Friendly Wager: 60 mpg 95 Mercury Tracer

[M_a_t_t]

Got a new set of tires. The tread was ok on some, but the age (9 yrs old and cracking) and the fact winter is coming gave me the push to go ahead and change them. I went with a set of Hankook Kinergy ST 175/65 r14 for $67.23 ea ($268.92) instead of getting another set of Potenza re92's ($515.60, $246.68 difference). I don't think the difference of fuel economy would net me $250 difference, plus by going back to the original size I gain a little bit of gearing, 2.7%, so hopefully any loss in FE will be offset. The potenza's were 12 lbs and the new ones are 15 lbs.




I also painted "front of the car" to the nose and "back of the car" to the trunk in chinese.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by M_a_t_t

by going back to the original size I gain a little bit of gearing, 2.7%

What size of tire were you running?

[M_a_t_t]

165/65 r14

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Had it been easier to find 165/70 R14, it would be possibly even better. Keeping a narrower tread while actually increasing the diameter.

[M_a_t_t]

It's been awhile.

The wiring to the rear right taillight socket came apart. In an attempt to not buy another yet since my plan for the car was to do something different for the rear I wired it up to use these magnetic lights I have for my car dolly. Unfortunately it would have required buying an adapter to wire in the 4 pin harness so I just used both lights on one side. The inside is the brake light and the outside is the turn signal, just like the OEM housing has it. The left (driver) side is working fine so I am fine legally.

Haven't done much with the car. I am/was trying out a flat drag spoiler (name?) It seems like it might be helping a little bit, but I've only tufted it and it seems the air is too turbulent to really get any good attachment. I was going to try out a separation edge on the top and sides to hopefully clean it up enough for reattachment, but haven't gotten around to it yet. I didn't originally have the metal on there. At first the tufts were wrapping around and I remembered that adding the plastic on the taillights was enough to get separation so I tried that. It didn't seem to make a difference in this case. Maybe because I sealed the plastic on the light whereas this isn't and still gets a lot of air from around it.



I put some dry ice on the passenger floor board and found several holes as well as the connection to the rocker is mostly gone. Still pretty solid though. I can put all my weight on it and it not flex. I have been re-thinking the long term viability of the car. However, I haven't had to choose which route I want to go yet so it's still up in the air. Give up on the FE project, replace with a car with less rust, or get practice repairing rust on this in prep for the other cars. Second pic is behind the driver seat.





I got another job too. Pay increase of 32%, first engineer position since graduation. Excited for that. It's in an area that I've had some experience through internships, and have a personal interest in (machining).

As far as the commute goes, I haven't found my favored route yet. I can take the main roads and go ~28 miles or I can go the country roads for ~32 miles. I've been taking the country route for the peace, but it's got more traffic than I would have expected. I got 35 on the way back today. Partially because I haven't got my coasting distances down, but mostly traffic. If that is a typical number I would be getting that's ~50% increase in gas usage. So now I really want to start tinkering again.

I did also get the car weighed. 2,371 lbs without me in it. Listed curb weight is 2404, but someone pointed out that could be dry weight. I do have 120 lbs of batteries behind the seats so I am only slightly disappointed in the weight reduction.

I got a mini knee-mill. Not one of the bench units. This has a decent capacity/table size. Enough that I think I could shave the g13bb (4 cyl metro engine) head on it for better compression. I haven't finished the stand for it yet, or ran a circuit to the garage for it either. But I'm excited to have the capability. I also bought a small sheet metal brake. A harbor freight one. The jump in price from this to a quality unit is ~$700. Enough that I think it will be worth my time to modify this rather than buy a nicer one. I watched for a few months and had no luck finding a used one that wasn't over $800. Paid $257 for the HF one.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by M_a_t_t

Give up on the FE project, replace with a car with less rust, or get practice repairing rust on this in prep for the other cars.

Get practice repairing rust on this seems to be a good idea.

[freebeard]

Give up on the FE project, replace with a car with less rust, or get practice repairing rust on this in prep for the other cars.

Posed as a question? Look around the parking lot at your new job. Maybe not what everyone else is driving, at least as good build quality.

I have a pair of Nissan NX tail lights that wold fit perfectly with your Bonneville spoiler. Shipping wouldn't be worth it but maybe you could source some locally.


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...5-08-02%29.jpg

[M_a_t_t]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

Get practice repairing rust on this seems to be a good idea.

Originally Posted by freebeard

Posed as a question? Look around the parking lot at your new job. Maybe not what everyone else is driving, at least as good build quality.

I have a pair of Nissan NX tail lights that wold fit perfectly with your Bonneville spoiler. Shipping wouldn't be worth it but maybe you could source some locally.

It wasn't intended to be a question, but I appreciate the opinions/advice. My biggest concern is that I'm going to sink a TON of time into it, and still have more to do. But I also know that by the end of it I will know it's good and that it will all be my craftsmanship (hopefully that is a good thing ).

I have partially decided how I want to do the lights, but not certain yet. I got some trailer lights And was thinking about doing a 4 round set up. It kind of depends on how I do the rear. I kind of want a boat tail, just for max mpgs, but I also want to be able to pull a trailer, so maybe a removable one, but then what will the back of the car look like? If it's not a flat surface it will be added work to mount these lights I have so I'm not sure yet.


(something like these)

[aerohead]

1) We ought to be able to 'solve' the 60- mpg question numerically.
2) To do so, we need all the baseline data we can get:
- Cd
- Af
- Test weight
- Test velocity
- Baseline mpg at test velocity
- Baseline gallons/hour at that constant velocity
- Baseline pounds-fuel / hour consumption
- Road load aero power requirement
- Road load R-R power requirement
- Transaxle mechanical efficiency ( National labs have provided estimates for that data )
- Engine accessory losses ( National labs have provided estimates for that data )
- Engine thermal efficiency ( National labs have provided estimates for that data )
- Engine Brake Specific Fuel Consumption ( BSFC ) can be calculated from all the above data.
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3) Once we have the above data, we can reverse-engineer a new Road Load Horsepower, which, at your BSFC, would satisfy the 60- mpg requirement.
4) From the new Road Load, you can play with alternate scenarios for drag coefficient and rolling resistance, full-synthetic lubrication package, cannibalistic accessory losses, etc.
We need to know as close to possible, exactly where we're starting from, in order to get to where we want to go.
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I may have a CAR and DRIVER road test for your car in my rat's nest. Csaba Csere may have still been technical director at that time, and if so, we'll have a full-page of technical specifications, and some aerodynamic coast-down test data from the Chrysler Proving Grounds on the car. I'll look for it.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by M_a_t_t

I also want to be able to pull a trailer, so maybe a removable one

Interesting idea. Maybe you could take a look on some bicycle racks which feature their own lights and carry another registration plate of the vehicle. Let's suppose you could make something like a removable mini bumper and attach it to the boat tail.