Case Study: 45% above EPA?

[Sven7]

All you need to do for 45% over EPA is aeromod the living sh*t out of it and take a nice long road trip at 55mph. See if you can get some high-adhesion painter's tape to hold wheel skirts, grille blocks and a kammback on. Pull the mirrors off- they should be bolted on, making re-installation easy. Make coroplast wheel covers and zip tie them to the spokes. Make a lawn edging air dam. You're going to need to pull out all the stops.

To put it in perspective, this got 46% over EPA Hwy (41 actual, 28 epa) on a sunny 50 degree day, going about 62mph over 400 miles. No P&G... only coasted on a few long hills. Little drafting since I was passing most people.


New Air Dam by Tyler Linner, on Flickr

[wmjinman]

You need a ScanGauge - or something that'll do essentially the same thing. I can't remember the difference between the SG-II and the "E" off the top of my head, but the feature of the "II" that makes it worth it's weight in gold is the "trip" feature. Read MetroMPG's article on A-B-A testing. (I think it's a "sticky" at the top of the EcoModding Central catagory). The ScanGauge with "trip/reset" is what makes that possible. Do you have cruise control? With a Lincoln, I'd assume that's a "yes". By using the ScanGauge, cruise control, and MetroMPG's A-B-A testing method, you can get a lot of ACCURATE data really fast (well, it might take you over an hour, but not a whole tankfull with many days of variables screwing up your accuracy).

To really know your grille block's effectiveness, you'll probably need something better than warmup times and coasting ability (depending on how rigorously you're testing your coasting ability). The main benefit is in preventing excess air from getting into the under-hood area, where it causes tremendous drag getting out again. Much better to force the air around the front of the car - regardless it's shape - than let it go into the under-hood torture chamber.

For Grille Blocks: Yes, in front tends to be a bit more effective than behind the grille. One thing I tried on my Jimmy was using pieces of plexiglass (or lexan) in front of my headlights. If you got something like that (clear plastic) and put that in front of your grille, it wouldn't stand out too much, and maybe not look too ridiculous for you. ? An "el-cheapo" alternative could be to get some of that 2" wide clear packing tape (like ultra-wide "scotch tape"), and create your block from that. Since it's clear, your grille would show through it, and it wouldn't be too visible unless the light was reflecting off it just right.

Better mounting that duct tape? Sure. Let's see - glue it on with silicone, tie it to the grille around the perimeter with "zip-ties", maybe use a few well-placed sheet metal screws - - - I think one guy made a "panel" that actually replaced the grille - - -

Sounds like 45 might be a good speed for you. Seems I remember there's a rule of thumb that goes something like "go as slow as you can & still keep 'er in top gear". Again, once you get the ScanGauge, testing to find your maximum MPG speed should be fairly simple. - that's assuming you can find a fairly lightly travelled, fairly flat, straight section of road you can do your two-way testing on. Around Oakland, I dunno - that's a pretty big city!!! But even if you have to take a trip 1/2 hour to 45 minutes - even an hour - away to find your "testing road", the information you'd get would be super-valuable.

[PressEnter[]]

Good luck. I can relate to your skeptical friend. I thought hypermiling might gain me a few mpg, so I am thrilled to get 30% over EPA. 45% is a pretty arbitrary number, but I guess it might be fun shooting for it.

As for instrumentation, I shelled out for the SGII, but I think anything with instant and average mpg would be a big help. Even if it's not 100% accurate, making the numbers go up is the name of the game

[wobombat]

Originally Posted by wmjinman

An "el-cheapo" alternative could be to get some of that 2" wide clear packing tape (like ultra-wide "scotch tape"), and create your block from that. Since it's clear, your grille would show through it, and it wouldn't be too visible unless the light was reflecting off it just right.

Better mounting that duct tape? Sure. Let's see - glue it on with silicone, tie it to the grille around the perimeter with "zip-ties", maybe use a few well-placed sheet metal screws - - - I think one guy made a "panel" that actually replaced the grille - - -

The packing tape idea is genius! I used it to make a lower grille block so that except for a 2" X 12" spot under the license plate, I have a full grille block, and it really isn't that noticeable. I'm considering using the packing tape to make rear wheel skirts too. I also like the silicone idea. I have some extra silicone sealer around with nothing to do, but I'm assuming that's the wrong type of silicone to use. Isn't silicone also really hard to remove? and I don't understand how sheet metal screws would work without putting holes in the car's body.
Anyway, in driving the car today with the grille, it really seemed to warm up fast and coast well. I can't wait to get my scanguage and see how much better it's doing. And in normal driving, I hit 3/4 tank at 100 miles. Right now I'm at 130 and I haven't hit the 3/4 mark yet.

[101Volts]

Also know that not all gas gauges installed in cars are quite accurate for monitoring the exact amount of fuel in the tank. The tank in the van I drive can hold 20 gallons of fuel and although it's currently running below E, According to the ScanGauge II over seven gallons are left. (You can use a Scangauge II to monitor how many gallons are in your gas tank; If you buy one, Read the manual fully so you may use it to its largest potential.)

(The ScanGauge was not calibrated when I posted the above text on 2013 March 23, Take the above statement with a grain of salt.)

[wmjinman]

Outstanding!!! Great to hear the packing tape is working for you. Just be sure to keep one eye glued to the temperature gauge so you don't get it too hot! Before you're done, you'll probably have to adjust the size of your opening so it's as small as possible, but still cools sufficiently

To me, the silicone seems to be a nice, flexible, waterproof "glue" that can be relatively easily peeled off if ever needed. Of course, there are different types, and I'm not an expert on them or anything. But the clear stuff (GE, I think) seems pretty easy to peel off. It may leave a residue though, so caution is probably in order. The Permatex "ultra black" is incredible, BUT - - - if you ever manage to accidentally get it on anything, it makes it really nasty & black. I wouldn't suggest using it on anything you wanted to be able to return to "nice & shiny condition"!! HAH!!!

Well yeah - the sheet metal screw idea would require holes somewhere. Depends on how your car's made. I was thinking that if you wanted to stay with the BEHIND THE GRILLE block, maybe you could screw it into the frame around the radiator, or ? ? ? Just a wild idea - no guarrantee it was a good one!

Great to hear about your extra 30 miles before the 3/4 tank mark. ... of course, the position of the fuel needle is probably one of the least accurate ways to figure your mileage. Nevertheless, if you know from experience that you're usually down to the 3/4 mark at 100 miles and you're at 130 & still not to it yet, that's a pretty good indication you're having a "good tank". Can't wait until your next fill-up to see how it comes out. Hope it's a new "personal best" for that car!!

[101Volts]

Here's another reply, I hadn't read Page 2 at the time of the last one.

Originally Posted by wobombat

I'm considering the pizza pans. How do you attach them though? and as for the PSI, I noticed an approximately 5% increase in efficiency at 50 PSI rather than 40 PSI. I may be wearing the tires down unevenly though that way. I have suspension problems so I think they're doing that anyway.

Here's a link.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...-6-a-4368.html

***

That's not quite how the pans are attached to Moony (The van I drive,) Though; We didn't modify the hubcaps beyond marking them with numbers in a sharpie marker, 1-4, To ID where each pan goes. Instead, We took some plastic with holes in it (Six pieces per hubcap; Three pieces on each side, One for each screw) and attached screws through those. However, When/if the bolts that hold the plastic pieces loosen the screws and plastic lose their places on the hubcap so it may take more time to re-attach them if one becomes loosened. It might be better to just drill through the hubcap if that's not a problem or maybe I'm missing something here.

***

Originally Posted by wobombat

I do not have a scanguage yet, but I plan to get one in the very near future. I noticed that the scanguageE is significantly cheaper than the scanguageII. Any opinions on why the scanguageII is better? Any other gauges I should consider? I got a little obdII reader a while back really cheap that would communicate with an app on a smartphone and read out all the info. If it worked, I think it'd be better than the scanguage because you can customize the environment and save graphs to analyze later, but the thing was a piece of junk and didn't work with my setup. Worked with my brother's setup though.

I'm not familiar with other gauges. I know that with a ScanGauge II, You can monitor how much fuel is in the gas tank and monitor the battery voltage, The engine coolant temperature, Your overall MPG average and more. Here's a link to the Scangauge II manuals.

ScanGaugeII User Manual : Linear Logic

Edit, 2013-September-18: The section between the asterisks isn't quite right now. The pans were attached to the hubcaps but two fell off, One while I was driving downhill. Did the brake heat effect them?

Also, I need to think before I post.

End of edited in section.

Austin

[vacationtime247]

In case no one has mentioned it or you haven't done it yet. Do the basics of car maintenance. Spark plugs, plug wires, fuel injector cleaner, 02 sensor(s), fuel filter, alignment. Any other known running issues will decrease MPG substantially. Clean out the EGR passages too. Doing those fixes will bring up your MPG.
VT247

[wmjinman]

Yes, basic maintenance, for sure. Make sure it's running right. - and an alignment. Definitely make sure the wheels are aligned.

Pizza pan wheel covers - never tried them myself. Seems like I read on here somewhere that someone drilled holes in them & used zip ties in like 3 locations to tie them to the wheel's spokes (assuming the wheels have some sort of spokes). If I was doing it, I might put several spots of - silicone - under the edges in a few places - to help them stay put.

And for aerodynamics, make sure there isn't any big weight in the trunk or back seat you don't need. .... if the back end is "squatting" down, more air will get jammed underneath the car where it will cause high drag. You're better off with the car level. You don't want the rear end up - higher than stock height - but just level. DEFINITELY not down, though. Dunno how you could do it on the cheap, but lowering the nose could help. . . . . maybe smaller front tires if you need new tires. . . . may need to get an alignment if you do that, though.

[wobombat]

I just bought the scanguageII! Can't wait for it to arrive.

I don't have hubcaps, and it'd probably be a terrible idea to drill into the wheel itself. The ziptie idea might work, but I have nice shiny chrome wheels and I'd prefer not to cover them up. I'll see what my fuel economy is like after my other mods and then decide. Concerning rear wheel skirts, I discovered that the wheels stick out enough that I can't simply stretch packing tape across the wheel well. I might be able to attach coroplast or something jutting out of the wheel well than stretch tape across that. And I'd have to double side it too. If the sticky side decides to attach to the wheel while driving, that might not be good. I also plan to try out a lawn-edging air dam.

This is responding to a reply a while back. I do have cruise control, but it doesn't work. Neither does the horn, which luckily hasn't been a big problem, yet. I still should be able to do fairly accurate testing with the scangauge though.

I was considering ditching the spare tire. It probably adds 30 pounds or so, and the car is AAA protected, so It's probably unnecessary, and it'd lighten up the back.

I feel stupid saying this, but I didn't even think about maintenance. I'll start work on that though.