New Feature: EcoModder Team Competition

[PaleMelanesian]

Ooooh! Do you have any documentation for that kill switch?

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by PaleMelanesian

Ooooh! Do you have any documentation for that kill switch?

Why yes I do... http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post254910

I have no complaints about its functionality. Pretty smooth, but timing the cut so the gauge stays on can be tough and sometimes *seems* a matter of luck. Hope this helps.

[PaleMelanesian]

Thanks.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by PaleMelanesian

I'm sure you know that 65 is too fast for good numbers. Your aero mods help, but the gearing is still working against you. You're running 2600 rpm at that speed. I aim to keep it below 2100 at the peak of my pulses, and even lower most of the time.

I have tried to follow your 2000/2100 rpm practice and can't get it to work for me. I don't know if it is the hilly terrain or enigine mods like the WAI and the 2* ignition timing advance or my working of the pedal. I just can't produce the results you get. In fact, my car will often lug if I try for anything above 60% load (approx) at 1500-1600 rpms (the start of a pulse). To avoid lugging (VERY bad for engine) I have taken to higher RPMs, such as 1700-2300. Second gear I push to 2500/2600 these days so I can have at least 1700/1800 when I hit third and raise the load percentage to 70 or higher. All my driving is pulse and glide, even on the freeway now. I hit 65mph, and I coast down to 55 and start over. That way I never drive below or above legal speeds. For my conception of my driving practices as being close to ready or ready for scaling-up, sticking to law matters (although I guess this is an odd way for a whole society to drive!!).

[PaleMelanesian]

Well, it's true that if you're p&g'ing it, the loss isn't nearly as great. It's not like you have a choice to run lower rpm at that speed, so make full use of the power that's there. It's kinda fun, too.

All my routes have driveways and cross streets along the way, so there's no minimum limit.

I'm not sure our ideas of "lugging" are the same. At low loads I take it down to even lower rpm.

[doviatt]

Hey Turbo Dan-O,

Nice job taking the No. 1 position for Team Metro. Man you flew by me with your new engine rebuild. Keep up the good work.
My average is sinking with age and miles. I need to do something major.

[brucepick]

My average is sinking due to being off work for a couple weeks. Still driving, and road-testing the rear spoiler project, but the shorter runs aren't up in the 50 mpg range I was getting on my long commute.

[redyaris]

brucepick
Has the testing yealded any good info that will allow you to regain lost mpg when back commuting to work?
Last week I had a similar situation regarding; do I test and loose mpg or not test and not learn something?

[brucepick]

Thanks for asking!

To answer your second question first...

IMHO, if you can "test by driving", it's a reasonable option. As long as the driving conditions are consistent enough so you can really tell if the mod helped or hurt. Even so, I wouldn't claim it's as definitive a test as a good series of ABA tests under consistent conditions. But IMHO it's better than just assuming the mod is helping you.

In my case with my commute temporarily suspended, I did some testing of two versions of the project. First version was definitely a loser; coasts lost more speed with the spoiler on the car. Second version had 2 stiffeners added, possibly showed improvement. However the variability between runs was so large that I could see the test process itself wasn't very consistent (haven't posted those results to the project thread).

I'm now on what I'm calling ver. #3, where I've considerably stiffened up the center horizontal panel. Four aluminum bar stiffeners. Haven't had time to do any testing and due to not working currently, I'm not doing the 55 mile drive to work either. Rainy today, nice tomorrow; but due to commitments at home I may not be able to get out for testing .

[Fat Charlie]

Originally Posted by redyaris

Last week I had a similar situation regarding; do I test and loose mpg or not test and not learn something?

If you think it might work, it's worth testing. If you can't control the test to your satisfaction, test it in the wild- that's where you measure real mpg anyway.