So its begins... :D

[Z.E.B.]

Bought a fixer upper today, have previous eco-xperiments on my subaru wagon at 26mpg average. But my 50 mile commute is just hurting my buget so I'm committing to ecomodding. Starting off with a 98 Hyundai 1.5L 5spd shooting for 30-35 stock, gonna mod as I fix it up back to stock and beyond.

Plans are to...
fix body damage
Tune up
Msd ignition upgrade and accel wires
water/meth vapor intake fogger
Better exhaust and ram cold air intake
Expiriment with magnet heat exchanger for fuel supply
Reshape bumper and body aero mods
roof rack and spoiler delete
possibly lower
lrr tires

And whatever else I can get from here to work :-)

[GRU]

everything you listed sounds good except the cold air intake. Then the computer reads cold air going to the engine it's richens the mixture and uses more fuel. you're better off leaving the air intake alone or routing the intake to the exhause manifold to get warm air.

[AndrzejM]

You have to definitely share your results. Good luck with your project! And I agree with GRU - hot air intake will be better for FE. Cold air intake can give you more power though ;-)

[Z.E.B.]

The intake setup I plan to use involves flexible routing so I plan to test both. My idea was to use cold intake for summer and then route it to exhaust during cold months.

I may play around with trying to manually adjust or make a constant temp setting switch to fool the computer after the car has reached operating temp. The warm air intake concept makes sense to me I've just never tried it, but at the same time I dont want to give up on the extra energy in the denser colder air with a ram air option. Thats probably the hot rodder in me being stubborn and just my natural curiosity to prove my concepts (usually) wrong or right compared to others, but I plan to do all my mods in a series to test for individual results positive or negative. In the end the results will make the decisions

[Nevyn]

Shooting for 30-35? Try 45! I've got a bigger engine and an automatic, and I'm getting 35-40 MPG.

[Z.E.B.]

Thats awesome to hear Nevyn! Also very reassuring it was money well spent purchasing the car, it has some body damage and worn out repairs needed so thats a good bonus that it may be well beyond what I was expecting

[JRMichler]

Originally Posted by Z.E.B.

Starting off with a 98 Hyundai 1.5L 5spd shooting for 30-35

That's an awful low target - I'm getting 30 winter 35 summer in a crew cab truck.

[Z.E.B.]

Well I drove it home on a transit plate filled just as I left and just before I got back and my partial tank calculations say I was getting 30mpg, course with a crunched front fender, missing right hand marker, and square tube roof rack, after sitting a year I was impressed with the $400 4cyl. There is clearly room for aero repairs and running repairs. But that's not bad for most anything in the rolling roads of Maine.

That is awesome mileage for a truck JR good job!

[Nevyn]

Maine...You're definitely going to want to fill in some of the upper front grille to block airflow. That little tiny engine won't hold much heat, and you folks don't get terribly warm up there. I bet you'll be able to run 50 to 75% blockage year round without overheating!

Got any pics of the little beast?

[shovel]

I had a 99 Accent with that spoiler, and based on experience from it I believe the factory spoiler helps, rather than harms aero.