Go Back   EcoModder Forum > Introductions
Register Now
 Register Now
 

Reply  Post New Thread
 
Submit Tools LinkBack Thread Tools
Old 01-12-2015, 08:13 AM   #1 (permalink)
Curious Newcomer
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Flat Prairie of ND
Posts: 10
Thanks: 0
Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post
Curious newcomer from Eastern ND.

Hello,

I have been lurking this website a while unregistered. I have a pretty long daily commute (63 miles), and I'm looking at options to improve efficiency of my current vehicles, and also researching options for my next used vehicle purchase with efficiency in mind (likely Honda Civic, Geo Metro, or something else).

I currently drive a '97 Camry V6. It used to get only 22 to 24 mpg, and I met a Toyota mechanic who plugged my car in, and modified the fuel and transmission shifting settings in my system, and that boosted it to 25 city, 29 highway. The car now has 278,000 miles and driving 126 miles a day is going to quickly reduce its lifespan.

I'm a home DIY mechanic, CAD designer (AutoCAD, Draftsight, AutoCAD Mechanical, Pro/E PTC Creo 2.0) with ~8 years experience professionally, and working to become a subject matter expert on GD&T.

I'm looking forward to learning as much as I possibly can here, and hopefully be a contributing member wherever I can...

  Reply With Quote
Alt Today
Popular topics

Other popular topics in this forum...

   
Old 01-12-2015, 08:34 AM   #2 (permalink)
Master Novice
 
elhigh's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: SE USA - East Tennessee
Posts: 2,314

Josie - '87 Toyota Pickup
90 day: 40.02 mpg (US)

Felicia - '09 Toyota Prius Base
90 day: 49.01 mpg (US)
Thanks: 427
Thanked 616 Times in 450 Posts
Welcome! One of the mods will be along to make it more official.

My Dad is from a tiny town in Minnesota, about 60m ESE of Fargo - extreme eastern North Dakota, you could say. Certainly Fargo was about the nearest city of any note within an hour's drive.

120+ miles per day will certainly rack them up, but flat prairie means the loading isn't ever that bad. The bigger killer to your car will be wintertime, which in ND is nothing to sneeze at.

Block heaters, grille blocks, warm air intakes I think will be some of the best places to start. Aero is certainly important, especially if you're spending so much time at cruising velocity, but in your case it may be more important to first mitigate some of the extremes the engine experiences, and when doing aero to do them with snow resistance in mind. You may have to dial back some of the bigger measures like airdams, considering that they will be spending at least part of their time as ersatz snow plows.

A microscopic cruiser like a Metro would be a good choice regardless, but I think we can all agree that when the snow flies, you're going to want something with a bit more beef. I could be wrong however, and we have an awful lot of Canadians on this forum; they can almost certainly speak with more authority to that than I can.
__________________




Lead or follow. Either is fine.
  Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2015, 08:54 AM   #3 (permalink)
Rat Racer
 
Fat Charlie's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Route 16
Posts: 4,150

Al the Third, year four - '13 Honda Fit Base
Team Honda
90 day: 42.9 mpg (US)
Thanks: 1,784
Thanked 1,922 Times in 1,246 Posts
Welcome to the fun!

Modifying the shift points was a great move. Getting some instrumentation like a ScanGauge or UltraGauge will help you make the most of that. It's one thing to be told "keep your speed down," it's another thing entirely to have on board instruments telling you how your car performs at what speeds.

Enjoy.
__________________

Quote:
Originally Posted by sheepdog44 View Post
Transmission type Efficiency
Manual neutral engine off.100% @MPG <----- Fun Fact.
Manual 1:1 gear ratio .......98%
CVT belt ............................88%
Automatic .........................86%

  Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2015, 09:34 AM   #4 (permalink)
Administrator
 
Daox's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Germantown, WI
Posts: 11,203

CM400E - '81 Honda CM400E
90 day: 51.49 mpg (US)

Daox's Grey Prius - '04 Toyota Prius
Team Toyota
90 day: 49.53 mpg (US)

Daox's Insight - '00 Honda Insight
90 day: 64.33 mpg (US)

Swarthy - '14 Mitsubishi Mirage DE
Mitsubishi
90 day: 56.69 mpg (US)

Daox's Volt - '13 Chevrolet Volt
Thanks: 2,501
Thanked 2,585 Times in 1,553 Posts
Welcome to posting on the site.

As we tell most people, instrumentation is always a great start. So, a scangauge, ultragauge, or bluetooth adapter with torque on a smartphone should be on your short list. That'll help you tweak your driving habits. After that, I think aerodynamic modifications will be your best bang for your buck.

Have you considered replacing the car with something more efficient?
__________________
Current project: A better alternator delete
  Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2015, 10:14 AM   #5 (permalink)
Batman Junior
 
MetroMPG's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: 1000 Islands, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 22,513

Blackfly - '98 Geo Metro
Team Metro
Last 3: 70.09 mpg (US)

MPGiata - '90 Mazda Miata
90 day: 52.71 mpg (US)

Even Fancier Metro - '14 Mitsubishi Mirage top spec
90 day: 70.75 mpg (US)

Appliance car - '14 Mitsubishi Mirage ES (base)
90 day: 60.16 mpg (US)
Thanks: 4,058
Thanked 6,957 Times in 3,602 Posts
Welcome!

Quote:
Originally Posted by bannie View Post
I currently drive a '97 Camry V6. It used to get only 22 to 24 mpg, and I met a Toyota mechanic who plugged my car in, and modified the fuel and transmission shifting settings in my system, and that boosted it to 25 city, 29 highway.
I'd be interested in learning exactly what was done. The Camry has been the best-selling car in the US for years. If it's relatively easy to reflash the autotragic transmission logic, I'm sure other owners would be interested!

As for finding a more efficient highway cruiser, they're definitely out there. We have a fun thread going about cheap, used beaters with 35+ mpg US highway ratings, if you haven't seen it:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...mpg-30489.html

EG: '02 Corolla - 37 mpg highway - $1500

If you have the luxury of time, good choices always come up.
__________________
Project MPGiata! Mods for getting 50+ MPG from a 1990 Miata
Honda mods: Ecomodding my $800 Honda Fit 5-speed beater
Mitsu mods: 70 MPG in my ecomodded, dirt cheap, 3-cylinder Mirage.
Ecodriving test: Manual vs. automatic transmission MPG showdown



EcoModder
has launched a forum for the efficient new Mitsubishi Mirage
www.MetroMPG.com - fuel efficiency info for Geo Metro owners
www.ForkenSwift.com - electric car conversion on a beer budget
  Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2015, 10:39 AM   #6 (permalink)
Spaced out...
 
spacemanspif's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Dirty Jersey
Posts: 748

The New Focus - '07 Ford Focus ZX5
90 day: 32.44 mpg (US)
Thanks: 142
Thanked 205 Times in 149 Posts
With that long of a commute you will want to sacrifice some eco for creature comforts. I'd stay away from the micro sized Metro and look more for a 4cyl Camry. Look at what they offer compared to tiny cars and see if the trade off is worth it for you. But like was said already, you will have to deal with snow so fowl weather abilities should be a major priority as well.
__________________
-Mike

2007 Ford Focus ZX5 - 91k - SGII, pending upper and lower grill bocks - auto trans
1987 Monte Carlo SS - 5.3/4L80E swap - 13.67 @ 106
2007 Ford Focus Estate - 230k - 33mpg - Retired 4/2018
1995 Saturn SL2 - 256K miles - 44mpg - Retired 9/2014

Cost to Operate Spreadsheet for "The New Focus"

  Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2015, 01:11 PM   #7 (permalink)
Rat Racer
 
Fat Charlie's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Route 16
Posts: 4,150

Al the Third, year four - '13 Honda Fit Base
Team Honda
90 day: 42.9 mpg (US)
Thanks: 1,784
Thanked 1,922 Times in 1,246 Posts
Quote:
Originally Posted by spacemanspif View Post
But like was said already, you will have to deal with snow so fowl weather abilities should be a major priority as well.
Heh. Fowl weather:



And now we can return to more constructive posts.
__________________

Quote:
Originally Posted by sheepdog44 View Post
Transmission type Efficiency
Manual neutral engine off.100% @MPG <----- Fun Fact.
Manual 1:1 gear ratio .......98%
CVT belt ............................88%
Automatic .........................86%

  Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to Fat Charlie For This Useful Post:
Frank Lee (01-12-2015)
Old 01-12-2015, 01:38 PM   #8 (permalink)
(:
 
Frank Lee's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: up north
Posts: 12,762

Blue - '93 Ford Tempo
Last 3: 27.29 mpg (US)

F150 - '94 Ford F150 XLT 4x4
90 day: 18.5 mpg (US)

Sport Coupe - '92 Ford Tempo GL
Last 3: 69.62 mpg (US)

ShWing! - '82 honda gold wing Interstate
90 day: 33.65 mpg (US)

Moon Unit - '98 Mercury Sable LX Wagon
90 day: 21.24 mpg (US)
Thanks: 1,585
Thanked 3,555 Times in 2,218 Posts
Quote:
Originally Posted by elhigh View Post
A microscopic cruiser like a Metro would be a good choice regardless, but I think we can all agree that when the snow flies, you're going to want something with a bit more beef. I could be wrong however, and we have an awful lot of Canadians on this forum; they can almost certainly speak with more authority to that than I can.
Where did the Ecomodder forum go???

There's nothing wrong with cruising a Metro or some such in this environment. In fact they are perfect and much more suitable than the typical ubiquitous 5,000 lb V8 4x4 solo commuter vehicle.
__________________


  Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2015, 01:43 PM   #9 (permalink)
(:
 
Frank Lee's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: up north
Posts: 12,762

Blue - '93 Ford Tempo
Last 3: 27.29 mpg (US)

F150 - '94 Ford F150 XLT 4x4
90 day: 18.5 mpg (US)

Sport Coupe - '92 Ford Tempo GL
Last 3: 69.62 mpg (US)

ShWing! - '82 honda gold wing Interstate
90 day: 33.65 mpg (US)

Moon Unit - '98 Mercury Sable LX Wagon
90 day: 21.24 mpg (US)
Thanks: 1,585
Thanked 3,555 Times in 2,218 Posts
Quote:
Originally Posted by Daox View Post
As we tell most people, instrumentation is always a great start. So, a scangauge, ultragauge, or bluetooth adapter with torque on a smartphone should be on your short list. That'll help you tweak your driving habits. After that, I think aerodynamic modifications will be your best bang for your buck.
Instrumentation for droning on a highway for hours on end?

Here you can actually use a cruise control to hold steady throttle. I usually pick a cruising speed nearer to 50 mph while many North Dakotans seem to prefer 80 mph. Guess who spends more time stopping at gas stations.
__________________


  Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2015, 01:47 PM   #10 (permalink)
(:
 
Frank Lee's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: up north
Posts: 12,762

Blue - '93 Ford Tempo
Last 3: 27.29 mpg (US)

F150 - '94 Ford F150 XLT 4x4
90 day: 18.5 mpg (US)

Sport Coupe - '92 Ford Tempo GL
Last 3: 69.62 mpg (US)

ShWing! - '82 honda gold wing Interstate
90 day: 33.65 mpg (US)

Moon Unit - '98 Mercury Sable LX Wagon
90 day: 21.24 mpg (US)
Thanks: 1,585
Thanked 3,555 Times in 2,218 Posts
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fat Charlie View Post
Welcome to the fun!

Modifying the shift points was a great move. Getting some instrumentation like a ScanGauge or UltraGauge will help you make the most of that. It's one thing to be told "keep your speed down," it's another thing entirely to have on board instruments telling you how your car performs at what speeds.

Enjoy.
Think of a slate pool table. Then think of snapping a chalkline mark on it. That is a ND road. The distances are far enough such that a motorist can test different speeds and fe tank-to-tank and get a feel for the results fairly quickly.

Just sayin', instrumentation is nice but not necessary.

__________________


  Reply With Quote
Reply  Post New Thread


Thread Tools




Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Content Relevant URLs by vBSEO 3.5.2
All content copyright EcoModder.com