my Ford eKa. 50mpg aim in winter

[MetroMPG]

Even without the bottem grillblock my fe stays the same.

Careful about evaluating small, individual mods based on on-road fuel consumption readings. Often the individual ones are too small to see and only when you do several in combination can you confirm the collective effect.

I now do a stable 21/22 km/l. And i believe a 26/27 km/l is easely manageble with the rear done

21 --> 26 would be a ~23% improvement. I'm afraid you won't see that much improvement even with a full length, streamlined boat tail.

[NickelB NL]

I know what you mean. And i'm careful about on road assumption. And with the realy bad cw i have high hopes. And i'm careful not to accept to low results, because you don't go all the way to get them if its to easy

[NickelB NL]

Today i did a little work in the eKa. Firt checked the air filter box. And saw that the foam in front of the filter was really dirty. So i tore it of the filter. So that the filter can go for the rest of the winter at least. Also checked how the trottlebody looked. It was nice and clean. But what i wonderd was is it normal for a trottleplate to open only 40/45° on full trottle? I made a pic of it. It is in the attachments. Also took the grey ducktape off and made a corroplast olate for it to make it more flush with the bumper and hood. Wont make alot of a difference but like the result. Also i took the OEM airscoop off the filterbox. So it sucks air out of the engine bay and not in front of the radiator. The normal temps were 25/28 c°. I will see tomorrow how it goes.

[Ecky]

A clogged air filter shouldn't hurt fuel economy, only power. Pulling the air scoop off is a good move though.

[NickelB NL]

The filter isnt for fe. The engine doesnt idle properly every time. So taking small steps to eliminate problems. I have basic skills. But i learn from trial and erros the best

[NickelB NL]

Today i had a 200km trip to test the wai. Where it was 26/29 c° it is now 36/39c°. For me thats perfect. I dont want it any higher. To be on the safe side. Also without de dirty foam in front of the air filter the engine feels more free. It also seems to coast easier. I have to wait and see how the mpgs go this week. But for my own feeling it was easier to stay at 22/23 km/l at 100km/h. Where it normaly would be 20/21. But again. Will have to wait for the week to be sure.

[NickelB NL]

Time for an update. I.m still playing with the intake temps. Because the ambient temps are going down so does the intake temp. Where it was between 30/40 it is now low 20's. So i started playing. And took off a piece of the filter housing. And with my good friend ducktape i atached a pvc pipe where i cut a hole in at the side. I angled it to the back of the engine where the exaust is. No luck temps go up very slowly and didnt exeed 25°c. So i took some bends to move the air pickup down. No luck with that. So now i angeld the bends towards the block above the exaust. As seen on the pics. I hope this works to get the temps up. Or i will have to start working out my heated air intake.

[user removed]

Here is my cheap quick version. With the exhaust manifold in front I just used a piece of stretchable preheat tubing ($5.98) and a wire tie and one old screw. Maybe the secret is to pull the hot air from under the manifold as I did. Hope the pics show this.

regards
mech

[NickelB NL]

Thanks mech. I did a lookaround in the hardwareshop yesterday but coulnd find such a hose in that diameter. But what i did yesterday didnt do what i hoped. Temps stayed in the low 20. And high 20 in city driving. So i now i "optimised" the flow from the place where i know i get 30/35°c. And used my friend ducktape to tape up around the airfilter and radiator. So it could only suck air from there. Now i wil try and find such a hose or really workout my coolant/air heat exchanger.

[NickelB NL]

In my drive home i got a consistand 30c on the airintake. So it is better then the pipes. But syill not as good as i want. Also i noticed that when the air intake temp is under 25/26 c, the water temp goes up from 88/90 to 95/96. I noticed it when i was on the 30c again, it is almost perfectly stable on both occasions, does anybody else noticed this on their cars?

So i want to take my coolant heater to the drawing board. And i want to make it so that it is controlled from inside the car with a knob. Or even by an thermostat. Also i want it to be simple, so everyone could make it and adept it to their liking. My basic idea is to measure the room i have availeble in the engine comprtment. And to make a box to those measurements. In this box i will bend copper pipe in an zigzag trough it. Then make 2 T junktions in the heater pipes to connect the box. Inside the box i will make a maze, so that the air passes the pipe the longest and attach it to the airfilterbox. I want to see how it performes and can add insulation to keep more heat in. If i have the time in the weekend i will start to measure and a mockup.