I've drastically changed my driving style and getting results!
 

I've been documenting my achievments as I go on a Tacoma forum because Ihave a Tacoma..

On average I pulled 290 - 310 miles till the gas light comes on..
Once the gas lights comes on I have 2 gallons in reserve..

On my last tank I was at 372 miles just as the gas light came on.

I didn't have any other way to document this, so every few miles i shot a picture of the trip meter and gas guage..

I'd like to log this on here, but don't know where to go to do that..

anywho, heres where I'm at.

http://www.customtacos.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=108887

I'm trying my best..

Are you calculating the mileage when you fill up?

according to my first 2 pictures from that post, I pulled 26.76 mpg..

Add a fuel log entry!!!!


:thumbup:

Chris do not get discouraged with the tacoma site. Your are making a difference over there, by your example.

i always let the fuel nozzle pop off and that's all. gasoline is so volitale that you can loose some if you over fill.

you can go to EM garage at the top of page and publish your fillup numbers.

do you have any way of a real time economy reading, it can really help.

for those who don't:
a vacuum gage has worked for a hundred years.

a 20 megaohm digital volt meter hooked to a front O2 sensor tells you when you are in closed loop. (if it's not warmed up, if you move the pedal too fast or too far, the computer will come out of closed loop) you may able to adjust the linkage on your cruise control so that it cannot open the throttle enough to kick the trans down all the time.

an accurate dwell meter on an injector will tell you the % of time its open.

35mpg or bust. :thumbup:

Thanks for telling me where to go, I just did, I'm no longer a fuel log virgin :D:thumbup:

I'm not discouraged by anyone..
Its actually a great change according to what people are usually seeing on there.
I've at least raised awareness about it and got people thinking now. :eek:
I'll look into a vac guage asap, when I had my Shelby GLHS (turbocharged) I used to watch the boost guage all the time and got great results by staying out of the vac.. :thumbup:

I mite do somethign lame and get a boost guage 20vac/20boost just for looks..
They dont cost anything different than just a vac guage :)
So its a slight poser mod, but I do plan on turbocharging in the future..

I've always wanted an GLHS.

Man, great work!

I really need a new car...now a pickup truck is almost doing better then me, NOT COOL!

I'm well past the 400 mile mark..
I'm at 410 and have at least a gas needles width away from the gas light comming on.

Hey NoCO2, I'm gonna smoke the camry by the next tank ;)

Good going!
Some say, mpg is the new hp.

hp in deed, I dare anyone with a Tacoma to match me..

I'm competitive.. ;)

I pull a little under 30mpg in my 82 Toyota pickup with no OD and more aero drag. Once you get your driving style down pat, toss in a little P&G, you should be able to get a little under 40mpg. :turtle:

Nice work, Chris! Way to represent to the Taco crowd! You've got more than a few people's attention. I particularly liked your vid of 55 mph.

Time to get yourself a ScanGauge, man.

I've been fighting with the idea of a SG,
but I'm not exactly sure if I want to spend well over 150 for one.
If it monitored oil pressure and water temp, I'd have it in a heartbeat

GB?

I'd also like to add that this has turned into my new hobby,
and the kicker is that this one saves me money :)

I'd like to sport a EM decal on the sides of my ride to represent..

The ScanGuage does water temps - "instant" & "max" temp for the current trip/today (maybe tank too - I forget).

If the oil pressure sensor signal is used by the ECU, then it can probably monitor it as well via the Add-A-Gauge function.

Trust me: based on the enthusiasm you're demonstrating, if you get a ScanGauge, it will pay for itself within a year. You could even keep it for 6 months to fine-tune your driving technique and then sell it. I bet you could easily sell an SG2 these days for 120-130.

ooooohh thats right.. I forgot about the expandability feature on the series 2..

I'll definatly look into it.. I'll poke around on there and ask about oil pressure and see what they say..

I just want to avoid any excessive guages to have to monitor..

I think I did good today, came in just shy of 30mpg!!

On my last log, i forgot to take into consideration my tires being a slightly smaller diametor..

heres the adjustment..
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y10...205sVS225s.jpg

100% - 1.8% = 98.2 %
444.1 miles * 0.982 (which is the same as 98.2%) = 436.106 miles
436.106 miles / 14.766 gals = 29.534 MPG!!!!

I need to calibrate my speedometer so that my
odometer isn't racking up more than actual..

wait... by the US thing, why does it say 16 inches, and why is the 16 inch one wider than the stock 15 inch?

Your odometer is racking up how many miles your tires are telling you you are traveling, but not how many miles the rest of your car is traveling. makes parts wear faster because they have to spin more to do the same speed.

Wouldn't you want a taller, skinnier tire so that your tires spin less and make your engine have to spin less? then lower the car to compensate for the higher ground clearance?

went from 15x6" steel wheels (25.5lbs) to a set of 16x7" alloys (13.9lbs)
changed the tire size around a bit..

I'm looking into a speedometer calibrator..
That little bit of difference isn't hurting anything for wear if I'm driving it
slower than I ever have.. I haven't been over 60mph in 600 miles.. ;)

check your actual rolling circumference, with your tire pressure you might be surprised.


have been using an analog dwell meter on my pre-ODBII pickup lately.

it shows instant changes in fuel flow, thinking about getting a digital duty cycle meter.

How would I check rolling circumference?
Using a tape measurer around the outter diametor of the tire?

I've upped my tire pressure from 32psi to 36psi..
I'm thinking of going nitrogen to stay consistant for tire pressure.. Anyone doing this?
My spare was at 15psi.. I brought that up to 60psi.. (max 66psi)

dwell meter? sounds familiar.. I'll have to google it..

Looks like people on the Tacoma forum are really starting to take notice..

I can't believe how much of a following I have on my experiences with MPG mods and habits on CustomTacos.com

http://www.customtacos.com/forum/sho...=1#post1304265

Alot of people are hopping on the Hypermiling bandwagon on there and I get on avergae 4-5PM's a day asking "what if" "how?" and all sort of other things like that..

If I'm not the fastest, at least I have this going for me.. :)

I just got my vacuum guage in today..
This is just getteo rigged till I get the A pillar dual guage pod I ordered from Lotek.. :)
At least I have some sort of instrumentation for now..
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y10...G/P1030941.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y10...G/P1030943.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y10...G/P1030945.jpg

i will match you broda man, oh wait i'm not in a taco...LOL... but i still am driving something the shape of a brick... my new goal is 32-35:D


the vac gauge looks good, but you should put it in a cup for a cleaner install, like i did with mine

its an autometer gauge cup, i screwed up when i bought it off of ebay, i didn't pay attention, and ordered a 2 5/16" cup, and i had a 2" gauge, so i fixed it up with some pipe wrap, and it fits nice and tight

http://fordtruckworld.tenmagazines.c...ger/662998.jpg

My preferred tire size calculator:
http://www.wickedbodies.net/Tire-Size-Calculator.htm

Very quick to use.

It shows percent speedometer/odometer readout difference between any two sizes tires.
Also shows what your actual speed is when speedo says "65" (or any speed you enter into the box). Also gives actual tire circumference, total diameter, sidewall height, and percent difference vs. your comparison size.

I like the sounds of this... :D

I'm with roflwaffle - I'm driving a Toy PU that's a gen or two older than yours and my numbers are comparable, I think my big advantage is that Toyota was tuning the engine for torque and longevity, before the horsepower wars really started to heat up. It'd be nice to have EFI so I could fiddle the chips, but that's not gonna happen - I could switch it over, but who needs the headache when what I've got is working so well?

On mine its only a temporary mounting setup, i'm waiting on the Lotek to get here.
I'll look like this..
http://www.gaugepods.com/tacoma2002.jpg

I use the Miata tire calculator.. All the numbers are the same as I compaired em.. But I like Miata's, so they win ;)

gives youa nice visual as well :thumbup:

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

you would :D

Carburated is the way to go honestly..
Your 22R can be tuned so easily to far surpass my mpg that its not even funny.
They make nothing as far as tuning chips for the 2RZ engine..
My trucks gutless until I end up having to tow with it, then it wakes the hell up.. The runners alone are long and huge.. Truely a torky engine..
You've got me on weight for sure.. is yours an extra cab?

with your mpg ratings, I'm guessing your an automatic? :confused:

THE TACOS ARE COMING! THE TACOS ARE COMING!!!!!:D

I just checked in the garage and it looked like I counted 16 tacos. If I looked and counted right(I hate taking my socks off to count past 10:p ) the taco name appears more than other vehicle names. All of us S-10ers have some catching up to do....

Keep up the great work... FE seems to be slowly catching on with all of us pickup folks.

Right on Luv! :thumbup:

The more the merrier :D

RE: extra cab - don't I wish. I wanted the long bed more than the extra cab; the two were available for about fifteen minutes in one package, I've only seen one in my life.

It's a 5-spd. Are my numbers really as bad as that? It broke 30.5mpg today, I almost did cartwheels.

Welcome to the 30.5mpg club!
If you check my fuel log, thats what I got a tank or so ago..

This tank I'm not using the cruise and watching my vac guage to stay within the economy range :)

Cruise would have my vac guage all over the place..
and its very inconsistant as I'm learning. :thumbup:

I did want to add, from my own experience, that 'drastic' is what I thought the changes required of me felt like at the time, too... The other thing is thou, once I did it one time it became easier, and I've made more than a few of these 'drastic' changes over time.

What is important is tracking, research, and calculating your gain vs. what it is costing you (such as mods) so we don't go driving the longer route just to get better mpg when in fact it uses more fuel but for the most part it is just a matter of keep tuning, keep experimenting and be ready for drastic change at any time (again the first time I thought was the hardest, the changes themselves still require a fair twist of the mind later but it gets easier to do).

Oh and gratz on making that first step, you're well on your way now.
Because it does keep getting better, one day you'll look back and be astounded at how inefficiently most folks drive.

Much patience and understanding is required at some points :p
Peace out

Oh, I've already noticed how ineffieiently people drive, its funny and sad all at the same time..

Great job improving your driving technique Chris!

It's always pretty impressive to see a truck in the +30mpg range. My dad has had two Tacos, both 4x4s and he's always averaged about 21mpg with them.

I have to add that they're amazing little trucks, they can take an enormous amount of abuse (three kids learning to drive in my dads case) and they'll keep on running wayyy past the 300k mark.

There's another part that's just like that...

When I first started, what actually got me to thinking in that direction is I used to watch how this old guy drove his car... Always real slow, I kept wondering why he did that, why so slow and nice and easy?

I kept watching and I thought this guy has got to be up to something, then one day it hit me: It is the cheapest, most efficient way!

It's not just fuel, but tires, brakes and pads, trans and engine, everything about the vehicle that wears and tears lasts like 10 times longer just take it easy.

I then felt bad for myself, all those years I always used to get mad cuz old people drive slow... When in fact they're the ones figured it out, it never dawned on me until later the reason they drive slow isn't because they can't move faster (especially not when all you gotta do is push a pedal) but because it's the best way.

Now when they're putting along at 20mph in a 45, that can still kinda get to me :p
But nice and easy, it really is the way to go, 35-40 in a 45 don't bother me one bit

:confused:

I just learned about P&G when I found this site a couple of weeks a go and after a couple of trips using P&G I think it's going to change my style of driving for good. Even though with my smart Roadster you can't do proper P&G (you can't shift to neutral or stop the enginge while the car is moving because of the clutchless robotized manual gearbox) just lifting off the gas pedal after accelerating seems to do the trick anyway. Yesterday I managed an unbelievable 83mpg according to the onboard computer while driving a 50 mile trip (most of it behind a slow semi truck) at an average speed of 45mph.