk1]

Originally Posted by Daox

Welcome to the site.

The only other thing I'd highly suggest is a grill block. Use the scangauge to find out just how much you can block off without having any issues.

I took a look at my Mazda 3 Grill. The upper half of the lower grill is already blocked from stock. The two seperate sides next to the lower grill are completely blocked from stock. Their is a very narrow upper grill and an even more narrow portion of the grill under the lower grill that appears to be letting air in. Essentially, from stock it looks like 1/2 the grill area is already blocked.

I do see the two fold benifits from the grill block in that it helps the engine warm up faster and it decreases the Coefficent of Drag. I won't be adding much of a block if I do since a good amount is already blocked.

[mattsk1]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

You're not going to see much with concave mirrors!

I did get the 20/20 Panaramic Mirror. I installed it and saw that I saw the passenger rear side better than the passenger outside mirror. It did not do much for the dirivers side but show my face. I will look into deleting my passenger side mirror once I figure out how to plug the hole when I remove it.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by mattsk1

In the planning stages, do you use temporary measures such as cardboard and duct tape on partial sections to determine if the engine is sufficiently cooled without the need for the fan?

You can surely do that for testing purposes - make the grille block cheap and easy to remove, so you can get rid of it in seconds should you need more cooling.

You'll probably get by quite well with only the lower openings open.
But by the looks of it, the Mazda 3 only has a giant lower grille ...

Don't block the airflow to an automatic transmission cooler - if your car has one.

[mattsk1]

I just deleted my Passenger Side Mirror. For now I have cardboard and silver duct tape covering the spot for now. It was a really easy removal.

[mattsk1]

The Latests and greatest is that I duct taped my Lower Grill. Sofar so good on coolant temp being regulated. Been a bit anxious about recording my first fuel log on ecomodder. Its been torture because I have been driving on the same tank for two weeks driving 400+ miles that mostly consisted of many short trips of stop and go 6-12 miles with a cold engine. Looks like it should be around 35+/- 2 MPG but my official numbers will be up later today. I was pulse and gliding alot more on this Tank which helped. I usually get this kind of gas milage with no modifications and doing 70% highway driving so impressed so far since I drove highway about 35%.

I added the moon caps at 3/4 tank, deleted my passenger side mirror at 1/3 tank and blocked my lower grill at empty tank. I am anticipating a further improvement in the next tank of gas from the combination of all three mods from the start to finnish!

[mattsk1]

I deleted my Drivers Side Mirror. My current Aero Mods are as follows sofar:
Side Mirrors Deletion
Smooth Wheel Caps
Lower Grill Block