New guy, and I only get 8 mpg
 

Hello, Name is Ron. Live outside of Harrisburg Pa. Just stumbled on this site and I am very intrigued by it. I'm in the process of rebuilding a 93 Ford Tempo 2.3 auto to take over the daily driver duties of my customized pick up truck (which only averages 8 mpg). And I've been looking into some little things here and there to improve overall efficiency, performance (as in HP and TQ figures) and mileage. Now I know a Tempo is no race car, but I'd like a lil more power for when I need it driving in heavy traffic each day. I know thats not what you all do here so I'll keep away from that. But I'm here to try and learn ways to improve the MPG of the car. The best thing I can think of which would net me nearly 10 mpg on this car would to be swap out the 3 speed auto trans in favor of a 5 speed manual. Plus the manual improves acceleration too. But unfortunately a manual trans would render the car useless to my wife should she ever need to drive it.

I'll never get rid of my truck though. It's been the most reliable vehicle I've ever owned, plus I take it to shows, and work it hard too. Just don't want to drive it every day anymore. And I plan to take it even more extreme, more lift, bigger tires, maybe even a bigger built HiPo V8.

For economy and performance, taking out some weight is great. If you only need high power for a few seconds per day, you might enjoy using nitrous, with economy settings the rest of the time. Aero improvements and better tires are good too. See the "stickies" for lists of best practices.

Welcome to ecomodder :thumbup:

Don't forget the aeromods!

You were on the right track with the 5sp!!! The 5sp transforms it. More power and econo, if you can believe that. Maybe the wife could be persuaded to learn? If she has anywhere near normal levels of hand/eye coordination and a strong enough clutch leg, she can do it.

Failing that, I've found that my a/t Tempo likes 185/75R14s- one size taller than stock. Perhaps even taller than that would be better yet but I haven't tried it.

You can adjust the TV linkage for earlier upshifts.

Air the tires up to at least 35, if not 40. One can go higher yet, but I haven't seen benefit to that.

There ain't a whole lotta weight to strip out unless you get serious and gut it all. I don't see the wife going along with that. I just make sure I don't have extra junk in the car. I tried it for a while with no pass. seat, no spare and tools, etc., but eh, I don't have much city component to my driving so it didn't really help.

As you can see my a/t Tempo is just under 28mpg. It can do 30 or a bit better on a good day. If you visited my gaslog you will also see it hasn't been updated for a long, long time. It's parked and I run my 5sp. If you are getting 28-30, I think you are pretty much doing it right. If you get more... tell me how!!! :eek:

Speed kills econo especially on the a/t Tempo. No OD ratio, it's like trying to cruise the 5sp in 4th gear. Seems like you can watch the fuel gauge drop at speeds above 60.

Ya, her learning stick just isn't going to happen. She pretty much refuses to. With out even trying she says she can't. so oh well.

I'm not going to gut it, as I have to pick up my 3 y/o daughter daily. and I'll actually have a little bit of added weight in the form of a stereo system, nothing major, prolly 30 lbs total.

For tire size, I bought some aftermarket aluminum 15" wheels from a fox body pony with some 205/60/15s on them from craigslist. They are about a 1/2 inch overall diameter bigger. But they are a bit wider which will increase rolling resistance a little. They are a lil less than half tread so when I replace them, I'll go a different size. I'm also installing a tach, to help monitor engine speed. Every vehicle I've had has had one, be it either factory or added in. and I know it sounds like that thing is screaming 3k rpms going down the highway, which it prolly is.

I've also modded the intake hose from the air box to the fender, the stock one is really choked down, so I opened it up with a straight tube, that should help a little bit. I didn't want to put a filter right on the end of the mass air meter since then I'd be sucking in all hot air and that makes it worse. at some point I may go with an open filter element like that, but it will be enclosed in a sealed and insulated box that is fed fresh outside air.

And I know speed is killer on the mileage on these cars. I noticed that before I parked it in Dec when it ran out of inspection. Plus the old motor was so tired and wore out, had 220k miles on it, it was just bad on gas all around. it was down to around 16 MPG. The motor and trans I just swapped in was from a 90k mile car, it's much more powerful, and runs much smoother. So it should do a good bit better on fuel too.

Here is a pic from today of the car. Should be legal and road ready in the next few weeks.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...Picture116.jpg

I guess I'm mostly interest in the aeromods. But then also some engine, exhaust mods too that could help mileage also. But this whole car is a budget build. I have around $550 in the rebuilding of it, which includes the tow dolly rental for bringing the parts car home that I got the engine/trans/suspension from. And grand total invested is less than $1k since wifey bought it in Y2K including the purchase price of $326 which included tax and tags too.

so overall it's been a really good, cheep lil car. We wouldn't ahve gotten anything for it to sell it, and I couldn't have bought a car as nice as what this is turning out to be for what I've got into it.

Offroadford4x4 -

Welcome to EM! My wife has a bum left knee, so she doesn't drive manual trannies. Sooooo, my car is pretty much a me-only car. In return her car is her domain. Why not two Tempos, one for her and one for you, ;) .

When you got the space and the skillzz to do at least some of your own car maintenance, multiple cars for multiple tasks can make a lot of sense.

CarloSW2

well her Escape is just fine most of the time. She only works about 5 miles from home, so the mileage on it isn't much of a concern. and its our primary family vehicle. The sole purpose of this tempo is to take place of my truck for may daily driving duties since it's so bad, even being stick, and I work father from home, about 11 miles but deal with heavy traffic. it would also be a back up if for some reason she wouldn't be able to drive the escape, like if it were down for service, or in for state inspection and emissions testing.

Though I would love to get a hold of a 2 door Tempo GLS 5spd, I don't really need another car. I have a 98 SVT Contour also that will be a project next year. so that will probably end up being my primary drive once it's finished. But it needs a fair amount of work and $$$ thrown at it. Plus I still have not found out if I can get the title transferred into my name from the prior owner since he's supposedly in jail and I have no contact info for him. :rolleyes:

Welcome to EM! I have a truck that gets really crappy gas mileage too, but it spends most of it's time playing in the mud instead of being my daily driver...........

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...netetf/yl2.jpg

Once I got a fuel efficient car, I started saving tons of money even when I had to do major repairs to it. The fuel savings were astronomical and over time has really saved me some cash..............

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...anmetro005.jpg

I used to have a Tempo! I loved that car! It had A/C and an automatic transmission. The car would get me about 22 MPG because I drove on the highway with it. If I kept the speeds at 55 MPH or less, it would get me 25 MPG. My friend had a manual Tempo that would get 43 MPG as he claimed.

I wish I never hit that damn deer with my Tempo.................

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...etf/tempo1.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...etf/tempo2.jpg

I remember the tempos. there is a means to approach hypermile and gain power. ford did somethng slob with it. I learned this in high school when they were new..several of us wondered how 2.3 liters in a lightweight car could suck down that much and not even be powerful. :confused:

I cannot remember the exacts, but EGR removal was step one, do away with it entirely (if it even has it), then after that the cold air intake games we all play, top end heat rising, etc, etc..and I believe it has a crazy resonator tryin to battle convertor chemistry. you may have blown apart your exhaust already. This is all a generational think, I have a japanese subaru from the same time realm that got the same treatment as mentioned...and doubled fuel mileage, no surprise. have fun with it after simplifying.
I also remember this car for amazing longevity, for the engine anyway. :thumbup:

Johnny, that tempo looks just like my parts car did, only mine was smashed in the back. And yours appears to have been a 2 door. Am I right? My truck used to spend just as much time in the mud and on the trails as it did on the street but I got bored with doing that so now it's just a street/show/work truck.

bgd73, the 2.3 was only really meant to be a low reving high torque engine. and it served it's purpose. Alot of the reason it's lacking much power comparred to jap engines is the fack that the 2.3 is a pushrod engine compared to the japs overhead cam engines. I have not done anything with the exhaust as of yet, since I'm kind of on a crunch here to get the car done, I stuck the OEM back on (yes its' all original OEM Ford exhaust from the 90k parts car and in good condition at that). I need to get it going so I can get the truck in the garage and get the front axle rebuild before winter hits. after the truck is done, than I will pull the exhaust, gut the cat out and find a better flowing muffler (not a fart cannon from some ricer). I will also look into the EGR delete, along with making my own highflow cold air intake which will probably require turning or relocating the battery so I can put a larger intake into the fender. I'm also going to look into insulating the intake manifold somehow since it's on top of the exhaust manifold. I'm sure that heat transfer does nothing to help economy or performance. I'll also be tearing down the original motor and looking over things like the cyl head to see where improvements could be made such as the bowls behind the valves and how well the ports match the manifolds. if I can increase the flow, I can increase the overall volumetric efficiency of the engine gaining both more power, and better economy (so long as I keep my foot outa it).

I'm not really shooting for major gains, but I would like to see an average of around 30-35 mpg combined driving while retaining the auto trans.

You're going to have to keep it <40 maybe 50 mph to get that.

Since you can't swap in a manual, how about swapping in a newer OD transmission from an Escort? I don't know if that's within your zone of comfort.

Aeromodding is a given, obviously, but the question is how far are you willing to go? You can easily make some paddle mirrors, vent the rear of the hood to slightly alter the windshield/hood angle, which also allows better venting in case you wanted to try out a grille block or a belly pan.

Not sure what you're into visually, but smooth wheel covers or rear wheel skirts will help. Check that your rear bumper doesn't create a parachute for air under the car. If it does, you can either trim it out and make a diffuser, or you can just make a tray from the spare tire well to the bottom of the bumper to keep airflow from getting up into the pocket that the bumper creates.

Tire spats, combined with at least outer side skirts, possibly a second set of side skirts mounted inboard of the first set to isolate underbody flow and keep air from splitting around the back tires.

Lowering the car will get you closer to the result of a belly pan without actually having one, if you're not into that kind of modification. Check/adjust your brakes, make sure they're not dragging at all.

If you want more power from an exhaust mod, and you already know that the 2.3 was a Torque Monster (LOL), you'd want to figure out what size of pipe is necessary to aid low-RPM flow at high throttle angles. If I had to give an opinion here, I'd say no larger than 2 inch, and probably 1 3/4 to 1 7/8 if you're not going to be revving it up at all.

Any transmission from a 1.6, 1.9, 2.3, 3.0, or 3.2 Ford engine (yes, V6's as well) will fit, if you want to swap the Trans for something with longer/more gears. With the low-end grunt, and a properly running engine, longer gears to take advantage of torque will ultimately help out greatly.

I've piddled with exhaust mods and EGR block-off and seriously, didn't find an fe or performance difference. So it's a stock mandrel-bent exhaust on my DD, nice 'n' quiet.

The 2.3 does "lack HP" compared to OHC BUT it doesn't lack torque, and that is where most normals (outside of ricers) live. If you ain't winding it out past 5 grand that OHC isn't doing you much good.

bgd the "slob" part of Tempos is that dang automatic tranny. The 5speeds give your vaunted subie a run for their money, goll dang ol' 3 foot hermaphrodites notwithstanding.

P.S. I have one that's lowered, no fe difference but I do like the look and it seems to corner with more confidence.

P.S. I've also piddled with that airbox intake hose; yes it sure does look restrictive but deleting it did me no good whatsoever. Uh huh, stock one back on there. :rolleyes:

One thing I did do was radius that sharp transition in the airbox lid right before the MAF. Did it improve anything? I don't know, but it makes me feel good. :)

I can personally vouch for this... the 5 speed swap really wakes the car up and makes it just that much more lively. Now if only that damn shift linkage wasn't so loose. (I fixed it with a Honda linkage... never did a write up or anything on it though... damn it all.)

OP - Is manual valve body an option?

I don't think they make a manual VB for the stock trans, though I have heard there is a shift kit avail.

As for swapping in an auto with more gears, I know there are some out there that will bolt up, but the reason Ford did not put them in there is that they just don't fit. The Tempo shares the same front platform, cradle, suspension, etc, as the 1st gen escort. which to the best of my knowledge never had an OD auto either due to size restraints.

As for the aeromodding, I'm willing to do somethings, but overall want to retain the stocksih look to the car. I don't want any of the huge fairings and such I've seen on some of the cars on here. I don't doubt they work, just I don't care for the look. I'm willing to try some things like air dams, rear difuser, tire spats and so on. Basically things you won't really see much of with out really looking. Can't really block the grill anymore than it already is. factory there isn't much air getting through there anyhow. I'd love to lower it, but I don't have the $$$ for custom springs or new stock spring to cut down.

Frank, how did you lower your car? Any pics of it?

"They" don't make one, but you can. There's a walkthrough for it somewhere on the interwebs... or you can go to FEOA.

Yes, the Tempo/Topaz share a platform with 1st and 2nd gen 'Scorts, and they also came OEM with 3.0's in them, which fit less than snugly in a Taurus front end. Trust me: Just about any OD 1.9L Tranny will fit in there - there's room. You can actually get the transmission from a ZX2 and control it manually, since it's electronic, not hydraulic. Obviously, this is probably a stretch, since your wife won't use a manual transmission, and without installing the TCU, you'd have to control it manually. Tygen1 from here did the manual controlled setup, but yours would have to be a little different.

I do believe that Escorts up to '96 still had hydraulic transmissions, though I could be wrong, and I believe they had OD ratios as well.

I can understand not liking the look of major aeromods - I don't like some of them either. ;)

If you were into a complete engine swap, a 1.9 HO swap might get you closer to where you want to be, but that's probably a moot option as well.

Time for a new wife. :thumbup:

:p New wife, I'll keep this one cause she lets me play with and build cars and trucks. And she even helps time to time. ;)

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...Picture019.jpg

A trans swap I guess could be an option down the road once more funds are available. As far as a motor swap, I just finished that in this car about 2 weeks ago ;) only I put in another 2.3, just with 130,000 less miles on it. :D also swapped in the low mile trans too. Just did it all as a whole.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...Picture026.jpg

I was just kidding about the wife. :)

I can tell you with a very high degree of certainty that gutting the cat will not help anything at all unless it is a shot, plugged up cat- and I've never seen one of those. Don't go there.

EGR block off: go ahead and experiment; I have. Didn't help anything. If the system is functioning properly then "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"!

Same with cold air intake. Try it and let us know what it did. I removed the "restrictive looking" airbox intake and saw no gains.

Re: warm intake manifold: well if we are driving for economy that's a good thing I would think. It's not like it gets blazing hot anyway.

Port match- go for it. I've done it on one of my '84s (carb) but not on the '94. Remember if it is at anything less than WOT it probably isn't going to do anything as the throttle blade itself is the big gorilla restriction in the room. And if you're driving for econo on any particular tankful it will not see any WOT at all.

So then when everything's running right and without a bunch of do-nothing mods it should return up to 30-33 on good tanks. But not every tank unless you have better driving conditions (no extreme winter).