A Quest for 35mpg (Subaru Outback Limited Sedan 2.5L auto) - Page 27 - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

Zerohour · 02-06-2011, 02:47 AM

The valve is on the intake manifold, near the throttle body, and it is on the passenger side. The hoses run from the air to a tee fitting, one end of the T go into the head below the manifold, and the other end of the T goes to the PVC valve. I think it is a 19mm socket (could be wrong on that one).

The resonator is the whole assembly of the factory air intake. Starting from the front of the hood, you have the an air collector near the grill. It goes into a series of canisters, tubes, and a flexible according piece. That is the full air intake resonator system. It is more or less designed to keep noise in the motor and to trap larger dirt particles.

Brucey has a picture of his somewhere, might be in this thread. He has just the air box with the air filter. The entire tube assembly was removed from his, and the air gets pulled off the top of the engine.

Zerohour · 02-12-2011, 10:44 AM

Well boys and girls, it is official. I'm leaving the warehouse and moving up in the world. This economy is rough, but it just a got a little bit better for me. This also means there is going to be more funding for eco-modding! :-)

And more funding for the Ford

And the TR7...

And building up the available tools in the garage...

hahaha I'm so glad I'm single right now!

Zerohour · 02-20-2011, 04:23 PM

Just a bit of an update....utilizing my tax return to acquire a new tool!

Harbor Freight has a horizontal / vertical band saw on sale currently. Regularly priced @ $269.99, its on sale at $229.99. To make a good deal even better, the in-store only only coupon from Car and Driver knocks off 20 percent for any one item. Came home with the band saw at a an awesome $183.99. And while I was there I picked up some stepper high speed bits and an extra blade for the saw.

I've been working with the welder and slowly progressing in my skill. Still novice at best, but I hope to get better with time. And now I have a way of cutting material stock for projects!

I have one that I'm working on, but for the time being its still hush, hush. :-)

Zerohour · 03-13-2011, 09:55 PM

So just an update. New commute with the new job, and warmer temps, I'm breaking into the 27's. 27's were the highs back in August 2010 (pre wheel skirts and winter grill blocks).

I'm excited to see 27's when the temps are only in the 40's!

I want to go big this summer, I want to hit the 35mpg! Idea List:
1) Get the fog light covers done (I've been squating on the pot for this one, don't know why, just haven't found the time)
2) aluminum pulley. The stock crank is over 5lbs, aftermarket is 1.0lb (not lbs). It is suppose to help acceleration greatly (most MPG loss is from acceleration of the AWD system).
3) Kill the Power Steering Pump. I've been tempted to try to keep it, but now I think I might find a way to temporary by-pass, then potential remove (weight savings).
4) *maybe* kill the extra interior. In the 2 years I've had the car, people road in the back less than 5 times. But its always nice to keep the rear seats and door panels!
5) *maybe* considering swapping the taped wheels for Rims. The Stockers are 20+ pounds and I hate the tires I currently have (even though I just bought them :-( ). Aftermarket wheels are in the Upper 16 to lower 17 lb range. A potential reduction of 16-20 pounds of rotating mass. Plus the 5lbs dropped off from the Crank pulley.
6) Front wheel skirting. Not a full skirt, but I would like to tighten up the gap with some flares. Now that I have the welder, construction could be very sturdy and use steel not messy toxic fiberglass!

The Pooparu ain't no Prius, it ain't no church, by god damn it might just be twice as fuel efficient than your SUV!

Zerohour · 04-02-2011, 02:58 PM

*sighs*

A lot of ambitious plans, but right now there alot going on in life (isn't there always?)...

I decided to pull the skirts off this weekend and un-tape my wheels. The Winter did a mild amount of damage to tape, and should be re-done at best. I pulled it because there is too much going on for me to re-tape them entirely, but at the same time I didn't want the tape to pull off.

The skirts faired okay over winter, but have cause alot of trapped dirt. Need to clean up under the wheel wells. Also the fiberglass has begin to develop cracks at the bolt points. For the time being they will stay off as I don't have the time to devote to ensure they won't become projectiles.

brucey · 04-02-2011, 04:46 PM

Did you paint over the tape?

Mine are still holding up fine. I had some oil seep down onto them while they were sitting for winter, and it caused the plasti-dip to flake a bit, but a few extra sprays and they were ready to rock.

Zerohour · 04-02-2011, 07:43 PM

I did not paint over the tape. It has begun to delaminate on the driver side (more exposure to rock salt from center lane, and catches more flak from on-coming traffic). The passenger side seems to have held up much better. I have some pictures that I might post up. Overall, I say if this was done in the spring, you could make it to the end of winter or up to 20,000 miles on this method. It took me less than a roll to do two tires, and the cost was ~$7 for the roll. I would have need a 2nd roll to get to the back ones done. Its definitely a worth wild method for someone with alloys and you can't mount up pizza pans or official moon caps.

Look at this way:
Moon Caps $120-160
Tape @ $20 a year = 6-8 years of sealed wheels versus moon caps

4 Pizza pans + mounting hardware + ~$60 + balance
Tape @ $20 a year = 3-4 years versus pizza pans, plus if tape dislodges it will not cause death at impact like a flying pizza pan could.

Summary, tape method still a good ecomod in my book.

with the skirts off and the tape gone, I will see if I can get an approximate % drop as well. Consider this a long term ABA test over the next few weeks. I have several months of data and should be able to give a good approximate of the fuel economy difference.

brucey · 04-02-2011, 10:08 PM

So I guess the plasti dip does help! Awesome, I have an excuse to keep the 'mad max wheels'

twelvevoltman · 04-03-2011, 01:43 PM

I am not sure if it's a problem with the Outbacks but on my lil womans Forester there is a lot of road dirt and grime that builds up in the shield for the fuel filler tube. It was so bad I had to put a new fuel fill tube in. When your cleaning up around those wheel wells remove that plastic cover and clean that area too.

Zerohour · 04-04-2011, 09:22 AM

I keep the underside clean for the most part. Living in Pa its seasonal event to clean the bottom of the car...especially after winter for road salts and spring for road salts and mud.

Also...I would like to suggest info to anyone taping their wheels...Tape both the outer and the inner side of the wheel. I was accumulating quite a bit of dirt in the pockets...which I'm now contributing to the out of balance shakes I was getting near 70 and contributing partially to the excessive tire wear on the taped wheels.