New Project - 1993 Mirage - Need assistance.

[nayeliesuncle]

After reading the thread that Robert linked to (thanks again), here is an awful drawing of what I'll do this weekend. I copied a member's mod.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by nayeliesuncle

Hello,

I'm new to the forum and to ecomodder. I have a new project and need some assistance with the math side of things (don't we all?).


The car is a 1993 Mitsubishi Mirage ES 1.5L automatic. Currently get a calculated real world 28 MPG with me driving normally (up to 70 MPH). I do a lot of city driving, and my commute is less than 50 miles a week.

My goal is to beat a Toyota Prius. Will modify anything to reach the goal. I'm a licensed mechanic, so mods are not a problem for me.


I have a picture with what I want to do, bit it won't let me upload it.


I specifically need assistance with calculating the .cd and all of that technical stuff.

Thank you for your interest.

I'm going to play Devil's advocate.
If your weekly commute is 50-miles over 5 working days,then your average daily commute is 10-miles/day round-trip.
So number one,your car never reaches operating temperature,a great hardship to performance.
If your travel is in the city,then you're in traffic?,with yields,stops,turns,idling?
If so,I don't know if you can can compete with a hybrid,as they have efficiencies designed in to help with these issues.
If you could leave home and arrive at your destination without any stops you could probably see 50-mpg.
Aerodynamics,while no liability in the city,doesn't pay the dividends it would as on the open highway at higher velocity.
I believe your issues are inertia,traffic congestion,operating at very light load.
The low hanging fruit for weight reduction was plucked 30 years ago.
Really low rolling resistance tires remain on concept cars,not at tire dealers.
I can't imagine you accomplishing any meaningful weight reduction.
Short of zero traffic and perfectly synchronized traffic signals,I don't see how you can win the inertia battle.
While I'm one of the greatest proponents of aero drag reduction,I don't believe it's going to really make a contribution in an urban setting.
You're type of commuting is exactly the reason hybrid cars were created.It's my opinion that you could never approach their efficiency with the Mirage,no matter what you did.
But I'll keep scratching my head.

[Daox]

Good points Aerohead. I missed the short commute part. Definitely look at getting yourself a block heater to preheat the engine. With a short commute you'll see large benefits there.

[Wonderboy]

I was thinking you've got a bit of an incorrect approach. Not to discount your enthusiasm, but I think you should maybe save up the budget you have now, and make a more meaningful impact later with a slightly larger budget. If you really want to keep with an IC engine, then make sure your motor is a 4G15. This is a lesser-known application of lean burn technology used in early 90's Mitsubishis, potentially including your Mirage. I hope it is at least MIVEC (variable timing based on RPM, like Honda's VTEC). Do some research on that and see what you find. 5-speed is also a must if you want to get the best mileage in an urban setting. The best thing you could do by far to save money and energy in the long run though is to go electric. Thanks for coming out of lurking though, and I hope you're not discouraged by the advice you're getting. If you do exactly as you planned it definitely can't hurt.

[nayeliesuncle]

I appreciate all of the input.

- Like you have explained better than I did, it is very short.

- I'm building the car as a project. I will use it to commute, but I want to raise awareness about lowering fuel consumption in Puerto Rico.

- I'll keep the engine and transmission stock, since the majority of the cars in Puerto Rico are automatics. I want to show people that with a little twist of their driving habits, an improvement can be made, for all.

- I want to modify the aerodynamics to improve the MPG and to attract attention (the more attention to the project and cause, the better the results as a collective).


If I can get people to save 1% of the fuel they use, the impact would be enormous.

That's why I need all the help I can get from you, my fellow hypermilers.

____

I will start working with the car today. Pictures will follow.

[nayeliesuncle]

Also, none of your posts are discouraging!

I want everyone to be part of this.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by nayeliesuncle

I appreciate all of the input.

- Like you have explained better than I did, it is very short.

- I'm building the car as a project. I will use it to commute, but I want to raise awareness about lowering fuel consumption in Puerto Rico.

- I'll keep the engine and transmission stock, since the majority of the cars in Puerto Rico are automatics. I want to show people that with a little twist of their driving habits, an improvement can be made, for all.

- I want to modify the aerodynamics to improve the MPG and to attract attention (the more attention to the project and cause, the better the results as a collective).


If I can get people to save 1% of the fuel they use, the impact would be enormous.

That's why I need all the help I can get from you, my fellow hypermilers.

____

I will start working with the car today. Pictures will follow.

The notion of raising awareness is a noble one.
If you want to use the Mirage as a technology demonstrator to showcase efficiency I would recommend you mimic basjoos' AeroCivic.
I can think of no other vehicle which has lit the imagination of the motoring public as his car has done.And all the mods are 'doable' for the Mirage.
The Hyper-miling forum will help you compensate for the urban commute situation.
If you can stomach city council meetings,you might try to emphasize the importance traffic engineering can play with respect to congestion-related waste,get the agenda moved around,and funding re-distributed for infrastructure which would actually benefit taxpayers.

[nayeliesuncle]

Good points, aerohead.

I have to confess that the basjoos civic is the reason the project was started.

Already started "modding" the car. I removed the side view mirrors today, and installed a "panoramic" rear view mirror to compensate. Also inflated the tires to maximum pressure. I did not have time to test the difference, but will do so in the coming days, hopefully tomorrow.

Here are the (sorry for the quality) pictures:




I used some sheetmetal I had laying around, four bolts, some door moldings, and black paint. Took me about an hour.

Next stop is the wheel covers and front air dam.

[Angmaar]

That looks very clean! Nice job.

[nayeliesuncle]

Thanks!

I'll take better pictures during the day, so you can see more details.

I thought about doing a DIY write up, but noticed there was already one. Maybe one about fiberglass?