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capn 05-06-2008 02:18 AM

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?

Arminius 05-06-2008 04:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by capn (Post 23658)
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!

Daox 05-06-2008 07:58 AM

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.

SVOboy 05-06-2008 09:52 AM

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

DP86 05-06-2008 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by capn (Post 23658)
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?


Where do you go to school?

johnpr 05-06-2008 01:42 PM

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

capn 05-06-2008 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DP86 (Post 23696)
Where do you go to school?

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.

MetroMPG 05-06-2008 08:58 PM

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.

Johnny Mullet 05-06-2008 09:38 PM

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

capn 05-06-2008 11:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MetroMPG (Post 23757)
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.

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.

Lazarus 05-06-2008 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by capn (Post 23816)
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.

I would say Metro's right.

I tried a restrictor plate with no luck. I reduced the intake to a hole about 1" in diameter. There was an increase in FE but the car was undrivable.The top speed was 55 mph( took 65 seconds to get there at 85% throttle position, just before open loop) but the acceleration rate was unsafe. If I increase the diameter to where I could accelerate the FE advantage went away. YMMV (Your mileage may very.)

capn 05-06-2008 11:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lazarus (Post 23827)
I would say Metro's right.

I tried a restrictor plate with no luck. I reduced the intake to a hole about 1" in diameter. There was an increase in FE but the car was undrivable.The top speed was 55 mph( took 65 seconds to get there at 85% throttle position, just before open loop) but the acceleration rate was unsafe. If I increase the diameter to where I could accelerate the FE advantage went away. YMMV (Your mileage may very.)


what kind of increase in FE did you see? I have figured that I can stay under 2500 rpms and still have decent acceleration, but thats a pretty light throttle.

cfg83 05-07-2008 12:00 AM

capn -

Welcome to EM! Wow, 3740 lbs ... how much does the front passenger seat weigh?

Does that car already feature cylinder deactivation? Since it's a V8, it might be a candidate, but it might be too difficult to implement.

What do the other (real) experts think?

CarloSW2

Peakster 05-07-2008 12:15 AM

Those ETCs are really nice cars. Cadillac Northstar, right? I would've thought the aluminum engine would be more efficient.

capn 05-07-2008 01:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cfg83 (Post 23835)
capn -

Welcome to EM! Wow, 3740 lbs ... how much does the front passenger seat weigh?

Does that car already feature cylinder deactivation? Since it's a V8, it might be a candidate, but it might be too difficult to implement.

What do the other (real) experts think?

CarloSW2

well the front passenger seats are basically lazy boys. and they are ridiculously hard to remove, so I am not doing that.

no, no cylinder deactivation I honestly do not know how that works.

Quote:

Originally Posted by peakster
Those ETCs are really nice cars. Cadillac Northstar, right? I would've thought the aluminum engine would be more efficient.


Oh I know.

Yes mine was one of the good years with the 4.6 northstar. But when you think about its 4.6 liter engine puts out 295 hp/tq and still manages 15-25mpg I say thats tuned pretty well, it is also tuned for performance rather than FE.


as far as FE is concerned it does have room for improvement.

Lazarus 05-07-2008 06:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by capn (Post 23832)
what kind of increase in FE did you see? I have figured that I can stay under 2500 rpms and still have decent acceleration, but thats a pretty light throttle.

It was about 3%.

DifferentPointofView 05-07-2008 07:42 PM

You can definitely improve. as far as a restrictor plate, it won't really help, because you do know that at 60mph your car makes about 20hp right? Max horsepower is measured usually in the upper 4600+ range, which is something you'll probably not see.

Well anyway, welcome to Ecomodder! There's plenty of big cars and trucks around here.

zjrog 05-08-2008 11:00 AM

Hey, if I can coax 21.8 out of my 4x4 Grand Cherokee, you ought to be able to do pretty good with the Caddy. The biggest adjustment is in HOW you drive and how you think about driving...


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