How much $$$ has your ecomodding cost you?
 

I know you get paid back with increased gas mileage, but just looking at
expenditures, how much money have you put into your ecomodding?

So far, I've got $67 in a homemade tonneau cover (just standard flat
style), $73 for smooth hubcaps, and $98 in an electric fan (plus temp controller & mounting kit) for my Colorado. Total: $238

In my Trailblazer SS, I have an electric-fan conversion which cost $135 and
an eco-power tuner which cost me $210 (used) and $100 for 3.42 gear set
(not yet installed...stock is 4.10). Total: $445 (but I still have to pay to have the gears installed).

That's quite a bit, so far. It's going to take a while to get that $683 back in
gas money savings. FWIW, I'd do the electric-fan conversion even if it didn't give more power or fuel economy (but it does, in fact, give both). I simply can't stand the roar of a mechanical fan or the fact that they make the engine bay look cluttered and also make it harder to work on anything in the front of the engine bay. So that's $233 that I'm not worried about getting back. I think all the other mods I'm going to do are going to be relatively cheap mods (tape, plastic, etc.)
-Tim

Man that's a great question. I wished I would of tracked it. Really the only thing I bought was moon hub caps. The belly pan grill block were political signs they let me have after elections.

I pretty much just scrounged parts but I know there would be plenty of small things that would add up. Now if you put an hourly wage to the mods it would be pretty high :)

Is there a place in the garage to track expenses??

So far my camo van is an easy one to figure. I moved the rear mud flaps to the front and made a grill cover from materials that I had around my shop. Although not free they were already paid for. A couple of yards of $1/yard polyester fabric, 1 yard of carbon fabric $20, a pint of epoxy $10, duct tape $5.

So probably so far 37 dollars in material.

I am may spend another $50-75 on aero mods. And will spend another 20 on spray paint, sand paper. I doubt if I will tamper with my drivetrain. It is running normal right now and is fairly high mileage. I have some composite repairs in the rocker panels, covering rust through areas under the left sliding door.

I saw 26.7 mpg on my last fill and the conditions were not ideal. I am hoping to average 27 or higher, particularly with straight highway driving. I am wondering if my engine computer will improve its tuning as it adjusts to my new driving style.

Add 75 dollars for an Ultrascan gauge.

I have the following mods and costs associated

- both side mirrors delete: free
- single windscreen whiper delete:free
- wheel mud guards delete:free
- flat wheel hub covers:$1 (used coroplast from realestate signs left on streets and some cheap spray paint and free bolts from work)
- removed air con which removes a drive belt: free
- some weight removed, all air con parts, some carpets, power steering:free
- Changed power steering to manual steering (disconnected hydrolic lines which makes turning harder but still drivable):$68 / free (I stuffed up on this one, i went to wreckers and bought a manual steering rack but i realized part way through i only needed to remove the hydraulic lines on the power steering rack and it gave me the same effect so this one could have been free)
- reduced idle and placed switch in cabin to put ECU into diagnostic mode which stops it from compensating for low idle: free (switch and wires from work / laying around the house)
- Wheel PSI increase: free
- cold idle speed reduction: free (cost of a coke can if you dont have one around)
- front grill cover: Free (Coroplast from work, palettes often come with coroplast on the bottom and it usually gets thrown out so i grabbed some)
- Torque converter control: Free (switch from work)

the following are planned mods and costs
- radio antenna delete (Would be free)
- cover up gaps for aerodynamics (Would be free or maybe $5 for gap material)
- automatic transmission gear manual control (Free will get switches and wire from work)
- Improved wheel well aerodynamics: Free, coroplast from realestate signs

So all of mine are fairly cheap, i probably wouldnt' have done them if they were too expensive due to the pay back time

Regarding your mods you possibly could have done them cheaper
- Tonneau cover: could have been just cheap wood as the cover, the wood would cost less than $10 for size of a truck bed. For the method of fixing to the side of the truck bed it might get a bit costly if you want to attach and detach.

Smooth hub caps: could have been coroplast, doesn't look great but its cheap and you can spray paint it make it look better

Electric fan: could have gotten from a wrecker maybe even if you couldn't find one for your particular truck could have made up mounting brackets. Regarding the controller a cheap thermo switch would have done the job and wouldn't cost very much (i haven't looked into this so can say for sure)

Regear: unless you can find a wrecker that has a car that matches yours with better gearing then your stuck paying lots for this mod.

So there are ways to do the mods cheaper and if your thinking of a mod that you think will cost a lot of money you can post on here and you might get cheaper suggestions. I guess at the end of the day if you want a professional finish and good looking car you are likely to have to pay more than the average ecomodder.

Yeah, I made mine with wood from Home Depot (had to buy two 4x8 sheets of 5 mm plywood, $10 each, plus some 1x2 for a frame, $4 for all). The expensive stuff was the stain, spar urethane, and good-quality weather stripping, then screws, caulk. There's still lots of the wood left over, so
that will be free for any future mods.

Yeah, my Colorado was nice enough looking that I wanted to keep it that
way. If I'd still had my '98 Metro, the coroplast or pizza pans would have
been my choice.

All the cheap ones I found were for hotrods which turned on at 170 or 180 and turned off at 160. My fans would have been running non-stop. I ended up getting an adjustable one for each truck. I'm pretty happy with them.

Yes, that's definitely the case for my Trailblazer and somewhat the case for
my Colorado.

55 for an mpguino (or 95 if you count the spiffie kit that never came)
and 10 for an injector kill switch.
and another 10 for a bicycle gear shifter to use as a hand throttle.

So really I have only 75 dollars worth of gear on my rig.
Total saved over EPA is at ~450 over 6 months.

tire pressure increase: free
filter kit/oil for service: free/would have had to service it anyway

erm


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thats it ........................so far!

$150 Scangauge
$25 for a set of fairly smooth hubcaps
$20 for foam floor mat for lower grille block. (only used 1/8 of it, though)
$10 for plexi upper grille block
$7 for battery float charger (too much eoc and the alternator isn't running, so it needs a topup)

Total: $212
Saved: $1175 over 3.5 years

The most expensive, and the most worthwhile, has been the scangauge. Adjusting the nut behind the wheel makes a HUGE difference.

Here are my rough guesses:

155/80/13 Tires @ 55 psi - free, had them on my Tercel
190°F thermostat - $10
TRD springs (1.5" drop) - $150
Shaved head - $25
Sealed air gaps around radiator - $5
Full grill block - $15
Removed mud flaps - free
Royal Purple 75W-90 transmission oil - $25
MPGuino - $45
Radiator fan indicator light - free
Alternator disable switch with deep cycle battery - $70 kinda, got my first battery for free, 2nd battery was $70 new
Kill switch - free
Onboard 7A Soneil battery charger - $70
scangauge - $150

Total: $565
Total Saved: $1110 over 2.5 years
Joy of modding: priceless :)

...so far, only $280, which I'm real close to fully recouping:

1) $80 for AutoMark ecometer
2) $150 for ScanGauge-II
3) $50 for Ultra-Gauge