Post your success stories in this sub-forum

[sayantan]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Ben and I were talking and figured EM needed a dedicated area to collect & showcase EcoModders' success stories.

So feel free to toot your own horn and tell us all about things like:

... that kick-a#$ commute you had this morning

... the record fill-up you just had

... how well your latest mod is working

... how mastering a new ecodriving technique has boosted your fuel economy to a new level

... how much you're saving by biking/carpooling/public transit

... the effect your example is having on friends & family

... anything else that shows the positive results of modding your ride & the nut behind the wheel

(PS - if you happen to come across any existing threads in other sub-forums that would fit nicely into this area, let me know and I'll copy them over.)

Hi Metro
There is a success story like what you have described above in the Hypermiling/Eco drivers Ed forum, tittle "FE increased by 6 mpg" by me

[NV6R]

Okay, here is a story of a major success:

I bought a 96 Jeep Cherokee XJ because I live in east central Nevada at 7100' ASL, and I needed something that I could rely on to get through the snow that inundates this area from September until June. I never dreamed that it could get great gas mileage. It has the 4.0l 5spd, the gears were changed from 3.07 to 3.55:1, I put on 235/75R15 Michelin LTX MS2 tires, since they have a good reputation. It also has a 2.5" lift. It has a few mods, but nothing major: it has a K & N air filter and a homemade cold air intake. Plus, the injectors were changed out to Dodge Neon injectors. I think this is about it.

The speedometer is off quite a bit because of the gear change, but I have confirmed the mileage many times with a GPS; I do know the speedo shows 15% more than it should. Anyway, before all of these mods, it got a best of 19mpg highway. Now, I have seen a best of 30.16mpg (3.05 gallons to go 92-miles; with an average of 27mpg highway). Nobody believes it when I tell them, which is getting pretty frustrating. I try to tell them so they can try the mods, but they don't think that it is worth it. Even driving around Salt Lake City, Utah (I go there quite a bit), I never see worse than 20mpg in the city, so I, definitely, find these mods to be well worth it. I mean, shoot, I am getting better mileage in the city than I was on the highway!

Now, I am going to do a dual electric fan conversion and see if this will bring it up even more. I may change out the cam, too, since this could be tweaked a little. The other nice thing about, is the Jeep Cherokee XJ weighs less than 3000lbs, and with a 200hp I6, it is pretty fast; I see 0-60 times of mid-7s. Plus, they are know to be one of the best off-road vehicles, too. I guess it is possible to have your cake and eat it too!

--John, in Nevada

[sayantan]

Originally Posted by Lazarus

Here's what I consider my success story:


When I started this journey a couple of years ago I had a household EPA of 23 mpg. It then progressed to 47 MPG by ditching the guzzlers and getting a more economical car for the wife and I modded the beater and my driving habits. I then proceeded to retire my car and now commute extensively on my bike in suburbia. The household EPA is now 55 MPG.

I've also cut my home energy use by 1/3 with a power monitor, CFL, insulation and modding my habits from observing the loads with the monitor.

The family has come around now and are on the program. We walk when distance allows and everyone is on the same page. Even the neighbors, who at one point though I was the mad scientist have slowly come around.

In these times it fun to see the effort slowly grow. Every week I see one more person that I've been in contact with become a convert and that a good thing.

Super job Lazarus
I am walking on the same path though

[derobles]

I just got 29.3 max MPG (US) in my hyundai Santa Fe 2012 rated 28MPG highway, no mods.

I was able to achieve it even while going 75MPH (GPS confirmed), but I also was riding behind a semi for some miles while traveling at 65 MPH.

Before 1) rebalancing the tires 2) confirming the tire pressure to the spec 33PSI with a digital pressure reader 3) washing the car, I was getting around 23.4 MPG max. in the same 80 mile stretch with some hills and cross winds.

In the return leg the other driver was not eco conscious but still she didn't go below 27MPG indicating that it is pretty important to have the same tire pressure in all tires.

[Curtis in Texas]

Hello, I'm fairly new here, but thought I'd share some of the things I've done so far. I mostly hang out on the Motorcycles and Scooters section. But, I have done some neat mod's to my Motorhome and Cars in the past, so I thought I'd share the car story with you folks.

A few years ago I found this new 1500 cc Turbo Diesel Engine from a Warehouse in Georgia.
Was trying to find an Isuzu Stylus to put it in, but couldn't find one in the condition I wanted it in. So I settled for a very clean 89 I Mark. Which just happened to come with that same engine in it in Japan that year too. So I bought the 4 door sedan for $800 and trailered it home. The FE 1600 DOHC gas motor still had some miles in it but was approaching 300 K so I didn't feel bad about doing an engine swap to diesel.
Did this about 6 years ago and have been driving it back and forth as my daily commuter and I'm happy with the little car. My best mileage according to my GPS is 45 with the AC off and 43 with it on. And this is with zero body mod's or Hypermileing. I drive it like I stole it and it does that well. I did manage to do some mod's in the 5 speed transmission though.
The engine originally came with an 3 speed automatic behind it. And the I Marks gas motor had this very low geared 5 speed on it. I found a few transmissions in the salvage yard from some GM cars that were made by Isuzu and I grabbed them. The tranny gears swapped around easy enough in the Isuzu cases. So I installed some low ratio gears for 1st 2nd and 3rd for in town low gears and the 4th and 5th are overdrive gears. IIRC about .96 for 4th and .74 for 5th. The final drive I swapped over to a 3:36's from 4:11 and I'm golden in town for red light to red light. I don't even shift to 4th unless I'm going at least 50 mph. Then at 65 I drop it in 5th and the rpm drops to 1450.

It's a fun ride so far. Maybe one of these days I'll go after that Stylus I found and get the aerodynamics it needs to be a super miler car.

[Flakbadger]

Landmark day, I just broke 40MPG on my last fill-up without doing anything to the car. EDIT: Except higher tire pressures and some hypermiling techniques.
Today is my first oil-change and I'm putting in synthetic. Soon I'll be changing the transmission fluid with synthetic too, and we'll see if that helps at all.
Got a funny look from my dad when I filled my car up with plus, and a less funny look when I told him that I had gotten 40+MPG.
Thanks to everyone on this forum who has contributed to hypermiling discussions. It wouldn't have been possible without you.

[syncro_user]

Just starting to feel justified in posting on here. Have read a great deal since joining a couple of months ago. Now P&Ging as much as possible (quite easy here as the roads ar relatively empty). This has given me an increase of 27mpg to 29mpg urban, even allowing for a few heavy-footed moments.

Have now got the microsquirt working the ignition control, so hoping to see a little better FE for the next tank

[trooper Tdiesel]

with the higher temps, ive managed to crack the 35mpg barrier with the 4 door sidekick SUV.
its rear drive with part time 4wd....and has the 1.6L 16V EFI engine mated to the manual trans and near 20% tread 215/75/15LT tires at 50 psi.

thru the winter i was running right about 30mpg or so.

of the 417 mile tank, something like 30+ miles is EOC
this is do to living at 1,000 feet and every where i go is more or less at sea level.
so for a 100 mile round trip, about 14 miles is the round trip for the grade up and down to 1,000 feet and the rest of the drive is quite flat....


OH yea......im running 100% E0 gas and P\S, spare tire, passenger delete. its stock with no A\C
also...."for this one tank" there was no night time driving or driving in the rain.
so


with a 3rd member gear swap manual tranys have a 5.12 in most cases, auto boxes had 4.62 and 4.30s
and boat tale since these things are about a 0.40 aro drag, these things can crack the 40 mark....

[syncro_user]

44mpg on a mixed bag, mostly motorway work but also around town. Compared to 40mpg (motorway) best mpg with this motor, is def. improvement. Best ever mpg in this chassis with the previous engine, at 43mpg (1.8l, standard golf gti), is getting close.

Looking forward to results with hot air intake. EFI ftw!

[myrefugeisintheLord]

Yippy yay!!! Lol, We made our usual trip of 41 miles (usually no higher then 42.5 MPG as of recently, which has been records all in themselves!), at a wopping 50.6 MPG!!! Ahhhh!!!! I NEVER imagined we could get that high! That's 140.95% above EPA! No way!

So, how did we do it? Well, I've only recently started to learn P&G techniques. We did a lot of coasting in N when our speed was too high, and EOC when going slower. Practically no following traffic, so we went really slow at times. Everything else was the same. I had yet to get to the 45 MPG mark for a trip that long. So I'm shocked!

Here's the proof!