A.M.E.C. Economy Run II - Fonda, New York 10/5/08
 

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Greetings fellow hypermilers. For those of you located in the northeast, the Adirondack Motor Enthusiast Club A.M.E.C. will be holding a Fall Foliage "Economy Run" coming up this October 5, 2008.

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A little history: A.M.E.C. held it's first Economy Run back in 1954. Now 54 years later with record high fuel prices, the club decided to bring the event back. Our members created a new course and the event took place this past August 10th. It was very well received and was thoroughly enjoyed by all who participated. Results can been seen here. It was a good dry run to make sure everything went smoothly and that our laptop excel program worked properly to calculate the results. We enjoyed it so much that we have planned an "Economy Run II" and this time would like to open it up to like minded individuals who would like to join us. To keep it easy to manage and fun we will limit registration to the first 20 entrants.

Here are the details:

What: Fuel mileage contest through the southern Adirondacks of NY. The route will be on some really nice scenic and challenging roads and will run 106.3 miles in distance. Your “economic” driving ability will be tested. Cars will be filled with fuel by an AMEC official and then weighed on electronic scales. Small ramps are employed for easy on and off of the scales. Any street legal vehicle is allowed to participate, [including motorcycles].This event will run rain or shine.

Where: The starting spot will be at the Fairway Oil gas station on Route 5 in Fonda, NY. [directions below].

When: Sunday, October 5th, 2008. Arrival time will be 8:00-8:30am, first car off at 9:00am. They have gas and diesel and have a large enough parking lot that we won’t be in the way. (They also don’t use ethanol, if that makes a difference to anyone.)

Cost: $10 per vehicle

Awards include:

1. Best overall mpg for gas cars

2. Best overall mpg for diesel and hybrid cars

3. Best ton-mile per gallon [TMPG] vehicle weight in pounds, divided by 2000, times miles driven, divided by gallons consumed. A handy calculator is here.

4. Best carbureted mpg

5. Best miles per dollar. [Based on the actual cost to travel the 106 miles. For example, we had a diesel VW Jetta get 56 mpg and a Dodge Avenger get 48 mpg. Because the diesel fuel was about a dollar more per gallon than the gasoline, the Avenger won this contest.]

Note: If we get more than one motorcycle we will add a class for them.

Awards: This event will conclude about noon, and our plan is to proceed up the nearby Checkers Out Go-Kart track for lunch, awards, and optional indoor go-kart races if you so desire. Checkers Out Speedway is an indoor go kart track open year round, and is located about ¾ of a mile south of Johnstown, NY, on NYS Route 30A. Physical address: 2299 State Hwy 30A Johnstown, NY 12905. Track phone: 518 736-4630

Directions: to Fairway Oil gas station: Take NY Thruway Exit 28. After the toll booth, turn left onto Riverside Drive. Then turn right onto South Bridge Street and go over the bridge. On the other side of the bridge is a traffic light. You can see Fairway Oil and Gas on your left. Turn left onto Route 5 and enter the station.

To register for this event: Please contact Mike Kamm at (518) 674-0520 or via email: mkamm [at ] juno [ dot] com. Or just simply reply to this thread with your name, year/model car. There is also a message board thread regarding this event on the A.M.E.C. message board here.

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Registered driver's list as of 9-6-08

1. Dave Burnham - 1991 Diesel VW Jetta
2. Dick Vedder - 2000 Ford ZX2 S/R
3. Mark Long - 1997 Dodge Avenger
4. Mike Kamm - 1977 Datsun B210 mpg
5. Claude Hutchings - 1999 Saab 9-3
6. Ernie Yue - 2008 Kawasaki Ninja 250cc
7. Ronny Kienhuis - 1972 Citroen SM or 1992 Subaru SVX
8. "Bestmapman" [Clean mpg forums] 2007 Toyota Prius, Cincinnati, KY.
9. "JPS000" - 2008 Toyota Prius
10. Al Walker - [Clean MPG] - 2004 Toyota Prius - Boston, MA
11. Brian Wilsey - 2003 Mazda Protege [2.0]
12. Tom Moeller - 1994 Mazda Miata - Saratoga NY
13. Carl Germain - 1950 Studebaker Champion Business Coupe
14. Bill Clark - 1960 Metropolitan convertible - Endicott, NY
16. Pam Subik - 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee - Mayfield, NY
17. Tom Compoli - 1981 VW Rabbit - Schenectady, NY
18.
19.
20.

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Thanks for the heads up!

How do you verify MPG?

We fill up everyone's car to the rim before and after the route. We have special "seals" [stickers] that are put over the fuel doors after filling. They are like a state inspection sticker and it is obvious if they have been tampered with. So mpg is calculated by dividing the actual mileage of the route [106.3 miles] by the amount of fuel used [determined at the pump].

Regards,

Mike

I see. What happens if that disagrees with digital readouts?

Interesting question. I hadn't thought of that. We will go by what the pump says. That way it will be consistent for everyone.

Mike

Indeed. Sadly, I won't be able to make it because a friend is flying in from Japan to visit me, or else I'd be there.

Good luck!

Thanks SVOboy,

I will be driving my '77 Datsun B210 in this event. Did any of you know they got mileage like this right out of the box?

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blownb310 -

Wow, thanks for the heads-up. Too bad I'm in SoCal. The times they are a changin' ... and the more things change the more they stay the same ... and what goes around comes around (in about 54 years). All the class breakdowns makes it worth it for everybody.

I inherited my sister's B210 HoneyBee and drove it into the ground back in the 1980's. I wasn't keeping track of MPG back then, but boy did that B210 know how to accelerate ... ever ... so ... slow ... ly!

CarloSW2

It's 225 miles from Montreal...I'm tempted to go.

We'd be happy to have to join us tasdrouille. Please keep October 5th open on your calendar.

CarloSW2,

I am building a special "gas miser" engine for my B210 right now. It will be an original type 1400 cc engine, but with 11 to 1 compression and some other fuel efficiency tweaks like an electric cooling fan, water heated intake manifold, wide band oxygen sensor setup, etc. I've got the special small intake port "mpg" cylinder head too. I'm aiming even higher than 50 mpg. ;)

Registered driver's list as of 9-27-08

1. Dave Burnham - 1991 Diesel Jetta - Delanson, NY
2. Dick Vedder - 2000 Ford ZX2 S/R - Johnstown, NY
3. Mark Long - 1997 Dodge Avenger - Staatsburg, NY
4. Mike Kamm - 1977 Datsun B210 - Averill Park, NY
5. Claude Hutchings - 1999 Saab 9-3 - Saquiot, NY
6. Ernie Yue - 2008 Kawasaki Ninja 250cc - Mechanicville, NY
7. Ronny Kienhuis - 1972 Citroen SM or 1992 Subaru SVX - Long Island, NY
8. Al Walker - [Clean MPG] - 2004 Toyota Prius - Boston, MA
9. Brian Wilsey - 2003 Mazda Protege - Amsterdam, NY
10. Tom Moeller - 1994 Mazda Miata - Saratoga NY
11. Carl Germain - 1950 Studebaker Champion Business Coupe - Syracuse, NY
12. Bill Clark - 1960 Metropolitan - Endicott, NY
13. Jonathan Bartlett - 2005 Passat TDI wagon[Biodiesel] - Sterling, MA
14. Pam Subik - 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee - Mayfield, NY
15. Tom Compoli - 1981 VW Rabbit - Schenectady, NY
16. Chris Werner - 1993 Ford Festiva - Troy, NY
17. Eric Hoefer - 2008 Honda Fit - Guilderland, NY
18. Paul Marczak - 1997 Honda Civic DX sedan - Glenville, NY
19.
20.

We're just about a week away. I have made a few posts on some motorcycle web sites to try to get a few more bikes to give Ernie Yue's 2008 250cc Ninja some competition. Although Ernie's bike is rated at 60 mpg he managed 73.06 mpg in the last contest even though he had to ride through a mid summer's torrential downpour. He has installed a taller final drive setup and is shooting for 80+ mpg in this contest.

I wish I had the time to do some aero mods to my Datsun B210 before Sunday, but and engine swap is more than enough at the moment.

For those on this forum who haven't been following a similar thread to this on our A.M.E.C. forum, here's what I'm doing to my '77 Datsun B210 for this event.

Previously the car was modified for speed and power. I used it for hillclimbs and such. I built and modified the 1397cc engine to 1608cc's complete with twin 40mm Dellortos...

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It ran terrific but only got 25 mpg. OK so I needed a stock engine for economy run events.

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So I removed this original 1397cc engine from my '76 B210 parts car. It sat outside in a field for the last 15 years. It needed some TLC.

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I tore it down and freshened it up. This was yesterday.

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Today it looks like this and I am installing it. I used an '80 Datsun 210 "mpg" cylinder head with it's smaller round intake ports and small combustion chambers. This head, on the B210 block [with it's flat top pistons] yields about 10.4 to 1 compression ratio. High compression is key for improving gas mileage. I'm waiting on an intake gasket from PA, so a road test will have to wait until Wednesday. I will be fine tuning it with an Innovate LM1 wide band oxygen sensor setup. I hope I get it dialed in by Sunday!

This event was a big success and full results are HERE.

Here's the rest of the story on how I prepared my car for this event.

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The big engine comes out, the little one goes in....

After bolting it all together, I fine tuned it with an Innovate LM1 wide band oxygen sensor setup. After rejetting the stock Hitachi carburetor for between 14.6 and 15.0 to 1 A/F ratio, I took the car out on a 64 mile test loop the afternoon before the big event. I topped up the fuel tank to the rim and then carefully drove a 64 mile loop. I refilled the tank [right to the rim again] and it took 1.1 gallons of gas. I was very happy to have gotten 56 mpg in this initial test! B210's sit quite high off of the ground and this brings a poor drag coefficient, so I went home that night and tried to help the poor aerodynamics. I added a makeshift front chin spoiler, clear plexiglass headlight covers, and blocked off half of the grill to reduce wind drag.

The next I morning I competed in the A.M.E.C. Economy Run event and carefully drove the 118.7 mile distance. During the post event refill it took only 1.91 gallons of fuel. This equates to 61.53 miles per gallon!

I think we have a new record for the Datsun B210/B310 chassis folks.

This was not my absolute best attempt at fuel mileage for these cars. I would have needed much more time to prepare. There are many other things I can and will try in the future but I don't want to do this with my B210 though. My plan is to take this to the next level with my '81 210 sedan instead. Then I will get into lowering the car for aerodynamics and such.

Mike

The event was excellent and the people that we met were terrific. Our record book got pounded. The TDI's cleaned house at over 70 mpg! [This was not a hybrid-friendly course as it was in a mountainous region with speeds between 40 and 55 mph. The average MPG was 49.56! Full results are HERE.

More discussion and pics of this event start on page 25 of THIS thread.

Here are a few of my photos of the event.

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We owe it all to these guys for resurrecting this event after 54 years. They took the first steps and created the event from scratch. Dave Burnham on left and Bryon Seyfried on right.

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Hobbit, our only Prius driver, but as mentioned earlier in the thread, one of the best in the country. Even as an underdog [given the conditions] he still managed 64.37 mpg, which bettered all of the remaining gas cars.

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I wished that we had stickers for the event but ran out of time to have some made. I printed this off at home and taped it to the inside of my glass. My '77 Datsun B210 had it's best ever outing ever. The little 1.4 carbureted pushrod engine cranked out 61.53 mpg.

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These are my last minute [literally] and not so good looking aero mods for this event. You can't tell from the picture but there are clear plexiglass headlamp covers there. I opted for only a half grill block due to B210 radiators not being as efficient as modern car's. The air dam was cobbled from a scrap Ford Contour front bumper cover. White duct tape finished the corners off. The B210 sits really high off of the ground. This did hurt the results but I did not have time to lower the suspension. I snapped this picture at 1:30 am. I was so tired I couldn't hold the camera straight. :p

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Bob Addis' New Beetle TDI managed 70 mpg!

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I personally checked every car to make sure it was filled to the rim. On several member's car's I had to fill it myself as they gave up early and considered it "full" when it clearly wasn't. Some cars really like to bubble and burp and you have to have patience. After all, if you don't get this part of the procedure right, the rest of it is a farce.

One of the participants used his GPS to graph the elevation changes of the entire 119 miles.

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Very nice!

A great time was had by all.

Let us know when run III takes place! I'd like to make it this time.

The time has come. :)

I'll start another thread with details, but the Adirondack Motor Enthusiast Club's Economy Run III will be on August 23, 2009. If you're in the northeast and you missed the recent Green Grand Prix back in May, you've got another chance. Participants are invited to our club picnic afterwards for awards, burgers and hot dogs on Sacandaga Lake.

You've got two full months to get your vehicles ready for the big
Gas mileage shootout in the Adirondacks!

Mike

Great news! I'll have to leave pretty early from Montreal, but it'll be a lot of fun!

I think I will be there!

TIME TO BRING THE HEAT

datsun
 

That datsun is so cute. Reminds me of the first car I can remember. My mom had a bright yellow hatchback. I am going to drive my new car to visit New York. Which New York City Hotels and which New York City Attractions should I go to? Any Advice?



***I just bought the Chevy below my post. I love it. Its so cute.

You're welcome. The B210's were extremely popular back in the late 70's and early 80's. They had a combination of excellent reliabilty and were very inexpensvie. I'm planning a trip to Montreal with mine next weekend. It will be a 750+ mile round trip excursion.

Mike

it's amazing
 

it's crazy that those cars have lasted so long. It kind of looks like my first car my dad bought me. It was a 77 blue toyota celica. No air conditioning with black leather seats, ugh