New Saturn owner to EM

[spacemanspif]

Greeting ecomodders,

My name is Mike and I have a 1995 SL2 listed in my signature. I don't consider myself a hard-core ecomodder (yet?) but as you can see I am not scared of a little work. The car is dual cam so I don't think I am capable of crazy numbers that the single cam Saturns get but I want to up economy just to save money.

For those that don't know, an MP2 swap is putting a higher geared SOHC manual trans into DOHC which came with a lower geared trans. E.G. with the old trans 65mph was 2700rpm; with the MP2 its 2200rpm

I've done some searching and it seems that there have been more than a few "fly-by-night" Saturn people who introduce themselves with a whole bunch of planned mods and then disappear (post counts of 2).

My work commute is mostly highway so I think I am going to be spending alot of time in the aero mods forum

[cbaber]

Welcome Mike! Make sure to add your Saturn to the Garage so you can log your fillups and use the fancy graphs.

A couple places to start would be to increase your tire pressure to sidewall maximum, and slow down to 60 mph on the highway.

[spacemanspif]

Thanks cbaber, I was trying to figure out how to get all the info. junk on the left side of the screen. I guess once I start adding into the fuel log the banner will pop up in my sig??

I'm thinking slightly higher tire pressure...the car rides like a brick when over filled too much. I haven't tested it yet but I think driving slower might hurt my MPG; slowing to 60mph would drop to to just about 2000rpm and the power seems to be very lacking. I Think the engine would be lugging and running too rich.

[pacobeagle]

Welcome to the forum. Lots of great info around here!

[2000mc]

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ods-15529.html
Should be a good read for ya if you haven't already

[MetroMPG]

Welcome!

That transmission swap is a great first mod. And taller gearing + better aero is a good combination.

FYI, I have yet to see an example of any car where reducing cruising speed in a given gear doesn't save fuel. From 49 hp Metros to 500 hp Vettes, see: Speed vs. mileage/fuel economy chart - Mirage 1.2L 5-spd

Another suggestion: get a digital fuel economy display. You'll need an MPGuino for your car's age (pre-OBD-II). Worth its weight in gold for the impact it has on helping you fine tune your driving technique and play the "beat my best score" game on your regular commute.

[Daox]

2000 rpm is miles away from lugging an engine, and I highly doubt you're going into open loop to hit fuel enrichment either. I'd vote for better mileage by slowing down. One way to see for sure is give it a try.

[Flakbadger]

Originally Posted by spacemanspif

I guess once I start adding into the fuel log the banner will pop up in my sig??

I'm thinking slightly higher tire pressure...the car rides like a brick when over filled too much. I haven't tested it yet but I think driving slower might hurt my MPG; slowing to 60mph would drop to to just about 2000rpm and the power seems to be very lacking. I Think the engine would be lugging and running too rich.

Welcome to the forums! Upping your tire pressure is a big step in the right direction, and I have to say from personal experience that buying a gauge is the best thing you can do for your fuel economy. I don't know if you have ever driven a vehicle with an instantaneous fuel display, but it really surprises you. My car is regularly in the sub-10MPG range when accelerating in 1st gear, and coasts at 45 M/H somewhere around 115MPG. The wild variations average out to something in the 40s.

You will learn with a gauge where the sweet spots are, and how cruising speeds affect your vehicle. My car gets the same MPG at 50 M/H as it does at ~59 M/H, with a goodly dip in MPG between. Aerodynamics and gearing affect where those sweet spots are. But I will say that when I can drive my little 4 cyl. in 5th gear at 40 M/H, my MPG is somewhere in the 70's. Cruising at low RPM makes a tremendous difference.

On a final note, you can only activate a gas log in your signature after 5 posts, here's the thread on how to do it.

I think you'll find a lot of good information if you read up. I know I spent a lot of hours here myself.

Happy MPG hunting

~Matt

[betasniper]

Also, Look into getting a Panoramic Rear view mirror and deleting the passenger side mirror. The mirror delete lowers cd and area which would be more beneficial at highway speeds.

[spacemanspif]

Thanks for all the welcomes

Metro: Thanks for the info on the MPGuino. I started looking into OBDI instrumentation last night but didn't look very hard. While at PepBoys over my lunch break I looked at their gauges for a vacuum gauge but didn't see any that weren't boost with a little left swing for vacuum. I have a scangaugeII on my Monte Carlo for the X-gagues (engine/trans temp, IAT, vacuum etc) but never set up the economy side of it.

Metro & Daox: I thought the same thing too: lower rpm = better mpg until I put a 2.29:1 rear in my Monte Carlo (factory 3.73); car ran like dog crap at 65mph and I think got 6mpg, brought the speed up to 80mph and the eco jumped up to 25 mpg Still had to down shift to get up bridges, she's back to having the 3.73 under her. So yes, driving slower CAN kill mpg but my experience might be on the extreme end considering the numerically low gears I used.

I might try driving slower, I know its not that much slower but sometimes even driving 65mph puts me to sleep, its my younger speed demon coming back to haunt me, I think. Maybe I'll try it if/when I buy the MPGuino, Lord knows I won't be able to stand driving a full week to work at 60mph.

Flakbadger: thank you for the link, I feel so left out not having the white box in my sig lol. Need to start logging fuel so it can actually have data in it though, damn these efficient cars!

Mirror delete seems a bit extreme to me; growing up my dad always pushed vehicle safety and getting rid of a mirror seems like a big step. Since mine is a non-remote control one I can easily take it off for some testing though and be able to throw it back on if I don't like it without worrying about wires or cables getting damaged.

Right now I am thinking that I want to get rid of my 15lb(?) 3rd gen. Formula spoiler (even though I love it), consider a pro-stock (Bonneville?) type spoiler, maybe switch to the SL1 front bumper, rear wheel skirts, maybe a rear belly pan and try to pick up parts that are missing from my front air dam and extend it to make a bigger whole car air dam...yesterday I saw my exact car next to me and noticed a big black air dam under his car, mine didn't have one when I bought it used so I am going to start looking for plastics in the JY.

Oh yea, I might take some of the crap out of my trunk. My problem is that I rent a room in a house and don't have anywhere to store tools/parts other than my trunks of my cars Luckily the Saturn doesn't have Power windows, locks, mirrors or a sun roof so I think my tools cancel out the weight of those motors....right? lol