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Old 08-24-2011, 11:28 PM   #1 (permalink)
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Join Date: May 2011
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Bruiser - '97 Nissan D21 Reg Cab
90 day: 23.43 mpg (US)

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So I sold the Truck...

And bought myself a Ford Aspire. The truck was just too much money to drive, and since I am now unemployed, I couldn't afford to keep driving it. The Aspire is in decent shape and should net me good mileage with it having a 5 speed and all. (I used to drive a Festiva that was fairly similar and could get 50Mpg using some simple driving techniques) Anyone know these cars well enough to give me some free or cheap mod advice for mods. I am planning to go to the Dollar Store down the street and pick up some $1 pizza pans for starters, maybe some cheap rear wheel skirts, but if there is some simple trick for these cars it would be greatly appreciated.

On another note I also picked up a Bicycle for my local quick store runs, Got a good 16 mile trip to 3 stores done today at INFINITE MPG!!!

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Old 08-24-2011, 11:40 PM   #2 (permalink)
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Blue - '93 Ford Tempo
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I'm sorry but 16.9 isn't 65.7% above "EPA" for an Edsel.
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Old 08-24-2011, 11:55 PM   #3 (permalink)
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Bruiser - '97 Nissan D21 Reg Cab
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Does it really matter? Besides there are not really official fuel economy data for that car. I found an old Popular Science mag that said it got about 8.5 in city traffic with the automatic tranny, and 12.5 at 70 MPH. I just averaged those to get combined, i know its not perfect but it isn't a big deal since it only gets about a tank or two of gas a year.
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Old 08-25-2011, 06:26 AM   #4 (permalink)
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Sonata97 - '97 Hyundai Sonata GL
90 day: 25.96 mpg (US)

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Lancer - '04 Mitsubishi Lancer
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Not too hard to get some data that works ok:
1958 Edsel Ranger 2-Door Hardtop specifications & performance characteristics
Fuel consumption and mileage: official: , average estimated by a-c: 24.3 l/100km / 11.6 mpg (imp.) / 9.7 mpg (U.S.) / 4.1 km/l .

http://www.webstreetcars.com/carblog...ankruptcy.html
This car had an average fuel efficiency of 15.2 miles per gallon.
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Old 08-25-2011, 09:10 AM   #5 (permalink)
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Black and Green - '98 Honda Civic DX Coupe
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WVengr View Post
Anyone know these cars well enough to give me some free or cheap mod advice for mods. I am planning to go to the Dollar Store down the street and pick up some $1 pizza pans for starters, maybe some cheap rear wheel skirts, but if there is some simple trick for these cars it would be greatly appreciated.
Definitely rear wheel-skirts. Look for old coroplast-constructed signs (like for an election or real estate) if you want something reasonably durable and free. Grill blocking and radiator ducting can be done with cardboard and surplus pipe insulation. If the appearance of cardboard on your grill is too awful, try some paperboard facing on the cardboard that could have a nicer color and be sourced from old gift boxes for clothes or shoes or whatever. Hell, you could go artiste on the car and collage the front grille block cardboard with multiple colors from five different shoe-boxes. I am running a lawn-edging grill block, the idea for which I got from Frank Lee and others. Do you have any old surplus lying around? I hyper inflate my tires. That's free at Chevron stations. My WAI is a simple section of black plumbing pipe inserted in the filter housing and spray-painted with paint I had laying around. Those mods might yield you 5% or more all together. But if you get a vacuum gauge and an mpguino (which might both come really cheaply) you could do the great techniques without dishing out for a ultragauge or scangauge: the greatest techniques appear to be P&G, DWL, and EOC. I wrote them up as a combined regimen I call "LOG" (ugly name but it works). Lastly, if you have a spare switch (toggle, pushbutton, lightswitch)... you can wire an injector ground-wire kill switch quite easily with just the purchase of 5-10' of 16 gauge electrical wire. BUT TECHNIQUE WILL BE YOUR BIGGEST BANG FOR THE BUCK.

I hope I have not repeated too many things you already know.

Good luck... and consider that you have already done the best eco-mod possible for your wallet: exchanged the truck for the Aspire!

PS: reduce weight... it has a more significant effect in a small car, where 100lbs is a greater percent of total mass.
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See my car's mod & maintenance thread and my electric bicycle's thread for ongoing projects. I will rebuild Black and Green over decades as parts die, until it becomes a different car of roughly the same shape and color. My minimum fuel economy goal is 55 mpg while averaging posted speed limits. I generally top 60 mpg. See also my Honda manual transmission specs thread.




Last edited by California98Civic; 08-25-2011 at 03:49 PM..
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Old 08-25-2011, 12:45 PM   #6 (permalink)
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Bruiser - '97 Nissan D21 Reg Cab
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Well i have already been dumping what weight i can and the car still look decent on the inside. (I'm a little ocd about having all the interior trim) I got rid of the back seats which has to help a bit, also got rid of useless junk laying in the car. and since i once again bought a car that is missing the spare tire i guess that is deleted too. Also got rid of the mud flaps as on this car the both stuck down and a little sideways into the airstream. I just moved here leaving behind my collection of spare parts and junk that could make easy mods until i can get back on my feet, so i have no junk laying around except what i can scrounge or buy cheap. I have read up on the techniques and have done just about as much as i care to (never have felt safe doing engine off coast didn't think i could react well enough in an emergency).
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Old 08-25-2011, 03:07 PM   #7 (permalink)
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Spare tire delete FTW! GM did the same thing with my Cruze, BTW. Just a compressor and can of Slime in place of the spare and jack.

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