Meet Mr. Corolla

[freebeard]

There's this expression that goes YMMV.

Variables vary. Ecomodderers stand by A-B testing or preferably A-B-A testing. You have to separate signal from noise. This means careful record keeping. That means you need Scanguage, MPGuino or Torque smartphone app or equivalent.

Let us know how it goes.

[tcaud]

Originally Posted by freebeard

There's this expression that goes YMMV.

Variables vary. Ecomodderers stand by A-B testing or preferably A-B-A testing. You have to separate signal from noise. This means careful record keeping. That means you need Scanguage, MPGuino or Torque smartphone app or equivalent.

Let us know how it goes.

According to CleanMPG it only helps during cold temps, so I'll know in a couple weeks I guess. They also seem to have done tests showing improvements by using hubcaps, so I'll get a replacement set. I think I need a second opinion vis a vis the air dam.

There is a pad hanging from beneath the car. It's screwed on to the bottom frame in places... judging by its contour, it's either been pulled from another car or is on backwards (likely the former). Only the front of it is screwed to... the back of it droops by about an inch (wouldn't surprise if my dad and his crew thought of it as a dam).

[Frank Lee]

I run engine blankets all year; they help reduce cold starts which are the devil for fe and emissions. They're even better when paired up with grille blocks.

I've read from a few different sources that 1000-1200 ft/mn piston speed is where optimum rpms for fe are. If you can find a BSFC chart for your car that's even better. On my vehicles the piston speed converted to mph and rpms usually gives me a range between 42-52 mph for cruise speed. Another source- which agrees with ^, says don't exceed 2000 rpm for fe max.

[elhigh]

If you're using your Corolla for work and in the city, then the majority of your miles are modest speeds and stop-and-go. Lots of starts during the day.

Firstly, I would recommend you go look at Hypermiling Central and the stickies at the top of the list there. There are suggestions for how to drive your car better.

Everybody who said weight reduction is preaching the truth - in S&G, weight is the enemy. The more you pull from the car, the less you have to pull away from a stop.

Rotating and reciprocating mass. Less is gooder. You may not want to open up your engine for this stuff - it sounds like it's a major part of your income, after all - but switching to lightweight wheels would be excellent.

Save the heat. Wrap your exhaust manifold, consider adding a partial belly pan under the engine to slow down air flow in there a bit. The more time your engine spends warm, the less time it spends in open loop (read: rich and fuel wasting) operation. Consider adding a warm air intake (testing required to determine whether it helps). A partial-to-full (full may be an option in winter, testing required for summer) grille block will give aero improvements and keep more heat in the engine.

At 300,000 miles your car is past due for a tune up. Engine fluids, transmission and final drive fluids, brake operation, etc. There are lots of places where friction can develop and a good going-over can find them and reduce or eliminate a lot of them.

A few years ago Hot VWs magazine was working on a "mileage motor" project, exploring ways to make an old aircooled Beetle into a thrifty daily driver. The car they started with delivered about 28mpg initially with the new engine, but with a lot of chassis tuning the car was good for 30mpg - about 7% increase. That's nothing to sneeze at. If your car is helping you earn your paycheck that would be a 7% reduction in your costs, or looked at another way...a 7% raise.

Your Mileage May Vary, of course.

But seriously: weight reduction.

Then consider the ways you could get more of your miles off the stop-and-go surface streets and onto the highways where you could settle into the engine's butter zone.

[freebeard]

A few years ago Hot VWs magazine was working on a "mileage motor" project, exploring ways to make an old aircooled Beetle into a thrifty daily driver. The car they started with delivered about 28mpg initially with the new engine, but with a lot of chassis tuning the car was good for 30mpg - about 7% increase.

au contraire. [W]ith a lot of chassis engine tuning the car was good for 30 38mpg.

The goal was 40mpg in a stock bodied Beetle. They eventually reached IIRC 38+mpg after they spent prolly $5000.

https://www.cbperformance.com/Articles.asp?ID=300

The articles came out in 2006.

[elhigh]

Sorry, freebeard, I think you're remembering the wrong details.

They did get that car up to 38, but I'm speaking specifically about the improved economy from the chassis tuning. The car struggled to deliver 20 on its stock engine, then they baselined it with the Mileage Motor and got 28. Fixing tire pressures, draggy brakes and alignment brought it up to 29.9.

Then in subsequent articles they made further changes to the engine to eventually wind up with the 38mpg results. Considering the engine dyno'd at 90 hp and was really torquey kind of puts the kibosh on people who say building for economy is no fun, I think. The writers said the car was great fun to drive and all their mileage runs were performed in real world California freeway traffic.

Makes me want to get a VW Bug.

[freebeard]

I stand corrected. The chassis repairs needed to get it up to baseline. Got it.

I'll bet I'm not the only one that wanted to see them get to 40mpg. A California rake and Porsche Fuchs might have got them there. CB Performance sells a 'Gas Saver' 1904cc kit of parts for $3750.

Back to your regularly scheduled thread. Enquiries to http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...pic-34457.html

[Grant-53]

The Sports Car Graphic VW project car used a Fiberfab Jamaican body and a CB engine to reach 150 mph at the salt flats.

[Grant-53]

As for the Corolla, if one can get hold of a copy of SAE "Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles" now in its fifth edition there is a wealth of material there to optimize a car body.

[Daschicken]

Originally Posted by tcaud

@Aerohead, you seem to be suggesting that it's not worth trying to aeromod a car that usually is driven below 65mph. Which if that's the case then it's the case and no use worrying or wasting effort anymore.

Can we make the following observation, that high speed economy improvements are to be made thru aeromods, and low speed improvements through engine mods/behavioral alterations?

I drive 55 mph on the highway, up to 64 mph on downhills and I focus primarily on aeromods. The difference is that I drive (according to avg speed) 2/3 highway and 1/3 city. What we are saying is that if you are doing 80% city and 20% highway, you are more likely to realize improvements proven to work at lower speeds and when braking and accelerating is more frequent.

Behavioral mods are the most effective source of improvement for city driving, many of our members here can get better mileage in the city than they can on the highway. I can't do that with my V6 accord, not around Atlanta anyway.

If you are going to mod, I would suggest focusing on weight reduction (WHEELS!), frictional drag reduction(Tires and brake return springs), and engine accessories(power steering delete).