New Project - 1993 Mirage - Need assistance.
 

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.

Welcome to the site.

Beating a Prius is definitely possible. I've done it by a fair amount in my Paseo. however, you're going to need either a ton of modification or lots of changes to your driving style to achieve it.

As for the rest, according to our wiki page:

Vehicle Coefficient of Drag List - EcoModder

Your Cd is .32.

Can you beat it driving-style for driving-style? It would be unfair to compare to a poorly-driven Prius.

Thanks for the link with the information for the car.

If I drive very carefully, I can get to around 40 mpg on HWY. driving. That is in the current condition of the car with 28 psi of air in the tires, and a 250 lbs. pound monkey driving (me).

I'm shooting for the Prius, because for me that's seems like a reachable goal. I don't know if comparing a gasoline only powered car versus a hybrid under the same driving conditions is fair for either.
My ultimate goal would be to get the most out of it.

Can anyone post the pictures for me?

Here is a picture with some of my plans.

Don't forget to delete the antenna or relocate it to inside the car. Also, a manual swap would help.

Since your commute is less than 50 miles a week, you might even consider a Forkenswift-type EV conversion. 10 miles per day is quite easy.

Thanks for the input.

The sound system is going to be removed. The antenna will be shaved.

I thought about swapping to a manual, but it would double the cost of the project (same with an EV conversion). Those are great alternatives, but out of the budget for this project.

I don't commute that much, since my wife and I share the drive to work. She drops me off at my office (pictured in the photo), and picks me up later.

This is a project for fun. I'm tired of modifying cars to run faster, I want a new challenge. I'm also into robotics (I'll build the MPGuino with an arduino I have laying around), so this would let me combine both skills.

I want some help with calculating the front air dam/splitter, and the rear extension. Such as calculating the angles, length of parts, etc.
If a link is available, please post it.

Thanks guys. I'm a long time reader of the forum, all the way back to the basjoos civic.

Good point. On the highway I can beat the Prius by using P&G in the Paseo. In the Prius I just use cruise control on the highway normally. I wouldn't call this poorly driven as I've tried all other known techniques and they just don't give me measurably better mileage due to the terrain I drive in (lots of small hills). In the city, the Prius will likely overtake the Paseo simply because of the regenerative braking.


I also missed that your car is automatic. That is going to be a pretty big hangup.

I don't see the automatic transmission as a hang-up. It's not optimal, but the car is very light, and should be lighter when I get done with it.


So, I'm building the front air dam/splitter this weekend. Any math/calculations that I need to use?

The automatic tranny is definately a weak point. It has higher losses than a manual transmission, and it makes it really hard to turn off the engine when it's not needed (engine-off coasting).

As for the maths on the front splitter, the idea is to send air over the car instead of under it. A grille block does this, and so does a splitter or air dam. You should check out this thread, which explains front-end aerodynamics.