new here 1998 olds 88

[zf>allison]

Now there's an idea. I just need a car that will haul 425 pounds of dude, I'm 230 Bubby is 195 and our gym stuff at highway speed lol

[nimblemotors]

You might see if you can find a cheap corvette.
They are very aerodynamic and can hold plenty of 'dude'.
Might even do a motor swap on it, find one with a bad v8,
and swap in maybe a 4-cyl.

Like here is a 94 vette for $3,000 needs engine work..
http://stlouis.craigslist.org/cto/5130138607.html

[zf>allison]

What year?

[nimblemotors]

Originally Posted by zf>allison

What year?

The 84 to 94 "C4" are easy to find, older ones are 'classics'.
An 84 is ideal because the 'crossfire' motor was an orphan.
If an 87+, they have aluminum cylinder heads, and you can probably sell the motor for a good price and get a lot of the money back, even if not running.

[zf>allison]

Might be something worth looking into if the seats out of one didn't cost more than a metro. Lol

[elhigh]

Originally Posted by nimblemotors

The 84 to 94 "C4" are easy to find, older ones are 'classics'.
An 84 is ideal because the 'crossfire' motor was an orphan.
If an 87+, they have aluminum cylinder heads, and you can probably sell the motor for a good price and get a lot of the money back, even if not running.

That would be a weird but fun project and I think further discussion of it should go into a different thread.

Points to consider: good luck finding a four-cylinder motor already adapted to longitudinal installation. Your choices begin and end with compact truck motors. Hmm, an LK5...

Knowing what I know about it, it makes me think about bolting an AMC 150 into a C4, with an appropriate bellhousing to make the jump. I think it could be done.

Trunk space stinks.

You can find comparable aero with more seats in something a lot more practical. Corvettes cede aero drag reduction to aero advantages, reduced lift or increased downforce.

+1 on switching to something more economical, but making improvements on the cheap to the ride you have is money in the bank, regardless of what you do later. You're already looking at paying certain costs per mile (and big points to you for carpooling), reducing that with your existing car is a huge initial savings. The payback interval on a lawn edging airdam is a couple of tanks, but the payback on a whole different car might be a couple of years.

[zf>allison]

Just ordered 17 buck worth of 6 inch lawn edging, 20 foot roll look a looks like i get it tuesday. That's perfect that way I can finish up this current hipermiling tank and see what it gets and then on the next tank see if it helps. Maybe run some down the side of the car to? See how it works out i guess

[zf>allison]

Would it help to jack up my rear shocks to get the front of the car lower? I don't want the car to be raked to bad I don't know if it will cause more drag.

[elhigh]

Don't rake it at all. If you're going to do anything to the suspension then lower the entire car, front and rear. Don't go crazy with it but it does have a positive effect.

Plus raising the rear on a front drive car just makes you look like an idiot to the car guys. If you're like most guys willing to make ecomods to your car you're not too concerned with what other people think, but there it is.

Look at what some of the other guys here have done with lawn edging. It's crazy, and some of it looks really quite good - like store bought air dams. Keep in mind that you'll need to add some kind of bracing to keep it from folding back at speed, but not too rigid so it can give if it collides with something and absorb the shock.