Best mods for city driving?
 

So I finally got a full time job way closer to home (5 mile commute each way instead of 38). Only problem is, it's not all city/highway, consisting of 2 stop signs and 7 stop lights. What are the best mods for cruising anywhere from 35-50mph? I got my VX tranny that's going in tomorrow, along with an alignment and new passenger side axle. I'm guessing that a kill switch is probably the next mod I should get on? I would like some input from you guys.

Current mods:
Mud flap delete.
Full upper grill block.
Front air dam (scrapes on everything LOL!).
44psi in all tires.


Also guys, I really want to find that black honda civic (I think it was a '01, or that generation) that someone posted here a while back, it had some form of kamback on it that went from the roof to the edge of the trunk, it looked so cool. I have searched using the search button, but can't remember where I saw it. It was right around the time that the Donkey CRX was discovered.

Kill switch.

Ac and power steering delete maybe even an alternator delete or you could probably leave the belt off if you only drive 5 miles to work.

Engine block heater
Full grill block that can be partially or completely opened by the driver as they are driving
Engine blanket/insulation around the engine compartment (make it easily removable for when you need to make a long trip).

Since you have a short, stop and go, low speed commute, anything you can do to reduce weight, decrease rolling resistance, and reduce the time it takes for your engine to heat up to normal operating temps will help. Aerodynamic improvements will help but are less dominant at those speeds.

Alternator is out of the question as I want to be able to charge my phone and flashlight at work, I may invest in other ways to do this but not right now. Power steering is already deleted forgot to mention that. A/C isn't an option either, although would taking the belt off the A/C so I could put it on when I do drive in the daytime an option? Or would that not do anything.

Aren't engine block heaters 200$+? I never thought about the full adjustable grill block, I'll definitely be doing that. I thought about buying a big heating blanket (like one you use for a human to sleep) and putting it under the hood but I'm not sure if that would even be effective.

Since you'll be adding some weight with stuff like the air dams, the grille block and the kill-switch, you could look for some random spots to do some weight-savings to counterbalance the weight add-on from the other mods.

Air dam was made with 2.5 inch lawn edging so it weights less than a pound. I still plan on removing the rear seats out of my car along with the spare tire, jack, and all the mounting hardware for the seats.

I was thinking about your idea to use a domestic heating blanket as an engine block heater? I wouldn't feel so confident to do so, since I'm not so sure that it wouldn't damage some rubber or plastic hose in the engine compartment. Anyway, some thermal insulation around the engine head and the sump may help it to retain the heat more effectively.

i also think this should be at the top of the list for a 5 mile commute as well
$30
http://www.amazon.com/Kats-11419-Wat...eater+97+civic
+$8, i got something very similar from walmart for like $6 i think
http://www.amazon.com/Westek-TM77DHB...timer+grounded

...but brucepick couldnt get out the plug where the heater goes http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...6-a-24259.html

What brucepick did is far beyond what I'm willing to do, it's want something that is plug and play and won't die on me in 2-6 months...

right, thats what the standard block heater is, unscrew block drain, screw in heater, plug in and warm up your engine.

i think it was what brucepick's original intention was to do
i mentioned it so that you would know to be careful not to round off the current plug, and if it didnt come out there are are other options, this was one played out and well documented.
i have also used a stick on heater pad on my oil pan, and am thinking to add one to my trans

Ohhhh I see, yea that was his original intent. Can you link me to what you use for your oil?

Agree

Agree

Agree

For a short commute, you could remove the front passenger seat to get rid of 35 or so lbs.

In my experience with the exact gearing you will get from your VX trans, unfortunately, it is not better for stop and go driving. It is best at 55-65 mph freeway cruise. BUT, the HX's lean burn will work way down at 25 mph. And I have found that my DX loves the 4th gear down to 25mph and fifth gear way down to 35mph. I get great instant mpg numbers (like 70 or 80+ mpg) and a lean AFR in my DX at those speeds in those gears. So depending on the specifics of your route, you might perfect some cool low speed lean burn cruising in 4th and 5th. That would be quite cool.

i used Amazon.com: Kat's 24100 100 Watt 4"x 5" Universal Hot Pad Heater: Automotive

i would agree with others, that larger heaters for a short duration would be more effective and efficient, but i've gone with a wattage that shouldnt come back to bite me if i forget having plugged it in w/o a timer in place. i followed the kats usage guide, which shows
Engine Oil Pan
2-5 quarts 100 WATTS
5-8 quarts 150 WATTS
8-20 quarts 250 WATTS
20-35 quarts 500 WATTS

4 1/2 miles of my 5 mile commute is 35-60mph speed zones and on top of that, I'm going to be working graveyard so there will be almost no traffic which means no red lights.

Then you have a nice situation for some great cruising in lean burn. Get the block heater... the warmed engine will be key to getting into lean burn ASAP, especially on your return home drive, when you'll have the day's coldest dawn temps. You get down to 30s and less out there, no?

Yea in the dead of winter. Also, lean burn doesn't work anymore. No idea why, no CEL, no trouble codes nothing. Just won't engage. It all started after the P0401 CEL. After I cleaned it out it the CEL went away, but L/B never came back. And even when it does, going downhill using like 12% throttle it's so rough of a transition it normally brings itself out.

Also, I don't have access a plug at work so I can't pre warm at work.

Run your oil at the MIN mark to aid warm up. You'll need to check it more often as some of your safety margin is gone.

I'd bike five miles... and I'm OLD.

I thought they were $90..... at least that's how much Ford advertises as an addon for Fusion's engine.

Aero is irrelevant at city speeds, but stop/go is a killer because you use ~50000 watts to get moving & then waste the energy as heat when you brake.

I'd strip your car of rear seats, carpeting, sound-deadening materials attached to the hood. Go on a diet. ;) Anything to shed 1000 pounds. Of course the ideal car would be one weighing less than 2000 pounds... like the aluminum insight. ;) :) :D

i used to think that too, but
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...rk-6441-2.html

How did MetroMPG reach his conclusion? I'm sure there's an aero difference between a brickish SUV and a hatchback at 30 miles/hour, but a smooth sedan like a Civic and hatchback Prius would be virtually nothing. The weight would matter more (because of the stop-and-go pattern of city blocks).

For example the Volt that I tested:
It wasn't very aerodynamic, but still only used 5000 watts to maintain 30 miles/hour versus 50,000 every time I accelerated from a stop. A lightweight car like a smart would be about half that (which is why its EPA city score is nearly 40 mpg). IMHO weight matters more when you're constantly stopping & starting (wasting energy).

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...html#post78886
That's in reference to a steady speed. Of course how often you're braking and restarting could have a greater affect.

For a lighter car, I think aero is actually pretty important around the city. I always pulse and glide because it's wasteful to run the engine at 1500rpm when it could be idling at 680. However if your aero sucks and you respect speed limits and other drivers, then you'll be cycling your engine a lot because the difference in kinetic energy that your car has between 24 and 27mph (my pulse and glide points for 25mph limits) is tiny and gets eaten up really fast. Spinning up the engine over and over adds up; spinning the flywheel to 2000rpm or 3000rpm is like accelerating a 100lb weight up to 15-20mph or so.

On the freeway you can undershoot and overshoot the speed limit a little more without causing as much trouble because there's more space and people are less pissed off. For the same reason I think pumping your tires up a lot matters more around town than on the freeway, because the further you can roll without dropping too far below the speed limit the more often you can stay in neutral.

I guess ye live in unusual cities. I can only go two blocks at a time. It's the stops & starts that eat the most fuel for me.

How cold does it get there? I'd get a motor bike and keep the car for farther drives. A small 250cc sport bike or dual sport should be good for 60mpg easily... And the dual sports are like $3000 brand new.

black Civic
 

Was that JethroBodine's friend's car?

$75 manufacturer add-on for an oil pan heater on a Chevy Sonic. Unfortunately I don't have anywhere at home to plug mine in, and nobody in the Midwest south of Minneapolis seems to have heard of them anymore, which is ridiculous, so I punted for now. I'll consider installing one on my next trip north. In SoCal, you'll want to be sparing with its use as you'll be starting from the kind of temperature where just minutes would be sufficient, as opposed to the several hours of heating you might need in 20-below Canadian border midwest weather. Accordingly, you might see if the lightest possible weight motor oil would be sufficient (see below).

First off, did you change your tires? I noticed when I did a little more looking into replacement tires for my own vehicle that the Michelin Defender that I recommended to you in an earlier thread only goes to 44psi; Goodyear's Assurance Fuel Max goes to 51, though does not have as high a tread life rating. If you have not already bought new tires, or if you are in a return period and don't like what you got, you might consider a high pressure LRR tire if your wheel rims allow for such a high pressure. Also LRR tires in general produce benefit even in city driving. Even some new econocars are not supplied with LRR tires -- in the case of one popular OEM tire, the Hankook Optimo H428, it's the opposite of LRR, a real fuel hog. When I was researching my Chevy Sonic, I came across a test in which testing the car rolling slowly with an H428 brought it coasting to a stop in HALF the distance compared to another popular tire -- not what you want for fuel efficiency.

On the subject of other mods, consider light synthetic engine oil (0w cold rating, whichever out of 20 or 30 for the boiling point viscosity the manufacturer recommends). Even at 75 degrees, 5w oil can be kind of syrupy on startup; 0w synthetic oil is not just for cold climates.

Perhaps you don't need to carry the spare for regular commuting, if you have breakdown coverage on your insurance, AAA membership, or some other kind of roadside assistance. Just keep a close eye on tires, and remove 40 to 50 pounds of deadweight.

Retuning the engine can also help. Both your vehicles are OBDII compatible. There are both performance and "eco" tunes out there from aftermarket suppliers that can be loaded into a car's computer through the OBDII port, and even for some vehicles tunes that have both a performance and an eco setting. For many vehicles there is Windows-compatible software to do your own tune (not for the inexperienced!), while a good mechanic that's into mods might also be able to help custom-tune for economy.

Talking of OBDII, instrumentation such as a Bluetooth OBDII transmitter that links to an Android app, a WiFi OBDII that links to an iPhone app, or a ScanGauge II, can really help improve driving skills by showing instant MPG consumption -- and also show essential information such as whether the coolant temperature is staying low enough for you to get away with cutting off more air flow through the engine compartment for aerodynamics.

That pretty much covers everything cheap and non structural that I can think of.

Gotta agree with that. A 250cc motorcycle has a reasonable power for all-around use and is still relatively fuel-efficient. If my dad and my stepmother wouldn't freak out about it, I would consider to get a 250cc dual-sport.

Thanks for all this info! I did not know that you could tune an ECU for economy. As for a OBD2 gauge I already have ultra-gauge. That's how I know my car isn't going into lean burn.

Also, a motorcycle is out of the question. Both the posts I work at you don't have anywhere to sit except in your car, and I really like charging my phone while I watch movies haha.

No problem
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-l1QSdzkoCp...Photo10507.jpg

:D

No. I won't even say anything further *facepalm*. I am going to buy an Enduro at some point. But I don't see myself ever riding any other type of motorized cycle.

I knew you wouldn't approve that 125cc Honda with a side-car :D


I'd love to get a KTM EXC-series, but they can't be made street-legal where I live.


You never know when you'd wanna try other types of motorcycles :D