Master list of 65+ proven mods for increasing MPG

[stonebreaker]

The guy who invents a mod, particularly something difficult to build like an EV conversion or a boattail, will never recover his costs in terms of mileage when you consider R&D and installation time, the same way the OEM's do. It's only the guys who follow him, and don't have to think through the mod and test and tweak because the inventor has already made the mistakes, that are going to see real savings.

Again, though, I don't understand why you seem to think it's a bad thing that this is so. The inventor has the satisfaction of achieving a performance goal and the long term satisfaction of many people giving the ultimate complement by adopting his mod... and if he's lucky, inventing a patentable mod that he can sell to the OEM's and REALLY recover his costs! Although not in the way he originally envisioned...

For example, these guys weren't worried about costs. But they're making money now selling conversion kits.

[pgfpro]

Originally Posted by stonebreaker

You guys are barely touching engine mods. Coming from a hotrodder background, there are a lot of mods the rodders do specifically to increase the efficiency of their engines - and by that I mean get more power out of a pound of fuel. The difference is, they do it so they can go faster, you guys do it to go further. OEM's often can't afford these mods due to the expense of putting them in millions of cars, but I just have to do it to one car.

Many racing classes allow the "rollerizing" of the engine. They replace all engine bearings with roller bearings to cut internal friction. While this is prohibitively expensive for most folks, what a lot of us do is replace the OEM rockers with roller bearing versions. This is good for a peak 5hp gain all by itself, simply by cutting internal friction. I don't know what that translates to at highway speeds, but many of my friends see mileage even better than stock when using a fairly mild cam.

Exhaust: OEM's have to meet strict noise standards. Hotrodders replace their exhaust partly to improve the sound of their car, but also because the stock exhaust has a lot of backpressure. Swapping the stock exhaust on a V8 to a performance exhaust can pick up over 20 peak horsepower, simply through the reduction of pumping losses. Again, I can't say what kind of improvement you'd see at eco speeds, but at least your car will sound cool!

Intakes work the same way. Going with a K&N or some other low restriction intake can reduce engine pumping losses. We have recorded as much as a 10 peak hp increase simply by swapping the air filter.

Matching fuel injectors: The fuel injectors from the factory have flows to within +/- 10% of rated flow. The tune on the stock computer has to be able to account for this. Installing a set of flow matched injectors, which are within +/- 1% of each other, will allow a tuner to clean that slop out of the stock tune. This will allow more precise fuel metering and more spark advance, and the tuner can get real aggressive with the tune if you have the car tuned on a dyno.

I agree there isn't much on here in the Master list of 65+ proven mods for increasing MPG for engine mods.

I'm not to sure why? If its a money thing or knowledge thing?

[orange4boy]

I agree there isn't much on here in the Master list of 65+ proven mods for increasing MPG for engine mods.

I'm not to sure why? If its a money thing or knowledge thing?

I think it's a bit of both. This forum is pretty new still and the real engine modders are still few. As Christ points out, most people here like to calculate their payback time. I'm not one of them but it's an extra point for some. I also think one of the ideas of the site is to keep most of these things relatively simple so any car owner can do the mods.

That being said If an engine mod has merit there is no reason I can't/wouldn't be added to the list. Cam swap comes to mind as a good example of what's on there already.

The way they seem to get added is by a self vetting process where someone tries it first, does a good thread, and proves the effectiveness. That's why there isn't HHO on there. no one can prove it works because it doesn't. So we have a pretty good list this way. No junk. No BS.

I wasn't questioning new vehicles... just hybrids. Hybrids are a marketing scam.

That would be true if the auto companies were raking it in on hybrids. The are not. But people still buy them even though they have a higher up front cost. The added costs to make them are real, though, as are the MPG numbers. I think that some people are just willing to pay more on principal to reduce their consumption which is one of the reasons I don't care if my mods pay for themselves. Also, to my mind, they are helping get people ready for electric vehicles.

They do give the auto companies an unfairly green image but then that's the evils of PR at work.

[Formula413]

I just paid $8,000 for my hybrid, a low mileage Civic in great shape. Don't really feel like I got hosed. And even if all the money I save on fuel ends up getting cancelled out by having to replace the battery someday, guess what? I just kept XXXX pounds of CO2 out of the atmosphere at no additional cost to myself. Or have we forgotten that there are multiple reasons to hypermile?

[Christ]

Originally Posted by Formula413

As Christ stated, you can't price out your own time at professional rates. I don't think of cost of my own time because it's free to me. Unless it cuts into time you could be earning money or takes away from your life there really isn't a cost associated with it IMO.

Isn't that why you do things in your free time?

[stonebreaker]

Originally Posted by Formula413

<snip>

I don't think of cost of my own time because it's free to me. Unless it cuts into time you could be earning money or takes away from your life there really isn't a cost associated with it IMO.

<snip>

There's a cost associated with it - the average person in America has 680,652 hours to spend how he wants to before he dies. The cost is the same whether you spend one of those hours watching TV or modding your car.

[stonebreaker]

Originally Posted by Christ

This is digression from the point, which is that we don't associate time spent with monetary value as a rule.

Yes you do. You stated that you would rather be broke and spend time with your family, than have the extra money that would come with working more than 20 hours a week. Thus you value an hour spent with your family more than the hourly wage you earn at work, which means that you place a value on your time of AT LEAST X dollars an hour.

How much an hour would they have to pay you to get you to work 40 hours a week? I'm not being a smart ass, this is a valid question, because that rate is the monetary value you place on time spent away from your family - i.e., the shop rate for modding your car.

[Formula413]

Might want to finish this conversation elsewhere, this is an important thread.

[Christ]

/conversation.

I'm deleting my posts after I type this, to save the mods time.

EDIT - weeded out the pointless ones.

[pgfpro]

Originally Posted by orange4boy

I think it's a bit of both. This forum is pretty new still and the real engine modders are still few. As Christ points out, most people here like to calculate their payback time. not one of them but it's an extra point for some. I also think one of the ideas of the site is to keep most of these things relatively simple so any car owner can do the mods.

That being said If an engine mod has merit there is no reason I can't/wouldn't be added to the list. Cam swap comes to mind as a good example of what's on there already.

The way they seem to get added is by a self vetting process where someone tries it first, does a good thread, and proves the effectiveness. That's why there isn't HHO on there. no one can prove it works because it doesn't. So we have a pretty good list this way. No junk. No BS.



That would be true if the auto companies were raking it in on hybrids. The are not. But people still buy them even though they have a higher up front cost. The added costs to make them are real, though, as are the MPG numbers. I think that some people are just willing to pay more on principal to reduce their consumption which is one of the reasons I don't care if my mods pay for themselves. Also, to my mind, they are helping get people ready for electric vehicles.

They do give the auto companies an unfairly green image but then that's the evils of PR at work.

I agree that payback is very important. I figure it would take me a couple years to pay off my modifications.