Daox's 2004 Toyota Prius Build Thread

[MetroMPG]

Congrats - 65.3 mpg-e is your best tank yet!

[Daox]

Yep, it is far above my normal average in summer of ~55mpg. Its also a bit impressive due to the colder weather we've been having. I havne't started using the block heater yet, but its use is not far away.

[HamiltonianOperator]

Hello, I enjoyed Reading your forum.
Are there any updates? Forget Thanksgiving, work on your car

___

I was curious about the heating and cooling issues, being from Michigan myself.
I was wondering if anyone has considered running a vacuum pump instead of w/ a belt, with some kind of compression turbine possibly run from exhaust, like a turbo? The clear advantages are to have a higher pressure line and vacuum line, the exhaust manifold would have to be modified, this could then (possibly) be used to directly to heat other components as well as power the car's stock condenser. As an owner of a celica I am not sure how the AC vacuum/ compressor is/are set up and I wouldn't be surprised if you could disconnect your AC belt for increased summer driving economy.

Anyone know if a scan gauge can work with an 03 celica or what will? There are a lot of wire harnesses but I can't find any parts online for mpg meters.


-AP

[Weather Spotter]

A scan gauge will work with any oby2 car. So from 96 on it should work.

[Daox]

The only heating/cooling issues there are is since my commute is so short and I use EV mode as much as I can the car doesn't really warm up well in winter. Max coolant temp rarely hits 160F.

[Daox]

It is with much regret, and some soreness, that I must retire this build thread and this vehicle. One week ago on the way to work, a careless driver decided not to look both ways before crossing the road and accelerated out right in front of me (my right of way). I t-boned her at 35-40 mph. The Prius performed very admirably and kept me safe. I walked away with only a bruised knee, wrist, and some whiplash. Nothing was broken, except the car. That day and the next I was off work with some muscle relaxers, after that I was back to work. The airbag did go off and the front end was smashed up quite a bit. The image below I was able to take with my cell phone a few minutes after the crash.

This is my first major accident. I must say for a 'glorified clown car' (I've heard the Prius referred to as that), the dang thing saved my life. I can't imagine anyone thinking they need to drive a tank of a vehicle to be 'safe'. I could very easily start a rant here, but I won't.

Also, for those wondering about the PHEV kit and how it held up, it is fine. It didn't budge a fraction of an inch. In fact, Ben Nelson wrote a good article on his blog about how you never hear about the accidents that everything goes fine with, you only hear about the sensational things that happen when something goes wrong. Its a good read and I'd recommend taking a minute or two to take a look:

CRASH! DIY Vehicle Safety






The car is being totaled by the insurance company, and I find myself looking for something new (to me) to drive. I considered going with a different vehicle. My wife really loved the Matrix we had before the Prius. We averaged a decent 35 mpg with it over its live. But, the Prius averaged 51 mpg over the life we owned it. Based upon my last years driving of 13,000 miles, the Prius saves me $450 a year in gas with gas costing $3.80. The Matrix is only a couple thousand less than a used Prius so it just didn't make financial sense. Plus, I really like tinkering with the Prius, and in general just love the car. I can seriously say its the 'coolest' car I've ever owned, maybe in a nerdy sense, but it still holds that title in my mind. So, I found one this past weekend and put a down payment on it. It is another 2004 Prius. I hope to pick it up today.





This of course means starting over with all the mods I had done to it. Thankfully, I was able to tow the car home and remove most of the aftermarket things I had installed. So, now its just a matter of reinstalling them. I'll be starting a new thread for the new car once I am in posession of it.

[MetroMPG]

Bummer!

PS: I think I see your grille block laying on the ground, bottom right.

[rmay635703]

That sucks, were you able to remove your hybrid upgrades after the crash?

They could be repurposed

[bennelson]

The plan is to rebuild upgrades into another Prius this weekend.

[Daox]

I was able to remove the plugin kit after the crash. It will go into the newer Prius eventually. I still haven't got all the kinks worked out yet, so it'll sit until I have the system ready to go. This will probably be a while. The main concern right now is block heater and grill block type stuff for winter.