Introducing my newest old car

[Coyote X]

It has a standard 4l60e gear ratios so 3rd is 1:1 and 4th is 0.7:1. It is a 2wd with a 3.73 rear end and 215/70R15 tires. I could probably swap it to whatever 5spd came in the S10 without a lot of trouble but really the way it looks on the MPGuino the speed seems to be the main factor for mileage. I need to make a speed vs mpg chart for 3rd and 4th gear, it would be interesting. Terminal velocity down a hill I test my Metro on gets me 68mph where the metro hatchback with no mods would get 75.

I will probably seal the front bumper and make a large air dam for it. The headlights might look good with lexan covers so that should be easy to do as well. I might try and make a snap in partial grille block that I can use when not towing but I will have to think up some way to make it easily removable.

The underside of it is a pretty good mess of large rough shaped areas so a belly pan would probably be the biggest aero gain on it. I need to get it on a car lift and get some ideas on how to go about it sometime soon.

[Coyote X]

Not sure if I should put this here or another thread so if anyone thinks it needs moved, knock yourself out

I finally got around to mounting an electric fan and taking off the stock metal fan with clutch. I used a fan off some random car in a junkyard that fit pretty well. I haven't put a temperature switch on it yet but being winter time means I can get away with not having an automatic fan for a while. Since it takes a bit of work to swap fans it isn't really practical to do A-B-A testing. The only thing I have against vans are they are a real pain to do any work to. It took me 30 minutes to remove the fan and shroud using air tools, probably a 5 minute job to a normal car.

So I have been driving it enough with the MPGuino mounted to get a good feel for it's mileage and it is pretty consistently at 18.5mpg for a standard ~50 mile drive I typically do. But having driven it for a few days with the fan removed and the electric on a toggle to use when needed my average mileage is now 21.3 for that same drive in similar conditions. So for this I would say a 2.8mpg gain with maybe a 0.5mpg error at most due to the lack of A-B-A testing done all on the same day.

So either the fan clutch was slightly bad and making it get worse mileage or belt driven fans in general suck. The clutch feels about right when turning the fan so I don't think it was bad. The noise from the fan moving air all the time is now gone so it is quieter to drive as well as it has a bit more power and the engine revs faster now. I never liked belt driven fans before but now that I have a way to actually measure the result I don't think I will ever leave one on a car I own again.

[metroschultz]

Any time you have the opportunity to lose a belt driven fan,
DO IT!.
I have learned over the years that even the best driven fans are HP hogs.
On the Semi's the fan is belt driven with an air powered clutch to turn it on and off as necessary.
When the clutch goes bad (and they do) or you have an air leak, the fan runs continuous. (safety default)
When pulling 80,000 lbs you can really feel the draw.
It is the difference between top speed of 65mph and 60 mph.
It is the difference between pulling a hill at speed and feeling the rig slow down on any incline.
Racers run electric fans and electric water pumps for just this reason.
Glad to hear you are pleased with the van other than it's lack of accessibility.
Being an S10 chassis, you should be able to find all sorts of parts for mods. You may want to put the electric water pump on there next. Or not.
See you in July,
Schultz

[Coyote X]

Dragging this thread back up to the top for some updates.

I ended up ditching the electric fans and going to a flex fan that was modified to fit on the stock clutch. That didn't change the mileage from the electric fan but kept it from overheating when loaded. I added underdrive pullies At the same time so maybe the slight loss from the flex fan was made up for with the underdrives.

The van was averaging 22-24mpg with that setup. The cooling line on the trans sprung a leak and killed the 3-4 clutches. I put a junkyard trans in but the lockup would not work on it. I didn't bother fixing it since it was just to get it through the winter. With the stock fan back in it and the torque converter lockup gone I got a best of 17mpg out of it. Lockup makes a big difference. It mostly sat all winter since I just couldn't put up with driving something that gets such bad mileage unless I had to.

Warm weather is here now and it is time to fix it up. So today the stock trans went back in. It got a good rebuild with all the goodies, beast sunshell, red clutches, 5 pinion, billet servos, transgo HD2, etc... I also put in a diesel torque converter. It has a 1200rpm stall (stock is 1600). I just got it back together tonight and took it for a quick drive. The 1200 is really nice. The engine doesn't slip much at all on the converter. I bet that alone will pick me up a couple mpg. I just have to get used to pulling out in it to keep from lighting up the tires.

Next on the list is to make the mileage worse I am going to put a 350 in it. But I am going to put a RV cam in it advanced 4-8 degrees and do all the tricks I know on that motor so hopefully it won't drop much mileage. I figure reprogramming the computer and adding the lean cruise as well as adjusting the shift and lockup on the trans should keep be about where I am at now.

I will drive it a couple of tanks as it is now with the 1200 stall and see what kind of mileage it gets me. When I get a new flex fan I bet it will have some pretty impressive mpg numbers for such a big thing. With this van fixed good enough to drive and everything else getting caught up this weekend it is time to work on the metro's electric drive system now hopefully, that car has been waiting a long time to get finished.

[bgd73]

Originally Posted by Coyote X

Dragging this thread back up to the top for some updates.

I ended up ditching the electric fans and going to a flex fan that was modified to fit on the stock clutch. That didn't change the mileage from the electric fan but kept it from overheating when loaded. I added underdrive pullies At the same time so maybe the slight loss from the flex fan was made up for with the underdrives.
.

I am glad not to be the only one that has learned this. even the air is a sucker/efficent kill on electric fans..the very air its digging at...

FYI I have a clutch fan on a 90hp engine..miraculous ever since.

Do you use full fan shroud?

[Coyote X]

I have been making a few changes to the van lately.

Anyone want to guess what motor I just put in there

[bhazard]

Ls7?

[Coyote X]

It now has a 6.5L Diesel engine. It will probably be running in a few days after I get the wiring sorted out and a few other odds and ends done.

Now I just need to start making bio-diesel

[Kyleyadon]

It would a small gain, but several small things can add up nicely. Try rounding out the lip at the back end of the steps. And in the photo there is what appears to be some kind of hand on the side in between the windows, if that's not really needed remove it. Wheel skirts or just flat wheel covers would help a little too.

[Coyote X]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMn5k9SopLQ

I guess I need to figure out what mods I can do to a diesel to get better mileage now