New Here
 

But not really new to the game, I am a ecomodder lurker, have been doing mild ecomodding for years like Engine off and coast, and driving tiny motor 1.4t vehicles.

I currently have a 2013 Chevy Cruze ECO 1.4t with 6speed manual transmission. I love what GM did from the factory to improve this cars mpg, even making it a few hundred pounds lighter than the regular Cruzes.

I like weight reduction. So my plans for this car are.

lighter battery from a Honda Fit, the 151R. thats about 18 pounds lighter than the stock cruze battery

Muffler and resonator delete, replaced with straight pipe, about 12 pounds saved

Primary cat replaced with Downpipe, 7 lbs

Adjustable coilover kit. I weighed this one already, 9 lbs lighter than oem.

Front Sway bar delete...I am unsure how much it weighs, 10~20 lbs but I already removed the sway bar links so the sway bar is not doing anything.

The goal is to remove 100 pounds. I uber out of the vehicle, so seat removal and other things like that are not options here.

Best mpg so far was 5 miles on the highway at 55mph, netting 55mpg.

Glad to finally make an account and stop being a lurker.

Won't the swaybar delete affect your passenger's ride?

I know it can affect stability. But I have been driving like this for 2 weeks with no issues. I felt comfortable at highway speeds.

Straight pipe exhaust
 

As a former teenager that liked straight pipe everything, I had a 1.3L Festiva that I straight piped, it was loud, loved it until I drove it on a 500 mile trip, got home and put muffler back on it.

My point, ya might want to leave muffler on for passenger comfort to the ears so they won't leave you a bad review due to noise of exhaust.

Just stating what I have experienced, but it is your vehicle to do with as you please, happy ecomodding!!!;)

Removing the front sway bar will not make ride quality worse.
However it will affect your cars handling characteristics:
1. body roll will increase
2. it will have a tendency to oversteer more

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I agree removing the sway bar is a bad idea. It could easily lead to a loss of control during a avoidance maneuver due to body roll and oversteer. A better way to reduce weight in my opinion would be lighter rims and tires.


Welcome aboard... ;)


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I agree, a weight saving this small won't affect fuel economy noticeably and the safety issues are not worth it.

If you want to reduce weight, better remove the rear seats.

Go ahead and remove the sway bar. I cut mine off years ago (you have to remove the lower control arms to get it out otherwise, and I wanted to see if it was solid or hollow anyway), not for weight reduction but because I hate that cars are tuned for understeer these days and prefer something that will oversteer more readily. No fiery death has ensued, even when I autocross it. I removed the front bar on my last car too.

Yes, actually, I removed them, and already had the muffler welded back on cause, yes, it was a little too loud. In the future, I am going to try a racing muffler. They look a bit lighter than the stock muffler.

I do agree that I do worry about it, almost like it is a safety feature, like a seat belt that you don't need until you do. But I think with the adjustable coilovers, that would really help stiffen up the front and reduce sway anyways. As far as wheels go, the Cruze Eco wheels are 17 inch forged aluminum wheels, and 20 lbs lighter than the 16 inch cruze wheels

Source gmauthority .com/blog/2011/02/chevy-cruze-eco-wheels-save-20-pounds/