Friendly Wager: 60 mpg 95 Mercury Tracer

[elhigh]

I was not aware to what lengths you would go in pursuit of this goal when I gave my original assessment. I'm still not sure you can do it, but unlike before I'm no longer certain that you won't.

Having lean burn is a huge advantage. That's big.

Is the deep cycle batt so you can remove the alternator for your attempt at the goal?

[M_a_t_t]

Yes, delete alternator hopefully. I think I need to shift my focus for a moment though. I need to get the tank and speedo fixed. If I can't tell what mpg I am getting how do I know if I've made it? I might wire up the deep cycle and not mess with the alternator, just because putting 2 wires in isn't very time consuming.

[M_a_t_t]

I attempted to fix the tank this weekend, I couldn't find the exact spot it was leaking. So after 2 attempts I just re-patched it like the PO did. The jb weld is supposed to be good for gasoline so hopefully this fix will last for a few years atleast.

Before:


I don't have a finished picture, but here is an in progress shot just before I put the jb weld on.



I also did a "rough" mpg check before I fixed the leaking tank. I stumbled to the gas station and put 2 gallons in it. I then drove until I ran out again and tracked my mileage by using google maps. It was about 50/50 city and highway and I got ~28 mpg.

EPA ratings:
City 23 mpg
Highway 31 mpg
Combined 26 mpg

Considering I was leaking fuel I think I did pretty good. I got the pinout for the ecu so I should be able to put the mpguino in soon. I haven't finished the tail or the alt delete yet though. I also have a source of 90 octane ethanol free gas, (haven't used it yet though) so hopefully that will raise my mpg some.

[Piotrsko]

Jb weld is Ok, but body filler is better and cheaper for gas tanks.

[M_a_t_t]

I used the "plastic tank repair" JB weld, it was like $14 though. Are you talking about bondo you could buy at the autoparts store or something more specific?

[Piotrsko]

Common name bondo, yes. Anything like that is lying about in a garage situation that is fuel resistant.

I'm also a fan of red silicon seal and fiberglass sheetrock patches

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Piotrsko

I'm also a fan of red silicon seal and fiberglass sheetrock patches

Dealing with fiberglass for a fuel tank repair, I would be more concerned about the resin. Vynillic resin is better than orthophtalic resin for that matter.

[M_a_t_t]

I had a busy weekend, installed the deep cycle and wired it up, then unhooked the belt. Put an airdam on, hopefully it helps. I also installed the mpguino that I used to have in the van. I started with the values that gascort had posted on the mpguino wiki. He had the 5 spd though, so I adjusted the vss value until it was close to matching my speed and then filled up the tank. I still need to do some testing to find out what my range is with the single battery. Hopefully next weekend I will have a mpg value for the car!

Any guesses as to what I get with roughly 50/50 city and highway (@55mph)?

[Natalya]

I think you're effed if you're trying to get 60 MPG at 55 MPH in that thing even with the boat tail unless you go to a really warm climate for the test run and swap in a manual transmission. I guess it could be an excuse for a weekend beach trip.

[93Cobra#2771]

I have a 50% underdrive crank pulley for that car, if you are interested. Doesn’t allow alternator to charge at idle but once over 1500rpm it charges. Used it for over 100k miles on my 96 1.9 escort wagon. I picked up almost 3mpg with it. You can see my mpg for it in my signature.

AC, power steering run just fine with it. Drop me a message if you are interested.