Noob From Aus
 

Hi All, I’ve been Lurking for a while doing some mods and experimenting here and there so thought I’d share what I’ve been up to in my own Hypermiling/Ecomodding adventures!

My daily driver is a ‘98 Australian delivered EP91 Toyota Starlet - 1.3Litre (4E-FE) DOHC, 835kg (1840lb). Just clicked over 200,000km on the odometer so hasn’t had a lot of k’s done on it for how old it is. EPA specs on it are 6.8L/100km (35MPG) Combined – 8.8 L/100km (27MPG) City – 5.6L/100km (35MPG) Highway. Before I somehow got onto Hypermiling (can’t remember how I got into what has now become an obsession but the first memory of the word “hypermiling” was the biodiesel Ford truck hauling guy who lives in a Caravan or RV in California and took his alternator off, made it more aero etc.) I used to get about 7.3L/100km (32MPG) with my sheeple driving skills. My best tank so far has been 4.2L/100km (56MPG) in urban driving so clearly the EPA have no idea haha. I used to have an R32 Nissan Skyline and was fairly heavily into drifting having travelled to Japan several times to participate in drift matsuris (festivals) at Ebisu Circuit. However for daily driving I was always frustrated that I couldn’t have any fun without risking my license and having all this power was completely pointless. At the same time it costs a fortune to drift on the track and it sucks only being able to have fun once every two months so I just got over it. This is the main reason I enjoy hypermiling, it is legal to do, I can do it every day, it’s challenging/fun, and it saves me money as opposed to most forms of entertainment.

The mods I’ve done so far include:
• MPGuino as my car has no OBD port, was dead easy to install anyways after googling my engine’s ecu pinout. I’m still calibrating this as I’m on my first tank with it but even though the absolute numbers are not accurate yet it is awesome to see what gear/RPM etc is best to drive at when going up hills or what RPM my engine starts using fuel again when coasting down in gear. Really happy with it as it’s like playing a video game every time I commute!
• Engine kill switch which cuts fuel to injectors. So much better than turning the key (and safer!)
• Grill block
• Rear wheel arch partial wheel covers made from duct tape – future plan is to make full wheel covers out of coreflute and aluminium brackets.
• Passenger side mirror delete with internal convex mirror – interestingly, in Victoria unless you have a vehicle with internally obstructed rear view mirror you don’t need mirrors on either side of the car at all! But I like the driver’s side one so might make an aero version!
• Warm air intake – Just removed the cold air intake haha.
• Removed power stearing/aircon belt – It is such a small car so doesn’t need PS and at least now the steering is consistent when EOCing.

I Also have a DIY E-bike setup on an old 26” mountain bike. With a 1000W rear hub motor from Ebay and homebrew 15Ah 48V LiPo battery pack (made from old RC plane batteries) I can make the ~41km round trip to work if I take it easy. It is quite a hilly route so takes some juice to get up the hills if I don’t want to sweat too much. The E-bike is virtually free to run as I charge it up from a solar battery bank in my shed!

In the warmer months I like to commute to work under “man-power” on my conventional road bicycle which is obviously the best form of transport created by man but now that I’ve got an 8 month old I like to be able to get home earlier to see her before she sleeps so tend to drive more.

Anyways, this post is long enough so till next time I’ll be tinkering here and there on my Starlet looking forward to many more miles of sweet sweet EOCing:thumbup:

Just get one out of some random sports motorcycle.

Good idea, there's quite a few cheap options on ebay.

Welcome to the site. Great vehicle you have there. I still have my EL42 (1993 Toyota Tercel) in the driveway. I've thought about a 4E-FE swap into it a few times. :)

I came to the same conclusion, except I still have my R32 for the moment. I think a car that does 0-100km/h in around 10seconds is the sweet spot for a 'sports' road car. I also like being able to use most of the gears, with a Skyline it's 1st, 2nd, Police siren.

When I used to cycle 20km into the city, I found it was faster than driving though. I even got a chance to prove it once when a girl saw me (her in her car- me on my bike) near my house, then at our destination I over took her as she walked in from the car park. Had I known we were racing I'd have gone faster :thumbup: That was on my then heavy XC bike, an E-bike conversion would make that thing a rocket.

You gotta love toyotas! The 4e-fe is a great little engine, the performance from it combined with the light starlet body is great. I reckon a dedicated track version of the starlet fully stripped out with NA 4EFE and decent suspension and tyres would awesome fun!

I agree with 1st, 2nd, Police siren, 2nd gear does about 100km at redline! which is fun to hit with the RB20.

E-Bikes are pretty awesome things, if I go flat out it takes me less than 30mins to get to work compared to car which takes 35-40mins - especially when hypermiling. The only issue going flat out is that I need to charge it again at work to make it home which is a bit of a hassle. The bike route is shorter at 20km compared to 25km by car but this is also outer suburban traffic, if it was the same distance in city driving the E-bike would smash commute time of cars AND you don't get all sweaty so no need for shower at work :thumbup:

I'd love to see some pictures of the car.

As requested:)

You may be able to figure out from the below photos why I've nicknamed the car Pink Bits, actually a guy from work called it that. Why pink? Why not! I want to put full covers over the rear wheels so this probably wont be on too long.
http://i66.tinypic.com/1j5d20.jpg
http://i66.tinypic.com/28jbf38.jpg

Duct tape grill block
http://i66.tinypic.com/2h6v7mt.jpg

Passenger mirror delete
http://i66.tinypic.com/mreiig.jpg
http://i64.tinypic.com/8we368.jpg

Here's my MPGuino with custom 3D printed enclosure. This is a prototype design which needs some improvement but it works fine for now.
http://i64.tinypic.com/2wojdjd.jpg
http://i66.tinypic.com/qrf81j.jpg

And of course the obligatory ridiculously large JDM shift knob! Behind that you can see my battery voltage gauge.
http://i66.tinypic.com/2n67kgn.jpg

Oh, just FYI PS deletes aren't legal in Oz.