Guess who's a teenager now: Happy 13th birthday to EcoModder! (Win a ScanGauge!)
 

https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1608770566
(Original photo: Royal Broil; candles: Bootique Illustration)

Can you believe EcoModder just turned THIRTEEN years old?

You know what that means: it's time to celebrate the start of the insufferable teen years by giving away The Customary Birthday Loot!

The contest runs from today through January 22nd, after which we'll draw the following prizes randomly from all forum posts made between now and then. (So the more you post, the better your odds. Not that our hard-core members need any motivation.)


The Loot:

• ScanGauge II: (once again generously provided by Linear Logic) will be awarded at random to one member* who posts in any thread in the forum between 12:01 AM EST today (Dec. 23) and noon EST on Monday, Jan. 25th (deadline extended from Thurs. 21st).

• ScanGauge-e: (generously provided by Linear Logic) the ScanGauge II's little brother (see comparison)

• EcoModder t-shirt: one additional randomly chosen member who posts in the forum in the same time period will receive an EcoModder t-shirt.

* ... only members who joined before today can win.

Your odds of scoring a prize have probably never been better

Good news/bad news: forum participation remains near all-time lows, so your odds of winning are near 13-year highs!

In all seriousness, thanks to all you hardcore members who have stuck around, even if none of you talk about ecomodding anymore. :)

Good luck to everyone, and happy sweet 13th to us!


Discuss...

Did you even do any ecomods to your vehicle(s) this year? Or were you preoccupied by other activities / situations? I'm guilty of the latter, especially this year. Judging by the number of active project threads, I'm not alone! So what the heck have you been up to?

PS: anybody else notice the race car in the above pic has a custom front air dam and smooth wheel disc on the back? Aero FTW!

I haven't done any major ecomods to the Insight, I'm hoping to get it running right first. And I've had no luck with that. So I just drive it and get 60 MPG.

I'm not sure what I did this year, not much. I finished making a trail in the woods that I started making in the 90s. :)

This explains why the forum has been on its period lately then it comes to discussions about aerodynamics.

My kid is a couple of months older than Ecomodder? Weird...I must have started lurking soon after this place first came in to existence.

I de-modded my boat tail. Added a few small things. Wanted to do more. Things are looking a little better though in the next few months so as long as I can convince myself to work in the cold hopefully my tanks will continue to go up rather than go down. I did also make it to #10 on the % over epa category with 42.77%.

https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1608824344

Been working all year and not modding my car. Still getting 30 mpg consistently no matter how I drive it. Didn’t drive it for 40 days between Labor day and October 20th. I was in North California running a 2 mWatt generator powering a small town until the power lines could be rebuilt due to fire. Hopefully next year will be better.

I think I first became aware of ecomodder in 2008 so I've known about or been around most of it's life. I was actually a member under another user name years ago but had forgot my user name/password so joined under the present user name.

Well sort of ecomodding my opel, since it's not running at all so...very little diesel burned lately.

What i have been up to? Besides a busy work autumn, had to get a temporary car because of opels trickery. So i drive a mk1 ford ka at the moment. A little tricky to haul a long mountain bike inside it but it is possible! :D

No new ecomods here. The partial blocks on the Fiesta at long gone and the upper blocks in the Pontiac were not reinstalled after the ty-wraps decomposed, the lower dam remains in place. Continue to work on the nut behind the wheel.:)

The sum total of my ecomods this year:

1) I transferred over last year's existing mods from Mirage #1 ("Fancy Metro" ... since sold) to Mirage #2 ("Even Fancier Metro").

2) The MPGiata got some attention: I lowered the suspension about an inch, revised the driver-adjustable grille block, added rocker/side skirts, and an LED voltmeter that plugs into the cigarette lighter. It was the car's best summer for MPG so far. Coinkydink?

3) I've been driving my parents around quite a lot in their 2005 Toyota Camry I4 automatic this year owing to health issues on their part, so I stuck a ScanGauge in it recently. I'm embarassed to report I'm seeing ~20 MPG US / 11.8 L/100 km in the cold weather, short trip, sub/urban driving it typically sees. EPA says the city rating is 21 MPG US, so ... I suck!!!

My firstborn too! And he was premature so it could/should have been closer still.

I wasn't into ecomodding until well after my daughter was born (we sometimes call them 'kid 1' and 'kid 2' for fun, especially in the company of strangers. The looks :))
Her birth was car related though, as the very first trip we took in the Hyundai I10 we won in a lottery was to the hospital to get her born. We did not focus much on our new car's features during that trip...
Only when my wife quit her job in 2012 and I went to work fulltime again and therefore had to drive more did I buy the Insight and really focus on saving money by driving economically.

FF to this year; working from home I use less gas than ever before. No more modding necessary other than putting the foam pipes back in to block the lower grille.

I did some other things though like helping to save a wounded common buzzard i found on a walk 2 days ago:
https://i.imgur.com/OiC2EZA.jpg
I'll check with Animal Rescue in a week or so whether the bugger made it.

I saw another buzzard up in a tree right above me today. It waited patiently while I was fiddling with my phone to start the camera app and only took off a second before i was ready to take the picture.
It was huge!

Oh, and happy 13th birthday Ecomodder!

Congrats!


I didn't even know I had nabbed the top spot. Merry Christmas to me!

Thanks for doing this. I'm pretty sure ecomodder was known by another name way-back-when, can someone confirm the history for me? Wow - where does the time go?!

The only mod I really did was install the SG-II. I did briefly try the rear window delete mod for weight reduction, but found it impractical and returned it to stock :D

https://ecomodder.com/forum/member-s...229-101242.jpg

I bought a '01 Miata. It's a blast to drive, but only gets 24 mpg.

So one week I pumped the tires to 29 psi, kept the top up, revs below 3k, and obeyed the speed limit for a tankful. 35.86 mpg. But driving it that way sucked! :turtle:

Happy 13th!

Given that my driving was way down this year with WFH, not much motivation to do any modding. Mainly just trying to keep it on the road.

HaPpY BiRtHdAy!!!
 

Sorry to hear posts are at a all time low. But I have always liked your forum.

Some mods driven by circumstances and coincidence...
 

In January my son totaled our 2007 Focus ZX5 which had a new set of tires, so I was able to keep the tires & rims when they hauled it off for scrap.
The next car in the fleet behind was a 1999 Escort that benefited with an upgrade from 185/65-15 to 205/60-16 larger diameter wheel package; more frontal area, but RPM ranges stayed closer to peak torque.
Coincidentally, bolt-circle adapters required helped provide a much smoother side surface at the wheel-wells (plus smoother wheels).
Also, coincidentally, new lower ball-joints were due, so I was able to adjust the installation to keep the ride height lower.
Ignoring the odometer and calculating point-to-point of my commute showed a 10.5% improvement, netting one more day between fill-ups, which was easily noticeable.
An air-dam and belly-pans are on the list for Spring.

Nothing new on my 96 geo metro other than putting the winter grill block back in place. Still working on the driver mod. Pretty happy with the 52.5mpg lifetime average. Just over 200k miles so I’m happy with that.

Years ago I did a few mods to my 1999 1.0L Metro. Lower air dam under the front bumper and a belly pan hanging from the front stabilizer bar to the rear bumper. The belly pan was a bit of a challenge in that it had to be hung with brackets to lower it enough to clear the exhaust. I never really did any scientific types of testing but could safely say that these mods only provided about a 2% gain in MPG. So then I created a partial camback which resulted in over a 10% gain in MPG. I regret that I used fiberglass to attach it to the car, and now that I have removed it I have a mess to clean up. It sits parked now and I failed to crank and drive it often enough so now I've got to drop the tank and replace the fuel pump. My regular driver now is a 2000 Insight, a much more pleasurable car to drive. The Metro is a keeper though. No IMA to deal with, cheap parts available, and great MPG also. My Insight has 286K miles on it so no telling about how long it will last.

Hiya, Ecomodders!

This year I didn't do any modding to my vehicles, but I did wind up with a new vehicle in the family - a 2010 Audi A4 that was gifted to my kids by their grandfather. The car requires premium to run its best, so, unlike my other two hybrid vehicles, it is costlier to fuel up. On the plus side, it DOES get reasonably good mileage, as is.

I will investigate ways to improve its economy as time goes by but, for now, I have to concentrate on regular maintenance on all three of my aging cars. the good news is that both hybrids continue to perform well, despite their advancing age. I just replaced the 12V battery in my 2010 Milan, that I upgraded five years ago. That mod turned out to be an excellent upgrade!

Happy 13th! ;-)

I joined in 2013 when I inherited a nearly new Ford C-Max. Ecomodder was a great place to start learning about aerodynamics, drivetrain efficiency, pulse-n-glide, and just how cold was too cold keep the heat turned off. The C-Max, being a hybrid, was capable of very good mileage, and so able to show real improvements as energy content and parasitic losses were addressed. It was an oddball car introduced as fuel prices dropped, and with two EPA mileage estimate reductions, nobody bought them after the first 6 months. Did I mention the early trannys broke?

As a result, the community of early adopters became the only "enthusiasts" and, as here, they tried things. Front grill blocks became common, given their virtually guarantee benefit. I did a tuft test on the car from the highest point, back, and came away with a lot of respect for the designers. All the issues were below the beltline, with the best results coming from covered wheels and fairings. Vortex generators gave mixed results. Good fuel was a clear winner. Winter weather a clear loser; Southerners got much better mileage.

But, as you all know, the biggest factor is the driver. It took me over a year to learn how to drive. I replaced C-Max with the 2020 Escape Hybrid and the lessons transferred. I won't be modding this one, but I am very grateful for the lessons learned from Ecomodder.

This is still a great place to start!
Frank

LOL, true but the missing windshield and other glass kinda overwhelms the aero improvement of the wheels.

Saturn and Honda Super Cub 50
 

My projects have included a "freshening" of the engine in my 1999 Saturn SW2 and a "restoration" of a 1965 Honda CA102. The Saturn was burning lots of oil, so I took the engine apart, deglazed the cylinder walls, drilled drainback holes behind the oil control rings, and reassembled with new rings. So far it's running great and uses no oil! I bought the Honda in terrible condition, but finally I have gotten it running! It won't be a showroom restoration, but the rattle can paint job looks pretty good.

I'm Still Here...
 

Howdy, folks.

For the first time EVER (for my main wheels), my oil next oil change (in February) will be based on time rather than mileage. I haven't been thinking much about ecomodding lately since I haven't been driving much. In fact, I've been driving so little that I've switched to using "sport" mode in town instead of driving my Alltrack in "eco" mode. I don't know when I'll see what impact the change has on fuel efficiency; a tank of gas lasts for months!

When Winter's gone, my 1979 Coupe DeVille will start splitting time with my Alltrack. I had done some mods to the Caddy long ago when it was my daily driver, and it might be fun to tweak it again if I have reason to drive it somewhat regularly 2021.

With my first '79 Coupe DeVille, I swapped the 425 for a 512 (and some other goodies). My MPGs went *UP* by almost 3--even though I wasn't exactly shy with the throttle. I still have that engine, but I'm not up to swapping it into my current Caddy at this time. Any ecomodding suggestions you may have for the 425 set-up will be welcome. If I start ecomodding with it again, I'll log everything in my garage here.

:)
-Doug "Whitey" Jackson

I hate to burst your bubble but that isn't for aero cover on the rear wheel it's to keep the mud out of the rear wheel so you don't have to deal with a bunch of mud caked up around the lug nuts.

Lurk level MASTER
 

Still check out the monthly email top 5 each month. I do less modding now as time has been tight with the new job (it was a bad idea to take it, but oh well) I'm hoping 2021 will have me back to my old job and more time to tinker.

10 years?
 

I didn't realize how old I've gotten. Apparently I've been on here 10 years and this is only my second post. I guess I really lived up to my self awarded MASTER lurker title. Also, I no longer live in Iowa and haven't in years, I should change that in case I post again some time in 2030.

I’ve always liked the idea of small diesel engines for mileage gains over gas versions of the same vehicle. Had the opportunity to put some kilometers on the diesel versions of 2006 2.8L Jeep Liberty and a 2007 3.0L Jeep Grand Cherokee. Both vehicles had new tires and wheel bearings and brakes installed, front and rear, but the gains were only slight. Having driven both gas and diesel Volkswagens, I was quite disappointed by the Jeeps and had expected more.

I may not get the fuel economy I used to, but I'm still ecomodding! Ecomodder is also one of my phone's most common auto-suggestions. You can't acuse me of not ecomodding!

The last 2 years or so I've mostly been working on my house. Plus I got married. My wife and I bought a dump, and we struggled to fix it up ahead of seasonal environmental deadlines. Now it's winter and too cold to work on the outside (paint won't dry), so now I can freeze my arse off working on the car outside and not be neglecting other, more important things.

It was five below zero (f) in late November here.

~

So, how can Ecomodder adapt to the times? Do we need several larger electric vehicle sections? New guides for electric vehicles? Posts on how mods can increase range and lengthen battery lifespans?

Mercedes Diesels are wonderful long lasting engines, they are not known for the best fuel economy.

No mods but still running on natural gas. Not a mod but cheap fuel. So I guess it's still a mod but done a few years ago.

Between working from home and Covid, I think I used maybe 3 tanks of gas in all of 2020.

I haven't done much in the way of echo modding, and I've probably been doing more stress-peddle pushing lately due to family issues. I did start looking into mitsubishi mirages this year as a potential eco upgrade to my Mazda 3, but may end up with a truck for practicality at home since I drive much less for work these days.

One thing I do try to keep up with is tire pressure. Funny how much more I notice sloppiness/drag now when the pressure drops below 30 in any one tire.

I have a brood of 4 kids, the oldest is one year older than this site. I must have come across it as the need arises to pinch some pennies. Happy Birthday/Launch Day!! :thumbup:

The heck with 2020
 

Only thing done was "receive" a 2015 Hyundai Genesis 8-speed auto because my brother passed away from cancer (not COVID). Excellent car to ride in and gets about 26 mpg on highway. I do a little hypermiling by coasting to stop signs/signals when possible. In south Texas, it is difficult to find a hill so not much coasting here. No plans to mod any vehicle...the last mods were vetoed by wife after they were done.

I'm here to win. Best of luck to everyone. Just so everyone knows my old fox body mustang was getting 30 mpg on the hwy. And about 24mpg on the streets. This was a V8 5.0 from the 90s. Just shows how efficient they could be with the right mods.

No ecomods here either. Keep meaning to pick up some coruplast to try a grill block on my Fiesta but have never gotten around to it. Dialed in my driving to get an average of 42 mpg over the summer without having to do anything extreme - pretty pleased with that compared to the 35 mpg I started at when I got the car (before I found this site...)

I am up to 7 Honda Insights now, the newest has 12k miles

Pictures please. I'd kill to have a 12k mile Insight.