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Ecomodding a Chevy Metro
I have been doing some ecomodding on my 2000 Chevy Metro.
I am finally seeing some real good results of my labor.
I just drove 1000 miles from Washington to Monterey California. Using the scangage and fuel tank fill up calculations I averaged 57.4 mpg on the first tank, and 59.1 mpg on the second tank.
I did the same length drive just after I bought the car, and got 40.2 mpg.
The best mod was the fuel injector cutoff. this allows Engine Off Coasting. I originally put a switch across the Fuel Injector (FI) fuse, but that fuse also feeds the Master Relay, so my scangage would quit. I then put the switch to a relay inline with the injector wire to the big resister. The switch is on my gearshift lever.
I also built ear wheel skirts out of Lexan. I used plexiglass first, but it proved to brittle. Bending the Lexan was the biggest problem I had. I saw a GE engineer that helped make Lexan said to not use heat to bend Lexan, but to use a metal bending break. This worked so well I couldn't believe it. Compound curves would be almost impossible, but many small bends worked well enough for the wheel skirts, and my partial grill blocks.
My grill blocks only do the outside sections of the grill. I used "J" hooks to hold the bent Lexan forms onto the bumper. This is a very good temporary solution, but I will now figure out a way to make it permanent.
I built a windshield deflector also out of Lexan, but I never got it right. I have now just removed the wipers completely, and use RainEx.
I noticed on all Metros and Swifts I have checked that there is a place on the bottom of the front bumper for bolting on an air dam. This must be a factory option. I made one out of 1.5 inch angle aluminum, and just bolted it on. That is a very easy mod.
I think the next big project will be lowering the whole car about 2 inches.
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