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

I purchased a 2010 Mazda 3 i Sport with a 5-speed two years ago brand new off the lot. I drove aggressively with it up until I got tired of getting pulled over for speeding. I slowed down on the interstate from 80mph to 60mph and tried to keep my RPM at 2k on Street travel, pressing on the gas lightly. I also lightened up my car of all clutter which helped. I was sold when I went on a road trip to Desitin Beach, Fl and drove 55mph most of the way and exceeded 400 miles before my low fuel light triped. This was inconceivable prior to that.

I have been using Synthetic Oil since the second oil change. I also changed out the air filter with a K/N air filter.

I had done this before I slowed down.
I discovered ecomodder because I was curious about other ways to save on fuel. I found out I was hypermilling to a degree already. I have been looking at the 65 mods listed on ecomoder for a couple weeks. I selected all the most ideal mods that I could perform with my current skill level at fabrication and mechanics.

The most feasible mod was getting the Scangage II, which I just went through the second calibration and now I am getting much more realistic averages in gas mileage. I increased my tire pressure to 40psi. I ordered Moon Caps.

I am also planning on installing Wheel Skirts. I did not see deleting side mirrors as being feasible due verifying that I would be driving through states that require them. I have parts for a generic hot air intake which I am uncertain if it will help or hinder, but I can not verify with my scangage. I do plan on getting low rolling resistance tires the next time I need tires. That is about the extent of what I will be doing to my car if anything else. I am certain after the Wheel Skirts I will be more confident to do other projects.

welcome!
you are welll along the path to muuch better mpgs!!!
the kn filter has no effect on mpg. several threads on that.
the warm air/cold air discussion seems to be on a case by case basis. you can search to see if someone has done a njewer mazda.

But you discovered the 'secret'!! adjust the 'nut' behind the wheel!

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 set up my Scan Guage to read Average MPG, Throttle Position, Coolant Temp, and Fuel Flow. I did that because I wanted to the most applicable information to use to drive more efficiently. Still waiting on my Moon Caps. Started a log book for my gas fill ups yesterday since I had just filled up. I am also intersted in installing a block heater in soon. I might be moving to Cedar Rapids, IA for work, and the Grill Block and Block Heater will be very usefull their. Hotanta, where I live now, not so much.

I have given consideration over the validity of my planning for modifications on my car. Moon Caps and Wheel Skirts will be my main focus. I am gathering from the data from other modders that that the combination of those two should give me an improvement of 1-1.5mpg.

I have concerns over the Grill Block. Most of the airflow appears to be at the lower portion of the Grill Block with one large section and two sections on the side. I have a very narrow upper Grill. My last car blew head gaskets because of overheating for other reasons and I am a bit weary on such matters. 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?

If you're too tired for testing it's safest to skip it.

I have not made any major modifications to my car as of yet. I have just been focusing on refining my hyper milling technique. I have a 3-4 projects in mind. Moon caps are my first project. Once that is taken care off I will start my second project of the Wheel Skirts. Once I have completed the first two I will look into testing and implementing Grill Blocks. If I get all three accomplished, the only other major project would be the under belly, which I most likely won't do, because lack of access to a car lift.

Moon Caps!!!
 

I installed my Moon Caps this morning! 1st Mod Completed! I ordered a Panoramic Mirror and two concave indoor side mirrors. Once I get used to them I will fold both my side mirrors. On my car the side mirrors can fold back about 60 degrees back. Better than not at all! I will start planning how to delete my passenger side mirror providing I feel sufficiently safe with the additional mirrors.

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

I was not expecting much from Moon Caps. They were heavy weighing 11lb for all 4. Maybe a .5 mpg gain. I will conduct an ABA test on it to confirm if it made an effect and post my results. Still need more time for my Scan Guage to get more accurate. I performed my 2nd calibration after my last fillip. When the error of fuel consumption is +/- 0.1% error on determining how much gas was used compared to how much I put in, I will conduct the test. I should have more consistent readings from tank to tank.

I am only planning on doing a few things that give my 2-4mpg improvement combined and refining my hypermilling. Nothing drastic like installing a smaller engine, lowering and chopping the top, putting a boat tail, an taking extreme measures of reducing the weight of my car.

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.

Nyyeeessssssss.

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.

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.

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.

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 ... :rolleyes:

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

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.

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!

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