My eco-Barina Journey

[bobo333]

hi guys,

And so continues the story of teh Barina:

After leaving the car sitting in my mums driveway for a few months i found a donor car for less than the price of swapping the water pump so the rebuild began, the best parts from each car were put together and cleaned up before being dropped back into the Barina:


while i was at it i replaced the alternator and starter motor wires, all of the fluids and filters, and put in a bigger better battery, here is a comparo of the stock wiring vs the new stuff lol:


and the motor in its new home:


the temp battery holder to get everything up and running (a plank of wood lol)


then on went new wheels and tires as the standard ones had dangerously low levels of grip:


and finally the all important stereo, as i own a car audio shop i couldn't really not have one lol, Tang band W4 bamboo full range drivers on the dash and response 8" woofers in floor pods, all run off the head unit to save weight on amps/wiring/batteries, and with the 8"s i didn't need a heavy sub either


that just about brings me up to date with when i discovered EM, so now begins my eco journey

[bobo333]

Hi guys,

Filled up my first tank since starting on ecomodders today, i did it without any car or driving mods and a mix of around 35% city driving and 65% hilly highway driving at 100kmh, got 33 mpg, not a bad start i say, plenty of room for improvement...

now the mods start!

[bobo333]

Hey Guys,

I lowered the front of the barina today...

factory springs with 1.25 coils cut off:


cleaned up and reinstalled:


before:


after:


before:


after:


havnt had a chance to test any difference in cd yet but it handles much better now

thanks for lookin

[bobo333]

Hi Guys,

i started the grill block today, first i blanked off the old indicator holes with cardboard and clear packing tape:


then the upper grill:


and finally the foglights were covered with a few layers of the clear packing tape to let the light shine through still:


i also bent the number plate a bit to follow the body line better and taped around it too:


not heaps noticeable from a distance:


tommorow i need to get more packing tape to finish the lower grill then i can test cooling and the cd reduction before making any mods needed and redoing it in better looking more durable materials

thanks for looking

[bobo333]

hey guys,

i picked up my vacuum gauge today, its a Speco boost/vac unit as its the only 2" i could find in black, only problem is it keeps telling me i need a turbo :P

took the gauge cluster cover off and mounted it from behind, i also hooked the illumination wires to the demist/fog light switch wiring directly under where i mounted it:


looks pretty stealthy in black


then i tested a few different places to hook the t piece for the vac line into, this is the only place i could get it to read properly:


what should i be aiming for for best economy?
at the moment its on -20in hg at idle, -25 during deceleration and between -20 and 0 during acceleration depending on throttle position

thanks for looking

[bobo333]

Hi Guys,

im officially an ecomodder now! my last tank brings me above EPA , i didn't have enough money to completely fill it up but judging by the fuel gauge and how much if filled it other times it should be around 32L, which i got 511km out of, aka 6.26 L/100km or 37.58 mpg (US) yay!

this was without any car mods apart from lowering the rear (the other mods i did in the last 50km or so of the tank) and my technique has plenty of improvements to be made now that i have some instrumentation, so it can only go up from here! (or down?)

anyway to accompany my new grill block i started building my coolant temp sensor and fan relay with warning light yesterday, it has a digital LCD display of temperature which im going to put where my rear window wiper and washer switches used to live (i deleted the wiper ages ago):


it almost looks factory there! unfortuantly the LCD that came with the kit wasnt back lit though so im in the middle of modding it with some LEDs so hopefully i can see it at night, if it doesnt work il have to buy a backlit one to replace it with:


the kit i bought has an adjustable switch that comes on/off at a certain temp so im going to hook the fan up to it so i have full control of when it comes on, it also has a warning LED that comes on when the relay activates which i will mount next to the LCD in the dash.

then all that's left in my cooling system mods are walls around the radiator to ensure all of the air coming through the much smaller grill opening goes though the radiator and not around it

thanks for looking

[ChopsQube]

Nice intro/build thread. I like that you included a little history about the Barina as well as what you're doing with it currently. Gonna keep an eye on this one!

[bobo333]

hey guys,

i filled up again yesterday with a slightly dissapointing drop from 37mpg to 35mpg despite my grill block and front end lowering, i can only put it down to getting used to the vacuum guage and not yet finding the best technique, so far i have been accelerating at around1-2in and cruising at around 15in on the vac gauge, with gear changes at around 3000rpm (where the vac starts to drop while accelerating) but i think il go back to changing at 2000rpm like i did last tank as this seemed to work better... ive also started doing a lot more coasts, mostly on down hills so hopefully this is helping

more bad news, i broke the LCD for my temp sensor when putting in the LEDs for backlighting outlined in my last post, so il need to replace that and figure out another way of lighting it before i can fit it to the car, no overheating problems with the grill block so far though

thanks for looking

[D.O.G.]

Originally Posted by bobo333

hey guys,

i filled up again yesterday with a slightly dissapointing drop from 37mpg to 35mpg despite my grill block and front end lowering, i can only put it down to getting used to the vacuum guage and not yet finding the best technique,

That may be part of the problem, but don't overlook the adverse effects of the recent cooler weather.

Diesel Dave came up with the rule of thumb equating 1*C drop in temperature to 1% rise in fuel consumption.

The hard part will be trying to compensate for it by improving your hypermiling skills.
The good part will be when next summer comes around, those skills will give you even better numbers.