Very Ironic!!!...Doncha think?

[midnight rumbler]

I know I am going to get "hammered" from you guys for this but how is it possible to save money on fuel when alot of you are spending on items to save money for fuel?

Where is the fuel to cost savings?

Seems a little ironic in my opinion that this forum is here to help others in fuel savings yet alot of items suggested cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

* Gear Vendors Units = Upwards of $5,000.00, how long will it take from a 2-4 MPG increase to pay that off?

* Engine swaps = God only knows
* Tranny Swaps = Same as above
* Embarrasing Modifications = JUST EMBARASSING

I know alot of suggestions are helpful as most items can be fabbed up for next to nothing and net beneficial results and in the long run save money, Some of the items are just god aweful you people are installing on your vehicles and to net a 1.0 MPG savings, I think I would be a little embarrassed to consider that sort of a savings and to fork out thousands to try and decrease fuel consumption makes "NO SENSE" at all.



Simple suggestion to those even thinking of swapping trannies, engines or installing a GVR or doing some sort of embarrasing act to save a little money.....

DO NOT DRIVE AT ALL

[cfg83]

midnight rumbler -

I think it depends on your POV. If your litmus test for a(n embarrasing?) mod is the payback time, that is 100% fine with me. For others, this is not an issue because they enjoy the challenge of improving MPG. It's like installing a turbo to cut x.y seconds off your 0-60. Arguably, that's a "waste" of money, right?

Here's the 100+ tips for you to read. You'll be happy to know that your suggestion is at the top of our list :

100+ hypermiling / ecodriving tips to increase gas mileage - EcoModder.com

1) Drive less
2) Park and ride (bicycle)
3) Attend a driving clinic
4) Clean junk from your trunk
5) Let the most efficient driver drive
6) Join a fuel economy forum
...

CarloSW2

[Frank Lee]

I use the cost/benefit analysis to decided if I'm going to do a mod or not. Still, the other mods make for good reading, whether they are ridiculous or not. You never know where inspiration will strike. YMMV.

[TestDrive]

Originally Posted by midnight rumbler

* Gear Vendors Units = Upwards of $5,000.00, how long will it take from a 2-4 MPG increase to pay that off?

Probably more computationally convenient think in terms of how far until it pays off.

Gear Vendors is upwards of $5,000.00 new and commercially installed - considerably less if it's used and installed by yourself.

Of course pay off distance is heavily dependent on the price of fuel.
Just for giggles assume:

• Current MPG = 11
• FE gain from Gear Vendors is 10%, so projected MPG is 12.1.
• Commercially installed new Gear Vendors = $5,000.
• User installed used Gear Vendors = $2,000.

If fuel is $2.00 per gallon, pay off begins at ~300,000 miles new & ~120,000 miles used.
If fuel is $3.00 per gallon, pay off begins at ~200,000 miles new & ~80,000 miles used.
If fuel is $4.00 per gallon, pay off begins at ~150,000 miles new & ~60,000 miles used.

If you're driving a commercial delivery route and average 50,000 - 60,000 mile s per year the last two sets of numbers for used equipment starts to look intriguing. Finding the used Gear Vendors appropriate for your transmission at a reasonable price will require lots of good luck and probably a considerably amount of hunting.

[Big Dave]

It all depends on hw much you drive and fuel prices.

If you drive less than 8,000 miles per year and gas costs less than $1.50/gallon - forget about it.

If you drive 25,000 miles a year and fuel is north of $3.00/gal, a fairly large expenditure is justified.

Of course, crowing rights are priceless.

[jamesqf]

For me, it's about using less gas, not saving money. Though I'm not wealthy, I make a good income & choose not to live extravagantly, If I wanted to drive a Hummer or Escalade, paying for the gas would be the least of my worries. The cost of gas that I worry about isn't the money going out of my pocket, but the costs of financing jihad and dumping vast amounts of fossil CO2 into the atmosphere.

[KJSatz]

Which mods are the most embarrassing?

[Curly1]

Good post. I know I have spent more money on my mods than I should and realistically I may never recover those costs. I also know some of the Embarrassing mods work and we will see some of those things in future production vehicles.
For me I am trying to build a car that looks good and performs at its best (whatever that is)

It all comes down to what you want in a car. Many people just buy a car, put gas in it and go. Others want to modify it to fit them better be it a sound system, paint job, mileage or performance mods.
If you are comfortable or happy just putting gas in your car and driving you would not understand why we do mods. That is OK it just depends on what you want.

[ATaylorRacing]

I will not hammer you because in my case it IS about saving $$$.

I bought a 3 cyl Geo and was getting 50-57 mpg hiway compared to the SRT4 Neon that I was using for longer trips. Effectively the Geo gets double the mpg that the SRT4 gets, but in order to save money I must drive it at least enough to spend $20 per month in gas. That figure is how much the insurance coverage cost is. As of a few weeks ago I parked it and took the insurance off. When warmer weather comes and more people start buying Mustang rims from me I will reinstate the insurance as I start to deliver the rims with this car. No deliveries have been made since October....darn it.

[MetroMPG]

Midnight rumbler: as has been pointed out, people have different motivations for modding their vehicles to improve efficiency. Saving money isn't automatically one of them for everyone.

To get a better grip on this, see: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...here-6241.html

And: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...dding-256.html