Master list of 65+ proven mods for increasing MPG
 

Along the lines of our 100+ hypermiling/ecodriving tips compilation, here's another one:

---> 50+ efficiency modifications - EcoModder.com

Feel free to make comments, suggest additions/corrections in this thread. Thanks to the other moderators for working behind the scenes to get this ready.

Great compilation. Will the link be put on the top banner alongside 100+ tips?

In case I missed it, you may also want to mention that some mods may violate vehicle codes (and put in the requisite "check your local laws first!!!" warning). Ex: front wiper delete

That is AWESOME!! Nice job, I'm sure that took a bit of time. Another tip if you wanted to keep your wipers get a set of the new Bosch ICON style wipers --> Bosch ICON Wiper Blade - OE Bracketless Technology for the Aftermarket pricy at $20 for one blade, but they work great and hopefully help out slightly in the fight against drag!

*they are also called in general bracketless or beam blades

Hi,

Typo patrol:

Awesome job :thumbup:

Yup, that's the plan.

Also, there is a mention about legality & safety in the blurb at the top.

Typo fixed!

How about losing your OWN weight! A lot of us could stand to lose 10-50+ pounds which definitely would improve our MPG. Seriously, that is an important factor in our search for optimal mileage.

I found a couple of mistakes.

1) Advancing ignition timing: If you increase power without increasing fuel flow, you will decrease the BSFC, not increase it. The goal is to minimize the BSFC, which is a measure of the amount of fuel used to do a certain amount of work.

2) Hot / warm air intake: I think that a higher air intake temperature will increase the heat transfer through the cylinder walls because of the increased temperature difference between the air and the cylinder during the power stroke. Also, hot intake air doesn't change ignition timing unless the engine starts to knock (or ping) and the engine is equipped with a knock sensor. If the engine is not equipped with a knock sensor then somebody may need to retard the timing to eliminate knocking. You may want to mention that power will probably go down with hot air intake because of reduced air density.

i think i found one too:turtle::turtle::turtle:

I dreamed about it one week ago :)

Added to the list of documents to be translated into french.

Thanks a lot,

Denis.

You mean you think that a high BSFC means higher efficiency? Try checking this web site for some more information about BSFC.

Using BSFC #'s

Good point - added to the weight reduction tip: permalink

Decreasing bsfc is exactly what we want.

Minimize pretty much is the same thing as "decrease as much as you can" to me.

I think you just put it in a weird way that made it look like you were contradicting yourself between the two sentences.

The fact of the matter is that there is an optimal ignition timing for fuel economy. Frequently, stock timing is a bit retarded from optimal.

Still adding to the list. Recent additions:

- electric conversion - permalink
- reduced ride height - permalink

What a great list! But the above common typo/misuse (I assume it is just a typo in your case) drives me buggy. Silicon is for chips, silicone is for boobies. Oh, and sealing stuff up of course.

Ha! Good catch. Fixed.

On the alternator delete you might mention that a deep cycle battery could replace your old battery for only a little more $. Also this mod should pay for itself quite quickly If you are getting 10% better FE! A deep cycle flooded runs $90 - $150 not much more than a good quality starting batt. (120ah $49 at costco at end of summer season clearance)

Love the 50 mods!

On the windshield wiper delete, you can just remove the passenger wiper and leave the driver side there. I did this on my Saturn and it never hurt my vision in heavy rains.

Do you want to have defects that affect fuel economy in this list, such as a bad thermostat, or would you like to make a new list for them?

That's a good point. I was thinking of making a single entry saying something about "general maintenance", and could include it there.

Also good suggestions re: wipers & batteries. Will add.

Does carrying a bike in the back count as a mod? I throw my BMX in my Metro for commuting around campus at the university. Saves a lot of time walking and I can always find a parking space. ;)

I'd call that a hypermiling / ecodriving tactic. In fact, it's on that list. :)

Here are a few engine problems that hurt fuel economy:

... http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...nomy-5322.html

Andyman - that's a good list, threadworthy on its own.

Hope you don't mind I moved it here: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...nomy-5322.html).

I'll link to it from the mods list.

Maybe we can add to it with other common, non-engine related problems.

EDIT: added to the mods list and linked - permalink

I can't recall seeing this tip anywhere, maybe I missed it...I use Rain-X interior glass anti-fog on all my interior glass, which allows me to use defrosting less or not at all depending on conditions. This certainly helps FE since defrosting involves either running the fan AND A/C compressor together, or running the electric defroster for the rear window which draws a lot of power. There is also a similar product called Never Fog.

The rain-x reminded me...
 

There are a few windshield wiper tips you could add:

Vertical windshield wipers for better aero. A switch mod lets you stop them where you want them.

Teflon wiper blades reduce friction and last longer. Lower amps.

The Rain-X exterior also reduces wiper friction and allows less wiper useage and reduces the amp draw slightly

Your blades and the wiper assembly and motor will also last longer.

So many mods, so little time.

testing this list of mods, plus some others....
 

This is a great list. If anyone is curious as to what actual, concrete impact these mods and a few others will have on your MPG, I'm working on a project wherein we sent Illuminati Motor Works (one of the teams competing for the automotive X Prize) two Hyundais to test out most known mods to gauge their impact on fuel economy.

They're recording the results and doing cost-benefit analysis here.

My initial responses to this are:

1. Cool!

2. That blog is a horrible way to present the resulting information. I hope something more tabular is forthcoming.

3. Still, cool!

I haven't seen any mention of engine coatings on ecomodder. I read articles that said that a Chevrolet V8 racing engine can gain 40 HP by coating pistons and combustion chambers with a thermal barrier coating. That is roughly a 6.6% improvement in power. I had a phone conversation with somebody who worked at Swain Tech. He told me that an engine with coated pistons and combustion chambers should have about 5% better fuel economy than a normal engine. Here is some information from Swain Tech about their coatings. Coatings Get Technical

This is not an inexpensive modification. Several years ago it cost $40 to coat each piston. I think the price has gone down since then. Techline Coatings has a product called CBC1 POWERKOTE (Cermet Coating Thermal barrier) that can be applied at home. The coated parts need to be cooked in an oven at 300 degrees for an hour. It costs $29.95 for a 3 oz. bottle. I guess that is enough for one engine.

I found a list of the engine coating companies here:

ENGINE COATINGS - A REFERENCE THREAD - Speed Talk

This is the list of companies from that forum:

HPC ---- http://www.hpcoatings.com/
Jet hot ----- JETHOT
Swain Tech ----- Swain Tech
Tech line Coatings ---- Techline Coatings

A heat barrier coating should also improve the reliability of engines. The coated parts should be more resistant to overheating and cracking.

Those seem like high estimates IMO. I've looked into coatings. I'd like to see some actual dyno testing with no changes to the engine other than the coating.

I don't doubt the coatings can be used to help run a higher compression and thus increase thermal efficiency, but now you're talking doing more than just coating.

I found something from Hot Rod Magazine. They did dyno testing of an engine before and after applying coatings. It looks like the engine gained about 2% torque at 2100 RPM after adding the thermal barrier.

A Look at High-Tech Engine Coatings and What They are Worth - Hot Rod Magazine

It would make sense that this should be more effective when the engine runs slower because of the greater time to transfer heat. It should also be more effective for engines that have a large bore and short stroke since they have more surface area to absorb heat.

The engine would require less air for the radiator so aerodynamics could be improved too.

I actually did something like this on a Plymouth Horizon. I painted the pistons with white VHT paint. I saw that tip recommended in a book about Chevrolet racing engines. I'm not sure how that affected my fuel economy. I got 44 MPG on the highway with the 1.7 liter engine and the 4 speed "Horizon Miser" transmission.

Maybe you can explain? (maybe I'm misreading?)

I was under the impression that optimal conditions are adiabatic. So any heat absorbed into the engine is lost heat. Nominally, the engine doesn't heat up and all heat is transferred to the cold reservoir (in our case, the environment).

Which seems to be in line with the article...
:confused:

Right, adiabatic expansion during the power stroke would be ideal. A cylinder that has a length that is twice the diameter has the lowest possible surface area for a given volume. Therefore, an oversquare engine (larger bore than stroke) would have more heat loss from the air than an undersquare engine. Reducing the heat loss by using a thermal barrier coating would be more important in the oversquare engine.

Gotcha, I read the first post ass backwards :p My eyes are a bit crossed, I've been playing cad monkey today :p

Thanks for the clarification :thumbup:

Alternator-ively
 

Here's an old drag-racing trick that'll help with power, thus economy: If you really want to keep the alternator where it belongs on your engine (or if like me you do a lot of night driving), you can either put a larger pulley on your alternator (don't get carried away - it still has to make enough juice to keep your battery charged) or (sometimes) put a smaller pulley on your crankshaft (don't get carried...oh, yeah, I already said that...).

...or was that already up there in the engine area, and I missed it? :confused:

I just added more problems that hurt fuel economy to the thread about mechanical problems.
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...nomy-5322.html

There are additional engine problems, plus wheel, transmission, and differential problems. Did I forget anything important?

A really simple one is to add an extra spring to the throttle control, I did this to my truck because boots don't offer the same feel as soft shoes.
Makes it harder to accelerate and eliminates a lot of small movements due to bouncing.

I have a 1989 Acura Legend. I know it's a V6 and the mileage isn't all that great, but it was given to me. So... is there anything I can do to drastically improve the mileage? I've read the hypermiling and the other tips, but I still don't know the first step. Help please.

Hey, sofunky, everyone here pretty well agrees that the best (and easiest) way by far to get better mileage is by "adjusting the nut behind the wheel." That's us, by the way... ;)

How I did it was by making staying off of the brake pedal a game. Watch ahead and anticipate stoplights or turns (when you're not in traffic) and let momentum carry you there. If you get the opportunity, you'll be shocked at how far you can coast from 40 mph in town. Stay under the higher speed limits, since when you reach the 60 mph range every mile per hour makes a difference. Stay locked in behind some SUV, at a safe distance, and let them give you a draft. My favorite, since I have the "AC" button on the dash, is to shut it off when going uphill or when accelerating, to save energy or keep the torque convertor locked in, keeping your engine speed down. Of course, if you don't need it on, keep it shut off!

The tough part is keeping your mind in the game. I've driven in LA before (my youngest brother lives just south of there) and it's pretty crazy. If you'll pretend :cool: your car has something really wrong with it, and baby it, or just stay in the slow lane (well, sometimes there's no such thing!), you'll be surprised at how much better you'll do. Shoot, just follow around the "little old ladies" and pretend you can't get into the fast lane! I've managed to get 35% better than EPA by doing just those things in the Intrigue, and it's sized pretty closely to your Acura.

My kid brother rides his bike a lot and bought the special road pass transmitter (or whatever they call it) to stay off of the 10-lane traffic jamb roads. He found he saved enough in gas from avoiding those roll-at-5-mph-for-an-hour traffic jambs to pay for the restricted road access, and can sleep in longer, to boot!

Game on!!! :turtle:

=)
 

Thanks for the tip. So once I get that going are there any modifications I can do to the car? The Legend doesn't really seem all that light and since it's a V6 I really wanna adjust it so that not only do I get better mileage, but the eco system won't be affected as much.