Greetings from a newcomer
 

Hello all

I've been reading up on this site a lot lately, and finally thought of a good reason to post, so, Greetings!

I drive a 1992 Subaru Legacy L, non-turbo FWD. It's got an automatic transmission (unfortunately for fuel economy), but I'm making due with what I have. At least the torque converter lock kicks in as low as 40-45 mph.

I've been paying attention to fuel economy for a while (I've kept track of every fill-up over the 4.5 years that I've had the car), but never really realized/thought of modding the car for that purpose, so I've been reading this forum and soaking things in like a sponge.

I've got a K&N air filter. I've removed the door mirrors (apparently legal in PA too), and I'll be cobbling together some rear wheel skirts soon. Also going to block some of the vents in the front bumper, and that's why I decided to pick right now to post; I'll be starting a thread (if I don't find one already done about my car) requesting opinions on which openings to block and where for my particular bumper.

Anyway, glad to say hi.

Hi Istas,

I love your car's name. It really is unfortunate that it's an automatic, but at least you're not burdened with the extra 200lbs of weight and the driveline losses that come with the AWD model.

I haven't studied the gen-1 legacy in detail, but I do have a gen-2 legacy wagon. Regarding the grille block, you should get some better instrumentation, such as an LED that comes on when your radiator fan kicks in. Then you'll know when your grille block has reached its limit.

Aerodynamically, it's better to send air over the car than under it, so I'd definately block the entire upper grille, and part of the lower grille. Also cover the parachute-shaped holes where fog lights would go on the LX model.

Happy modding!
RobertSmalls

P.S. By far the most effictive modification I ever made was to my driving technique. This even though I was driving to conserve gas before I'd ever heard of hypermiling.

Thanks! I chose it as a joke, but it's fitting. Those people with "Mustang" or "Civic" written across the tops of their windshields... if I felt like wasting the visibility, I would spell out "CAR" across the top, just as a parody. But I like being able to see.

There are actually three grilles (a narrow one between the top and bottom), but that pretty much answers my question, so I won't even need to ask that in another thread.

(picture of the front, just in case anyone's curious)
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...g?t=1243564636

I'll look into how to get one of those LEDs patched into the wiring, and then block the top, center, and partially block at least the sides of the bottom grille. Eventually I'll try doing a full just-barely-as-low-as-the-lowest-element-of-the-underside-of-my-car airdam, but that comes after the rear wheel skirts.

Yeah, for a while now I've been paying extra attention to accelerating smoothly, not going any faster than about 60mph (as long as I'm not producing a dangerous blockage in heavy traffic), coasting down to stop signs, lights, stopped traffic, and turns, and trying my hardest to keep the torque converter lock engaged.

Thanks for the input!

I would already have a ScanGuageII, if my car had the OBD2 jack. As it is I am thinking about getting an MPGuino, but I worry that my sticking speedometer might produce inaccurate results. Another detriment to testing is that I don't have cruise control either.