I'm new and I would like some Ideas please for a 2000 Mustang V6
 

I bought my car about 3 months ago it's in excellent condiotion and only now has 65,000 miles on it. It's a 3.8L V6 OHV engine, About everything is stock except for the bodykit the car has on it that lowers to the ground and only one engine mod I did myself which was a cold air intake. My question is what do I do to improve gas mileage, remeber I can't sell the car I owe about $4k on it yet. and my car gets anywhere from 20-21MPG, this has only been achieved through a very small amount of hyper-miling and about half of passive driving techniques. I was thing about rear wheel skirts would that help at all and what materials do I use and ways to put it on that won't cause rust. What type of material can I use to fill in the grille with. Should i take off the stock wing or will that not make a difference. What do I do? I ordered a Tornado fuel saver, but it has not arrived yet. I also ordered some ethos, anyone have good experience with any of these. Thanks guys.

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If you are committed to improving your mileage I along with others will stress driving techniques as the #1 mod to get your MPG's up. The add ons, body mods, etc that many of us talk about merely add on small doses of savings compared to changing your driving habits. So before you go down the interstate doing 80mph with wheel skirts, a blocked grille and no spoiler, slow down and see what results driving techniques produce, they may be enough to keep you satisfied ...

And just because I drive a Mustang you think I drive 80MPH down the interstate, your wrong thats how I killed my old Dodge spirit , I baby my car and It has regular maintenance done to it. I also do use HYPERMILING a bit. I am Not an AGGRESSIVE DRIVER. YOU can't use stereotypes here. I even said I drive PASSIVELY how can you say I drive 80MPH. I need REAL suggestions here I am still only getting 20MPG is something wrong with my car? besides if I drove FAST which I know how many MPG that is it would be at 14MPG, I am not a stupid person when it comes to saving fuel.

Haha, I'm sure trikkonceptz didn't mean anything negatively in what he said, he was just emphasizing that driving technique is the number one skill to hone when trying to save fuel.

It really depends on how far you're willing to take it. Is it an auto or a 5 sp? Depending on your body kit, you could be hurting your .cd.. Try posting a pic in the aero section and ask what people think of it as far as aerodynamics go. There are some very skilled and smart people on this site who can point you in the right direction.

Other things you can do outside of technique are to add instrumentation (scangauge), possibly a gear swap. I forget what size axle you have, 7.5" IIRC (maybe not.. something I can easily find out for you though) so there may or may not be an array of gears to choose from. Low rolling resistance tires is another thing to look into, as well as not using your A/C and removing the car of any unnecassary weight.

Welcome to EcoModder...

I'll second reformed's comment: get instrumentation (a ScanGauge). Driving technique is the simplest/quickest way to big savings. You can chip away at mods as you hone your skills.

As for the tornado and ethos, I'm afraid that's money out the window.

See:

- Fuel saving gadgets - a professional engineer's view
- Fuel saving gadgets - a professional engineer's view: Ethos FR

Funny, I just looked up the 2000 Mustang specs and was shocked to learn that my Eagle Vision/Dodge Intrepid clone has more horsepower than it (212 vs. 190).

Which only further makes me wonder why someone would actually buy one of these gas guzzling machines. I mean if you're going to go all out, go all out.

That being said, I'll give a little bit of constructive advice.

Keep your top speed at 55 or below at all times. I don't know the gear ratios in your car, but I shift like this:

1st gear: 0-5 MPH
2nd gear: 5 - 15 MPH
3rd gear: 15 - 25 MPH
4th gear: 25 - 30 MPH
5th: 30 MPH +

Depending on what car I drive, I can go as low as 25 in 5th, which almost eliminates the need for 4th gear.

Also, turn off your engine and coast in neutral up to stop signs/lights and down hills. I sometimes will add a slight bit of throttle as I begin to go down an incline then turn the car off, so I can coast an extended distance without holding traffic up too much.

Oh one last thing... turn off the A/C, and crack your windows ever so slightly. Opening your windows fully will just negate what you save in A/C by increasing drag.

You should be able to get 30 mpg rather easily that way.

edit: just saw that your car is an automatic. basically you can throw all of my advice out the window. good luck.

What can I say I like Mustangs, I guess I'll have to pay for that fact, but for all means It's the car I've wanted ever since I can remember, no way i'd ever give it up, maybe just drive less is all. Yeah the Horsepower is 190 stock, but my car has true dual exhaust(not stock btw) and a cold air intake so its gotta be close to 205HP not 190HP stock. But all aside I'm going to get a tuner to change shift points in the tranny eventually so I can shift when I want to. I think turning the engine off is dangerous though can you start the car right back up in neutral while it's coasting in off? ANd the window thing is kind of hard to do cause everyone who gets in my car rolls down the window or turns the A/C on should I get battery fans to keep them happy while I drive, cause they are picky.

All excess weight of my car has been removed of what I keep in the trunk, should I get rid of my spare tire and jack? I can't get rid of the back seats cause more than just a passenger and I are in the car at almost all times. What else can I take out that I don't need?


And I'm not sure when the car had it's last tune up, I've only changed the oil and rotated the tires since I've had it. Should i take it to Ford and tell them to do a Tuneup?
P.S. I'm just glad I didn't buy a GT or a Cobra cause they guzzle gas three times as fast as my V6...

EDIT: Where can I get a ScanGauge II locally, I'm tired of buying off the internet with high shipping fees. Even though it's automatic I can still use most of your advice except for the shifting ratios right now. But hey thanks every bit will help:)

Well, I wouldn't bother with the battery fans. I tried to get some of those for my car, and my odd shaped dash wouldn't allow them to mount well. Plus they're just not very efficient. You'll probably have to keep the A/C on. When you're going at a slow speed (35 or under) you can go ahead and roll the windows down all the way, but over that, go ahead and put the air back on.

If your car were a manual, you could turn it back on after a coast by just bump starting it... no key necessary, so yes, it is plenty safe. But since your car is an auto, you could risk serious transmission damage by trying that. I stopped driving my Eagle because it had an auto tranny, and I couldn't get any better than 22 mpg.

You should look into "Pulse and Glide". It really is your best bet with what you've got. If you have mechanical know-how, I'd look into mixing and matching parts and get a Metro or older model Civic up and running. My dad has done this with two Metros and a Festiva. He has under $100 in the Festiva (it took two junkers to get it running) and under $400 in the Metro.

Darin (MetroMPG) has written an amazing guide here on P&G...

Driving technique: exploring 'Pulse and Glide' - MetroMPG.com

Good luck with it!

It depends on the car whether or not you can restart while coasting in neutral. My corolla can restart in neutral at almost any speed (haven't tried > 35 though).

You may want to think about swapping your Cold Air Intake for a Warm Air Intake. It'll kill some power, but might save you some gas. Good part about that is that it's easily reversible.

I second the notion of posting pics of your car in the aero forum. Lots of body kits add a bit too much flair for the air. On the wing: look for the "Flow Illustrator" thread in the aero forum. That'll give you a bit of data to play with so you know if taking it off will help or hinder your efforts. (from pics i've seen of the '00 stang, I'd think it might be better off)

Pump up the tires, take it slow off the line, keep it slow like you've been doing. I'd guess that unless you go pretty far with hypermiling, taking out the performance mods, and adding aero mods you're probably looking at maybe 23-27 mpg. Go all out and you could break 30 (especially with a tranny swap). Still, getting to 25 will be a big difference.

You could try local places like AutoZone and the like for a ScanGauge. I like shopping on the internet because I'm lazy ;-)


*edit* - looked at a pic again, if yours has those side scoops: consider putting some fairings in front of them. They're parachutes.

I looked around on the inernet to find the scangauge II locally and the closest place to me is in Harrisburg, PA and that is a long way on gas From Reading, PA. I guess I'll order it off the internet. BTW anyone know who I can go to to have the tranny swapped for a manual and how much it might cost, Cause i looked on the internet early this morning and couldn't find any shop that would do a tranny swap. Maybe I it the wrong keywors so if someone could help me find a shop so I know how much I am going to be looking at to pul the auto for a manual tranny that would be really helpful. But surprisingly I get better gas mileage with the cold air intake, it drops if I don't use it:(
And could you please tell me what fairings are, I really have no Idea yet. Do you mean like puttiing corplast in front overtop of the scoops so the air goes around It?