Modding my 1998 Taurus w/ 3.0V6, auto

[rykoala]

I posted this thread in January:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...-do-i-625.html

and by following some of the tips, I've increased my mileage. I was getting 17-18mpg and now I'm getting 22-23mpg. I increased my tire pressure by far and modified my driving drastically.

Last week I added grill blocks. Here are the pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/rykoala/CarMods

I didn't block the grill completely, for fear of overheating in the warm weather we have in the Reno area.

I drove for 300 miles and didn't budge over 22.5mpg, so really they didn't do anything. I also did an antennae delete and that did not do anything either.

I'm interested in getting into the 25-28mpg range if possible What can I do? Should I go ahead and spend cash on the scanguage?

[SuperTrooper]

Originally Posted by rykoala

I posted this thread in January:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...-do-i-625.html

and by following some of the tips, I've increased my mileage. I was getting 17-18mpg and now I'm getting 22-23mpg. I increased my tire pressure by far and modified my driving drastically.

Last week I added grill blocks. Here are the pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/rykoala/CarMods

I didn't block the grill completely, for fear of overheating in the warm weather we have in the Reno area.

I drove for 300 miles and didn't budge over 22.5mpg, so really they didn't do anything. I also did an antennae delete and that did not do anything either.

I'm interested in getting into the 25-28mpg range if possible What can I do? Should I go ahead and spend cash on the scanguage?

You stated in your original post that you mostly do in town driving, so going from 17-18 (the new EPA est for your car) to 22-23 is pretty good! That generation of the Taurus is the slickest they've built (0.30 Cd) so some aero mods would work if you did more highway driving. In the city saving gas appears to be mostly technique.

[LostCause]

If you are willing to make a few simple splices in your wiring harness, the ~$40 MPGuino that has been developed in the Instrumentation forum might be worth a look. If you are not comfortable, you can wait a few months for what will hopefully be the next iteration: an OBD-II model.

If you are doing mostly city, instrumentation will be your best investment. The next best thing would be losing all the mass you can out of the car. Remove the spare & jack, clean out the trunk, and rip out the seats if you want to go wild (do you really need four seats ).

As for the highway, I'd look into rear wheel skirts, wheel boattails, wheel splitters ("spats"), and underpaneling. All of these mods can be done cheaply with coroplast.

Lastly, a mod may still help even if it doesn't register. A 0.5% gain may be imperceptible. If you add enough small gains together, you'll eventually see a noticeable change.

- LostCause

[rykoala]

What I did forget to say was that since that post too, I got a new job which is 11 miles away and is is about 8 miles of freeway. But it doesn't seem to matter, 22-23 seems pretty good. Thanks for confirming the increase over stock!

I kind of figured that the car was already very aero for a grill block to not do *anything*.

I'm going to try a windshield wiper delete for a week to see if that makes any difference, also.

Would narrower tires make any difference, and rear wheel skirts?

Thanks for any tips!

[rykoala]

Originally Posted by LostCause

Remove the spare & jack, clean out the trunk, and rip out the seats if you want to go wild (do you really need four seats ).

I'll look into that instrumentation, thanks! Also yes, I do need 4 seats. I have a wife and two kids, and it is our *only* car.

If my commute was longer I would just buy a second vehicle and get a Subaru Justy or something along those lines, and then start aeromodding it.

Since my commute is 10 miles by surface streets, I am going to start bicycle commuting again in a few weeks. I just got done painting my recumbent that I built and have to put it all back together and then get used to riding it, and get it outfitted. That was a fun project and is on my gallery too

[Johnny Mullet]

That's is pretty good mpg from a Taurus. And those were pretty aerodynamicly styled to begin with, so I am not sure aeromods would be your ticket.