New car, new goals. 91 Ford festiva
 

I finally got smart and realized I needed a beater car that was economical. I was searching for a cheap car that got at least 30MPG and was a hatchback so I could throw tools and car stuff in the back.

That led me to a 480 dollar ford festiva. The interior was ripped apart and every seal was laying in the car. It has a wicked oil leak from the valve cover but it runs well and the odometer says 98k. I don't know if I believe it but the car seems to run good.

My goals are as follows.

1. Establish baseline (working on now). Going to try and go for two tank minimum but I may not make it.
2. Grill block
3. Wheel covers
4. Engine kill switch
5. Kammback (if I get really motivated).

What other ideas should I be looking at?

I mostly drive in the suburbs / city so I rarely go over 55 MPH. I have begun doing a little EOC but not much.

Start with engine maintenance, a 22.5 year old car is more like 23.5yo car. Check all your hoses, replace belts, including timing belt, water pump, clean grounds, and most of all the valve cover gasket is the easiest fix. If it's really the head gasket it isn't that hard on that engine, replace gear fluid also. You'll benefit more there first, Cd is not a constant but varies as a function of speed, if most of your driving is less than 55mph you'll see less from aero and more from mechanical. imo

Does it have the original 12 inch wheels on it still?

Maintenance and cleaning is my first priority. I'm going to replace the valve cover gaskets and timing belt first thing. If I see any signs of head gasket issues, I'll just rebuild the whole thing.

It still has the original 12 inch rims. They have pretty good tires now but supposedly everyone upgrades because tires are hard to find.

FYI: At just 30 mph, this car probably burns more than 50% of its fuel just to overcome aero drag. Most people overestimate the speed at which aero becomes a significant factor. See: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...mph-26923.html

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Congrats on the find, paintme205...

A priority should be fuel consumption instrumentation - you'll need an MPGuino since this car is pre-OBD-II.

That plus driving techniques (since you're primarily in town) will be where you'll find your easiest, quickest & most cost-effective gains.

Drag is a coefficient of speed, so yes it is present but friction is still a greater force at lower speeds then drag. Drag coefficients that you read on a chart are computed at ~40-45mph, whereas when you are going slower its lower and faster its higher. You can speculate values but without quanitified test results your values aren't critical and therefore useless.

Look at it this way, the mass of a single car verses the mass of the ecosphere (b/n land and clouds) the mass of the car is small until it is moving with x amount of force or velocity is achieved. Also a stationary object has drag, just saying. I don't mind questions if I'm wrong, and i can be at times, I appologize but I'll never quantify false values without good reason or evidence.

If you need any parts for it let me know, I've got about 5 cars worth and don't mind shipping things up to 60lb.

"Useless" is an overstatement. True, Cd changes with speed but the difference is small enough that for all intents and purposes we can assume it's constant for the speeds at which a road vehicle typically operates. There's a thread around here on this subject with sources cited.

It might sound kinda odd to take weight out of a Festiva, which is already light, but take out the most weight you can. A good maintenance is also essential to get some good mileage from that old beater, and it's also a matter of reliability. What would justify going too cheap on maintenance if the car would spend most of its time at the shop for random failures?

Have any good tires/rims? I also need the seat belts for a automatic belt on both sides. Send me a private message.


Results are in guys. 41.87 MPG. That was an entire tank and about 1/4-1/2 doing 55-60 on the highway. I'm stoked.

Only downside is the tires are 125/80 and stock is an inch and a half taller. I may be actually getting worse mileage. When I change tires, I will have to restart a baseline. Until then this is my baseline before I start modding.

Going to work on removing weight (maybe 30-40 pounds max) from the engine bay and interior.

Also going to delete wipers, antenna (move inside) and a front grill block in the next two weeks.