Project Moby Dick: 2000 Ford CVPI
 

The taming of the white whale.

My first tank after purchasing this former police cruiser netted 16.37 MPG. Needless to say I was a bit underwhelmed. My last 5 tanks have all been 20.6 mpg or better with a max of 22.4 by simply driving more conservatively and lowering my cruising speed.

Below is the initial game plan for taming Moby Dick:

INSTRUMENTATION:
Ultragauge

AERODYNAMICS:
Chin Spoiler
1.5" Lowering Springs
Belly Panels

ECM:
SCT Flash Programmer w/ eco tune

ENGINE:
High Efficiency Camshafts
PI Heads and Intake

DRIVETRAIN:
2.73 Ring and Pinion

This could actually be interesting specially if you can go back and get all the police stations that drove this car to improve there mpgs that would have been huge considering how much these kind of cars were driven.

They are the best on the highway, and dogs in the city.

ProGuard makes a plastic skit plate that goes between the bumper cover and the fuel evap module/container under the trunk.

www.reinhartperformance.com: Pro Guard rear skid plate


-ryan s.

I can vouch for that. A friend of mine could often get 27-31mpg freeway with his '92 vic, but struggled to get more then 17-18 in the city. It's pretty sad. I get 3x that haha.

A rear belly pan to cover that rear bumper parachute should give you MPG! That is a huge parachute! That car would look really nice with genuine moon discs also. Remove the passenger mirror. Tint the windows lower it pump the tires up to MAX. And roll around like a boss. Can you tell I really like the Crown Vics?

Thanks for the positive feedback!

New best tank today: 22.53 mpg

Given that I haven't changed anything about the car, other than the way I drive it, I feel like I'm making pretty decent progress.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1410390203

Good start. put a gold star on your rear view mirror to remind you

Here it is installed on my Marauder.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...r/S8301308.jpg

And keep up the good work!


-ryan s.

Thanks for sharing. Definitely adding aero-smoothing the under carriage to my list of things to do. :cool:

I really like what this guy did; Honda Insight Underbody Smoothing Panels

I have seen some mount the proguard on the bottom of the tabs and overlap the fascia on the bottom.

I have one on a Marauder and going to put one on the Grand Marquis

Tire pressure has been increased from 32 lbs psi to 40 lbs psi and the AC is seeing less action as the heat becomes more bearable.

I also ordered an Ultra Gauge today. Hopefully, it will allow me to pinpoint more areas that I can improve from behind the wheel. :turtle:

Aero-caps
 

I've been looking at possibly using one of these on the Crown Vic's 16" steelies. Both are pop-on hubcaps. :cool: Thoughts??

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1411088140

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1411088140

Yes.
I would use them.
But I powder coated my winter steelies, and they look awesome.

But if I were you, I'd use the shizzle out of them.
And maybe paint them for extra points.


-ryan s.

New best tank today on a road trip to visit family: 24.93 mpg

Tires at 40 lbs psi, A/C running on high, 90% hwy driving (mix of interstate and rural roads).

Installed Ultragauge
 

Here's the new view from the driver's seat ...

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1411476792

Looking good!


-ryan s.

New Best Tank!
 

I achieved a new best for tank average ... 25.6 mpg.

This is a 57% increase over my base tank of 16.3 and all I've done is add a few pounds of air to the tires and relearned how to drive.

Still making minor tweaks in driving technique and the real time feedback from the ultraguage has proven to be a very worthwhile investment.

:cool:

Keep it up!!


-ryan s.

Now the big numbers start coming in with tha UG!

Some of you may be familiar with the fuel logging site Fuelly - Track and Compare your MPG.

Currently I'm the MPG king for Crown Vics of my model year and Police Interceptors of any year.

Now I'm setting my sites on the Taurus crowd ... :D

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1412611091

One thing that has become painfully obvious is the devastating effect traffic has to my overall fuel economy. Even if you're doing your very best to time lights, avoid congested routes, coasting, etc., an expected traffic accident or road construction can have you sitting in the one place any hypermiler dreads .... grid lock.

Something that I've found that helps, aside from carefully picking my routes, is adjusting my travel times to avoid peak traffic hours. By leaving 10 minutes earlier, I can reduce travel time by as much as 20-25 minutes and average 5-6 MPG better for that trip. It just means that the snooze button has become an enemy.

Fifteen minutes can make a big difference here. Just the less stressing drive is worth it.

Going to tackle a few maintenance tasks this weekend.

New plugs
New fuel filter
Oil change

Sometimes being 5-10 minutes late would get me caught in the morning rush hour pulse. Now I start later and am crushed by the lack of elbow room to coast and easy acceleration merging and stop light lines. Also, Its been getting cooler and was thinking my mileage should be going up, since I'm not using AC as much, so I checked my tire pressure. I ended up putting over 12 psi! That put me at 50 all around. Rides nicer than I thought it would and average came up 1.8 mpg. Usually run them at 44.

It appears the whale still had the original plugs in it.

Initial observations following the plug/fuel filter replacement is showing between 1.5-2 mpg improvement on some 25 mile trips running weekend errands. (27.9 last trip out) I'm looking forward to seeing the results of the tank.

Let's here it for routine preventive maintenance!

New Best Tank 26.3 MPG
 

Reporting new personal best tanks is quickly becoming a favorite pastime of mine.

Today was a personal milestone. This tank netted 26.3 mpg; that's 10 mpg better than my first tank and more than 64% over EPA.

Congrats, you got better mpg than the average new vehicle.

Bring it. :cool:




Though were it not for the idea of having to parallel park that sucker, I'd love to have a panther.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1413208042

:turtle:

Thanks! :D

I just installed my Proguard on the Grand Marquis(same panther platform)
I have a trailer hitch installed already and plan to leave it because I use it from time to time and it add some safety margin for rear crashes. It fit between the receiver and the rear facia and extends out 9" past the bottom edge of the bumper cover. I have it sloped up at about 3 to 5 degrees and can adjust the angle with 2 big zipties. It lined up nicely with the horizontal member of the hitch and I covered the 1/2" gap with some tape.

It looks really good and clean and does a good job of blocking the view of the underside crap
sorry no pics or ABA testing

It's definitely on my wishlist.

Unfortunately, I have some ailing suspension components that are demanding attention before I dive head long into economy mods.

Energy Suspension bits.
Whatcha need to do?


-ryan s.

Upper ball joints
Lower ball joints
Tie rod ends

:(

Does anyone else love data analysis?

This visualization shows EPA averages, my overall average, weekly averages, and % difference from EPA combined average.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1413475791

Created with Tableau using data export from aCar.

New best short trip today ... 28.1 mpg.

2.5" air dam arrived today.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1413842688

Also upgrading from the ultraguage. It has been very beneficial, but without data logging, the opportunity for deeper analysis is lost.

Auterra Dyno - Scan ... you're up.

Nice Mach1 chin spoiler!
I have one too.
Just have to paint and install it....
It's on the list.


-ryan s.

Thanks, I picked it up on sale. (^-^ )