The non eco-friendly eco modder
 

Hey all,

My name is Barrett and I am a Mechanical Engineering student. I drive a 1994 Cadillac Eldorado, not the greatest car to present myself with the "eco" forums but hey whatever.

So at this point in my life I am not in the position to buy a new car, or a used one in a timely manner. yet I plan to purchase a Volt once I graduate from college and they are on sale, coincidentally at about the same time.

But in the mean time I plan to increase my Cadillac's highway fuel mileage by at least 10% but shooting for 25%. So any suggestions where to get started?

The biggest thing you can do is change your driving habits. See here: hypermiling tips
Following those guidelines will easily get you over the EPA's numbers by 25%, especially if you drive between 40-45 mph (being that you have an automatic transmission).

Of course, any mods you can do will help, including removing anything from the outside that detracts from the streamlining of your car, adding anything that enhances the streamlining of your car, and removing any weight from your car that you can live without. You'll need to read the threads for details on those issues.

Can't wait to see the Volts on the showroom floors. :thumbup: We'll mod those too!

I agree with Arminius. Driving technique is by far the most effective mod not to mention the most cost effective. ;) If money is tight you can probably get away with just driving technique alone.

Welcome to ecomodder! What with the caddy being so inefficient, it shouldn't be tooooo hard to improve on, :)

Where do you go to school?

you want some bad numbers for mpg then compare to the two jeeps i came in with, recently sold the worse FE of the two (jeep 1) to get the civic. anyhow, money being tight try a grill block, a front air dam, and reaer wheel skirts. if you dont mind the car looking "weird" there are tons of other mods you can do so check out some of the other threads.
john

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

The biggest thing for fuel efficiency this summer is the fact that my commute has changed to 60 miles a day rather than 15. So being able to have an opportunity to be out of the city and on the highway will allow me to "try" and get my car better mileage.

I have only once had truly "great" mpg and that was a trip from Raleigh NC to Charlotte NC roughly a 130 mile trip I filled up and I did the math I had gotten 29 mpg! I thought I had transposed the numbers or something but it indeed happened.

I am also thinking about a restricted plate or something that will limit my engines intake capacity much like F1 or other formula race cars. An under body tray is also in the mix. But all the mods that I am planning will be non-permanent seeing as I will want to sell the car once the Volts are out.

I don't think you'll find any gain with a restrictor plate. Your butterfly valve is your restrictor plate. If you put something else upstream/downstream from there that forces you to open the throttle to compensate, you're not actually reducing pumping losses (if that's your goal). If your goal is to simply restrain how much power you use, you can do that with your brain & right foot :).

You're heading in the right direction, looking @ your fuel log.

Make sure the "Bull Horns" come off the hood of that caddy to save weight and aerodynamics ;)

my goal with a restrictor plate is not to limit my power use, rather the engines output and consumption.

I am also not trying to reduce pumping losses, this is just adding more restrictions in hopes it might trick the MAF that the engine needs less fuel. Although testing is required.