Makeing an efficent freeway flyer.
 

8/31/15 EDIT:
Already broke 50% of EPA combined. Turns out that an old cat had left behind a chunk of substrate in the pipe so I had about the exhaust flow of a lawn mower. Pulses are now beneficial and I can hit numbers on open road that I used to need to be drafting a semi to achieve. A crack in my exhaust manifold was leaking, replaced. Now I can go chase other gains. My TDCL cable works now so I can actually record what sensors are doing to a limited degree and figure out how to keep the engine out of enrichment more.
Challenges: My commute has me driving in still air in the morning but the wind picks up by noon and I'm driving into a 10MPH headwind in the evening, the last leg of my morning commute and first leg of my evening commute has me in a parking structure that has aggressive speedbumps.


7/10/15 EDIT: *Ataches electrodes to thread*
*Puts up lightning rod*
*Realizes that I'm in socal so waiting for lightning will take a while*
Screw it. 3... 2... 1... CLEAR!
*Necros thread*
Change of objective: I'm an engineering major now and being able to say as a project I applied, tested, and evaluated modifications with an ultimate result of a 50% increase in fuel economy over my baseline fuel economy should look at least somewhat interesting to employers looking for an intern.
I'm getting around to installing the MPGunio.
Currently done:
Base timing is increased from 10 degrees BTDC to ~13 degrees BTDC, the max timing that will pass the inspection component of a california smog test.
WAI (only used when temperatures are low enough to allow).
Upper Grill block (only used when temperatures are low enough to allow).
Air dam.
Better tires (Michelin Defenders, 185/70/R14)
NGK spark plugs (seems that the 4A-FE loves ngk and denso spark plugs)
10W-30 Mobil1 Extended performance synthetic oil.
AMSOIL MTG 75W-90 GL4 synthetic oil in gearbox.
Phillips Xtreme Vision low beams (smaller and hotter filimant means that they put more light out the front and don't dim to the point of uselessness when in EOC).
LED interior light. Old draw was 1 amp, new draw is .1 amp (I used 2 LED sign backlight modules at .05 amp each, I could use 1 if my dome light's plastic wasn't opaque from age).
In the works: Rear wheel skirts
Smooth hubcaps if I can find suitable material
New front motor and front exhaust mounts to make drive more doable.
TO TEST: Determine conditions ECU goes into enrichment and have an indicator for when it goes into that.
Determine cooling requirements for car on highway.
Determine fuel cutoff behavior.
Calculate current cd and frontal Area.

END EDIT

I want to try to keep my car efficient even when doing 70mph-75mph (or according to my speedometer: 65-69 MPH) on the freeways. Since most of the energy will be expended to move through the air, I'm going after aerodynamic losses first.
I'm thinking an air dam and side skirts as a starting point, maybe something on the front wheel well.
Target MPG at 70 MPH is 40 MPG.
I am contemplating figuring out a way to have an swamp cooler setup so that I can cool the cabin when the air is 100F outside (at 20% humidity,) without compromising FE.

Clearly, the biggest impact on freeway MPG is speed. So the easiest way to improve is by slowing down.

However, if that option is "off the table", then the aero improvements will be "it". Work on the grille block; the more complete, the better, but watch your engine temp. I think a full belly pan might be more effective than air dam & side skirts. Others have made great improvements by kamm backs and boattails.

Rear fender skirts seem to work better on some cars than others. Unless someone else here has firsthand knowledge about your particular model, you might want to experiment.

Cutting the drag from your outside mirrors can help too, either by eliminating the mirror(s) you can, or replacing them with much smaller ones.

Putting even more air in your tires could help a bit, too...

Slowing down seems too easy to me. It seems far more fun to make the car get crazy good FE at FSP speeds (I like a good challenge.)

I completely understand!! Do the "crazy" just to see if you can do it!! :thumbup:

So, if you don't yet have a ScanGauge - (oh wait, I just saw you have a pre-'96 car & plan to get the MPGuino) - get it soon. Testing your mods one at a time is MUCH easier, faster, and cheaper with one of those devices than trying to do it "fill-up to fill-up".

Read MetroMPG's "correct way to do A-B-A testing" thread and use that technique to figure out what's happening with everything you try. The good thing about wanting to do higher speeds is the aerodynamic differences will show up better that way. Aero mods won't be as pronounced at 50 as they will at 70.

I'm anxious to see how you make out. ;)

I think it would be helpful to know what fuel economy numbers you get now at 70-75mph. Improvement can only be measured if you have a baseline to compare.

For the air conditioning thing. I used a spray bottle and sprayed myself. It worked quite well! I did leave the interior fan on with my window cracked.

Looking at my logs. I think I get 36 at 70 (and 30 at 75 if I hit stop and go traffic and city traffic :p) if the pump is correct, but I don't trust the pump so MPGunio it is.

read my 2nd car kia success blog never made the 40s but hit 36 two times just not sucessively and in the end im happy now that my avg norm of 31.5 at 75 is done deal.
I go over alot of stuff so it could sound like rambling perhaps but all tried and true and tested. Ive just never been happy with the refill procedure. I go so far as same route repeated for 2 round trips exactly, and same fuel pump at same time of day but dont have hard evidence to back up full tank theory.

oh and I went with a try it and be a skeptic approach. I still swear a spoiler and a air dam behind it is the way to go.

I'm sorry to say I think you will need to get past your distrust of pump gallons data. That's because you will need to calibrate your MPGuino after hooking it up. And guess where you get your actual gallons data? Yup, the pump display.

Read some of the threads on fill technique. Briefly: consistency is the key. Same station, same pump. I try for same time of day (roughly) because gasoline expands considerably with temperature increase. Same squeeze pressure.

As for myself, I squeeze about 3/4 until about a gallon short of full. Then I relax to a pretty standardized very slow rate till it clicks once. Check my Civic's gas log over recent months and you'll see notes of actual fill vs MPGuino estimate. Very close.

And BEST OF LUCK wig the highway mpg quest. I've been on a similar path for some years, with a current commute of 55 mi each way.

Yes, aero is the way to go. If you go twice as fast you are going to encounter 4 times the air resistance.

I routinely drive those speeds in my insight and still net 40+ mpg without my phev kit. :eek:

And this time of year I use a full upper and lower grill block.

I am contemplating figuring out a way to have an swamp cooler setup so that I can cool the cabin when the air is 100F outside (at 20% humidity,) without compromising FE.

Swamp coolers are great cooling but whats your plan on the wind drag?

Instead of a swamp cooler consider a cool shirt. (make one)

http://www.coolshirt.com/

Maybe something like this seat cover...

Icewater-cooled seat cover. - Insight Central: Honda Insight Forum

Hey razor, that is brilliant!!! My Suzuki Swift doesn't have a/c either, and with the size and slope of the windows, gets horribly hot inside during the summer. I think the idea in the second link would be just perfect!! Maybe it would even entice the "better half" to ride in that car more if she could be cooler. :thumbup:

A few years ago, I had a cloth tube that was filled with gelatinous beads - soak it in water and the beads swell up and soften. Tie that around your neck like a neckerchief and as the water evaporates, you are cooled very effectively.

I plan on not having the traditional hanging out the window setup. I plan on using something more aerodynamic. I may just bite the bullet and run the AC, it shouldn't hurt my FE anymore than the brake peddle does.

I don't trust the pump on single runs, I find that the pumps have a habit of clicking early, I need many tanks to get an accurate reading.

I got a pair of wooden beaded seat pads when my a/c finally died late last summer.

Aerocivic - Honda Civic modifications for maximum gas mileage - aerocivic.com gets wicked fuel economy 50mpg at 90mph. If you want to go fast and get fuel economy, that is pretty much what its going to take for aero.

I'm reluctant to slow down because I'm also documenting this for my physics class. I want to show that it is possible to get good fuel economy without going any slower, and then once that is established, drop my speed and report the results of slowing down (with and without aero mods.)
My target at 55 MPH is 50 MPG on winter gas with real world traffic (55 feels so slow, I'm used to doing "60" which in my car is closer to 70.)

OK, this might be doable within one semester. You'll need an MPGuino so you can report results of individual trips, not only whole tanks worth of data rolled up.

And if doing it in the Corolla (or nearly any car aside from a Prius or a 1st generation Insight), you'll need some serious aero mods plus low rolling resistance tires, run at high pressure. Think of the sidewall max pressure imprint as a starting point.

Read up on these topics in the Aerodynamics subforum. And pay attention to "aerohead" when you read his posts. He's the aero guru.

Grill block. Basic. You need a digital temp gauge to make sure you don't choke off too much radiator air flow.

Air dam and side skirts. OR: Belly pan from front bumper to firewall, further back if you can. But that front segment gives you the most gain. I prefer the pan to the air dam + side skirts.

Flat wheel covers. Attaching them is the toughest trick but solutions have been found.

Kamm back extension for the roofline if its a coupe or sedan. If its a wagon you may need another car. The aero losses at the rear are very huge and a good Kamm helps a lot. Just think of the car as a piston rushing through the air, sucking a big vacuum behind itself. Consider how much HP and fuel are being used to create that vacuum.

Rear wheel skirts. Usually the tires bulge out beyond the fenders. So avoid bulging the skirts outward too aggressively. You don't want the air flow to break away from your new smooth skin, you want it to follow the skin back to rejoin the fender.

*Ataches electrodes to thread*
*Puts up lightning rod*
*Realizes that I'm in socal so waiting for lightning will take a while*
Screw it. 3... 2... 1... CLEAR!
*Necros thread*
Change of objective: I'm an engineering major now and being able to say as a project I applied, tested, and evaluated modifications with an ultimate result of a 50% increase in fuel economy over my baseline fuel economy should look at least somewhat interesting to employers looking for an intern.
I'm getting around to installing the MPGunio.
Currently done:
Base timing is increased from 10 degrees BTDC to ~13 degrees BTDC, the max timing that will pass the inspection component of a california smog test.
WAI (only used when temperatures are low enough to allow).
Upper Grill block (only used when temperatures are low enough to allow).
Air dam.
Better tires (Michelin Defenders, 185/70/R14)
NGK spark plugs (seems that the 4A-FE loves ngk and denso spark plugs)
10W-30 Mobil1 Extended performance synthetic oil.
AMSOIL MTG 75W-90 GL4 synthetic oil in gearbox.
Phillips Xtreme Vision low beams (smaller and hotter filimant means that they put more light out the front and don't dim to the point of uselessness when in EOC).
LED interior light. Old draw was 1 amp, new draw is .1 amp (I used 2 LED sign backlight modules at .05 amp each, I could use 1 if my dome light's plastic wasn't opaque from age).
In the works: Rear wheel skirts
Smooth hubcaps if I can find suitable material
New front motor and front exhaust mounts to make drive more doable.
Determine conditions ECU goes into enrichment and have an indicator for when it goes into that.
Determine cooling requirements for car on highway.
Determine fuel cutoff behavior.
Calculate current cd and frontal Area.

AlmightyBMW estimated that converting everything but your headlights to LEDs would save 160-200w, but then your alternator would be oversized: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post122646

Can anyone review his math and\or tell me how much of a difference that might make for fuel efficiency? DonR said that at idle, turning on his headlights boosted GPH from 0.31 to 0.36, stated that his car used 1.8 GPH at highway speeds, so that was a 2.2% difference, which sounds reasonable.

I just replaced my dome light and have another nineteen bulbs. I like the swap and would like to replace more, but the dome was only important because I accidentally leave it on when the car is parked. Which lights have the largest overall draw? I would think that headlights would have the highest consumption, but LED swaps are illegal, right? Then I would guess tail lights--we try to minimize braking, but if our headlights are on, our tail lights are on, too. Then, when we do brake, we do so earlier and longer than others, right? Wouldn't our tail lights be on the entire time?

Of course, the brake lights are unique, I definitely cannot use the ones that I already have for those. You can swap the turn signals, but what would be the point, and how much do you actually use those, anyway?

Well, my dash uses one #194, so I would need to purchase the #74s for the other four. I should probably do that, I think that the low fuel light is out.

I guess that if you are trying to do everything that you can to make your car more fuel efficient, you do the things that have immeasurably small returns.

I guess the real question is, has Basjoos converted to LEDs? :)

Aerohead? :)

if the leds are good quality you basically just bought a light that will outlast the vehicle.
mpg`s don't hurt

I need to do this is my car too all kind of lights everywhere on the kick panels under the glove box under the shifter behind the hvac controls ect ect ect

I have the almost the same plans for my car as well 40MPG @ 65MPH

I'm reluctant to switch to LEDs if the config isn't strictly legal.
ECU is currently on my desk with a wire running from the injector pin.
Word of advice: Only resort to tapping at the ECU if you cannot deal with having to replace the harness since it is hard to make a good connection (I put my 50k resistor for the MPGuino's injector monitoring inside of the ECU so that if the wire shorts to ground somewhere, it won't cause half the injectors to stick open).
EDIT: ECU back in car. I'll put radio back in later. In other news, my car goes FULL BMW when I unhook the hazards button (I lose blinkers).
I need to tap the VSS and power now.

UPDATE: MPGunio is in but LCD making every dot on top row black and every dot on bottom row transparent. Any ideas?

When the display was working, I was getting occasional fuel usage spikes but doubling up on the number of pins used by ground and injector sense on the RJ45 I use for a connector to the car seemed to cut down on the spikes significantly.

It tracked milage acceptably and my butt dyno turns out to be quite good at telling when the car kicks into DFCO. AC: 50% more idle fuel use, headlights 10% more idle fuel use. Cold engine: 100% more idle fuel use.
EDIT: I flashed a modified version of the basic blink arduino sketch that blinks every pin and I found that pins D10 and D11 are dead (I used D10 and D11 in place of D12 and D13 since I'm using a arduino nano which has a LED on D13 and thus I seem to have difficulty getting it to output data fast enough) judging by how they are the only output pins that don't blink the LED I hook up.

I'm using the nano so I have extra pins that I can remap things to (D2-13 and A0-A7 gives 20 pins vs the 18 the uno has)
Not worried about the microcontroller frying anything because I have 100k ohm between it and the car on input lines (VSS, injector) and a diode on the power supply line, plus I wired the RJ45 so even if someone uses a crossover cable and plugs a laptop in, nothing will happen.
EDIT2: Not even worth the effort to fix seeing how I can build a new one for under $15 and fix my previous mistakes.