Just got a 2003 Ford Focus ZX3,, zetec 2.0 (Results so far)

[Focused]

The first modification I made was a previous driver delete and replaced it with a driver who understands DWL, DWB, and P&G. Next I got rid of about 5Lb of dirt, leaves, pine sap, and cigarette tar. (This being after the previous owners parents removed all of the fast-food wrappers and other garbage)

410/11.724 = 34.97 (First tank, mostly city about, 150 miles of highway)
41.something (I did the calculation in my head)
289.1/6.043 = 47.84 (I think maybe i did not top it off enough. Also this was one long trip across my state on a two lane highway)
I installed my scanguage2 soon after this 47mpg tank.
175.9/5.026 = 34.998 (This tank had 1 51mpg trip according to scanguage)
I am guessing fill-up #3 (47mpg) 'stole' a few MPG from tank #4.
Also I must note that while going down the highway at 50mph according to the GPS, my speedometer reads around 51.5mph, so 52/50 = 1.04, so up to a 4% discrepancy in the gas-stations favour. I am still happy that I was able to go from one side of the state to the other for ~18$ USD.


Next I took off those warn out wind-shield wipers and applied rain-x. So far I have not drove in the rain, so I am keeping the wipers in the back in case I regret this idea.

That same day I removed the antenna base (which was broken when I bought the car), and screwed the antenna directly into the cord. They are not the same size threads, but due to the antenna fitting snugly between the metal roof and the ceiling upholstery; the connection is firm. I went from 1-2 FM channels to 9-10 FM channels. Two birds 1 screwdriver! I covered the open hole with 'the toughest tape on planet earth'. Maybe I will upgrade it someday with that shiny metal tape you use for fixing heating systems.

I than added a killswitch by disconnecting my Camshaft sensor and putting a toggle switch in the dash 'change holder'. Push it in and the engine can start, pull it out and the engine stalls. Both the switch and the speaker wire I used were items I had on hand, so no cost.

I than drove 120 miles in a hilly region. Scanguage read 42MPG, but; it turns itself off when the engine stalls and is not factoring that in, I am not sure where the settings are to change that, can someone tell me? I want it to just read infinity when the engine is off. The key is still in the run position I do not understand why it is not working like I thought it would. I have not yet filled up.

Next I took the right side mirror off. I went to Walmart in search of something made out of black plastic... Bingo; I found a trash can with a nice looking finish. ($3.18)
I cut the piece out and slowly cut more away until it fit more or less 'well'. I should of left a bit more material on the aft bottom corner. I could have re-cut it, but I want to save the other flat side of plastic for other things that may come up. (Maybe left mirror?)
I actually do not think I will remove the driver mirror due to the fact that the nice looking suction cup rear-view mirror I would replace it with would cost 15$-20$ and that would only save me ~6 gallons of gas per 10,000 miles. (My goal is to save money and reduce wear on my car, not reach the top 50 best hypermilers list.)

Today I filled my tires to 50PSI, and removed the wind-shield spray nozzles. and covered them with more black tape.

I have not drove it after removing the passenger mirror, although I am super tempted to take it on a Sunday drive, although that kind of defeats the purpose.


27EPA (24 city, 32 highway) to ~38-40 , so far I think I am doing well.


I would appreciate a pointer on how to get my SG2 to keep track of FE even when the camshaft sensor is disconnecting.

P.S. My check engine light is on; something tells me that it thinks the Camshaft Sensor Is dying on me or something.

[Daox]

Welcome to the site! Congrats on the new to you Focus too.

That is a lot of mods for your first post. Very nice job! That is an awesome jump in mileage.

As for the scangauge, you need to go to setup -> fuel type -> hybrid. I'm sure the menu selections aren't exactly what I just typed, but that is the general idea. When it is set to hybrid, the scangauge will stay on for a minute or so after the engine has stopped running.

[Focused]

Thank you Daox, it was almost exactly as you said. I did not know it was that easy to convert my car to a 40mpg hybrid! Take note Ford, I will be looking for an engineering career once I graduate. While I was at it I noticed that I needed to change the SG2 from 3L to 2L; I no longer own a station-wagon.

It works though, and I got a chance to test out the rain-x at slow speeds. At slow speeds I can still see the road through the drops just fine. (All those years of running around without cleaning my glasses taught me a valuable lesson on not looking at the glass surface: Look past it and you see just fine)

A few questions if you do not mind:
-Will it make much of a difference if I put a rubber sheet from the aft lip of my hood to the window making a 'fillet' eliminating any eddy forces in the wiper well?
-How much of a difference would it make if I fill in and smooth all of the cracks and grooves? (For example; the huge gap between the headlights and the bumper, the huge crack just before the rear hatch)
-Would it be a good idea to remove the black trim pieces from the side of the car and fill in the holes? .5% reduction on air drag?
-Is it a bad idea to remove the bumper and attach the underbelly pan right under the headlamps?
-How about the bearings, even with the 50PSI tires the roll-down seems to fast. Would it be cost affective to replace the bearings with synthetic low friction grease?
-Any other low cost options to increase the MPG and longevity? (My too main goals)
-Is there any scientific evidence suggesting adding Lucus oil additive to mobile1 0w 20 does any good for anything?

I changed the oil with synthetic 5W 20 Royal purple and put in a #2009 M&K filter, right after I bought it. On the zx2 thread, someone said that we should be using mobile 0W 20, I will try that in 4.5K miles or so.

[Focused]

I topped off my tank this morning after some mixed driving. (from both before and after recent mods)
164/3.964 = 41.37 * correction factor of .98 = 40.5 mpg

I picked up a friend two miles after topping off, than I spent two more miles around town. We set off to the country and I calibrated my SG2 so it would match the GPS within 1mph at 55mph. (2%) After that we set out to our destination up and down mild hills. When we got to the destination my SG2 said 56mpg average. Up from 51mpg (50mpg after retrospective correction) from the last time I went on almost the exact same trip. I then came back on the same roads for ~46 mpg according to SG2. I used engine off P&G from ~55mph-~20mph most of the way there and back.

After dropping my friend off I went on a slightly longer loop. The first half of this trip was mostly engine off pulse and glide, but this time I coasted almost all the way down to zero for ~80% of the leg. My peak was 67.1 mpg according to the SG2, The second half was on the highway going back home and it dropped my trip average down to 58.7mpg, with a total trip average speed of 30mph. I was at the gas station at this point and filled it up to the top again.
82.5/1.5684 = 52.6 * correction factor of .98 = 51.5 mpg.
This beat my old 1994 geo-metro's best fill up of ~47mpg from 2010!
Although that fill up was ~8 gallons not just 1.6 gallons, in addition to the Geo tank being from a daily work commute, not a ridicules 30mph average speed, hard core dedicated attempt in low traffic rural U.P. MI.

Not the best fill up of the decade technically: I once went on a road trip with a Gen2 Honda insight and got over 50mpg. (I can not remember the exact number)
BUT it IS the best fill up of any car I have owned; ever! 51.5! at 30MPH average.

I am guessing that the tires and the kill switch were the two biggest contributors. At some point next month I will be going on a 10 hour drive. (Non stop if my bladder can last that long) That will be the next big test, to see if I can beat my 46mpg tank average now that I have the SC2 and mods installed.

I have included more pictures including the wind-shield sprayer delete.

Any recommendation for the next 'lowest hanging fruit' to patch/mod on the cheap?

[nemo]

Originally Posted by Focused

I changed the oil with synthetic 5W 40 Royal purple and put in a #2009 M&K filter, right after I bought it. On the zx2 thread, someone said that we should be using mobile 0W 20, I will try that in 4.5K miles or so.

5W20 and 5K are the specs for oil in your vehicle, for normal operation.

[Focused]

Ops, that was a typo: It is in fact 5w 20 R.P. Full synthetic.