Sadly, I have been too busy to work on this project. Most of my drives are 4-5 miles at a time, so fill-ups are once a month at best. Usually getting ~45MPG on average. I'm still waiting on my custom coil-over setup to be finished from the factory so I can lower this ride, getting further into the aerodynamic wonderland that it should become.
With winter around the corner, I definitely don't want to go too crazy as the results will be pretty hard to compare with the harsh cold effecting my MPGs.
I will probably start on the hatch-back conversion in the spring. My current factory back window's window tint is beyond legally blind levels! So I definitely need to get that done. Should help quite a bit with aerodynamics as well.
Outside of those basic aerodynamic mods, I'm really thinking this engine is going to be my weakest link to insane economy. It idles at .30-.34 GPH. I run with a lot of engine-off, but it's still not the efficiency it needs. My wife's Xb, with a 1.5L DOHC, idles at around .15! That's half the fuel to idle an engine that's 3/4 it's size. Though, I'm still not sure what route to go for an engine replacement. I keep eye-balling going all out and hitting electric (especially since my primary use of the car is work and back, 10 miles total per day tops!)... It's all up in the air at this point, but I want to get aerodynamically correct first!
So to complete this "update", I can say the car works well, heating has not been an issue w/ the current blocking (especially entering colder times), and this project is on the backburner, but not in the archives!
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I can take further pics of the back side of, though, if you want more of an idea of it. I plan to extend it to cover the blinkers and either relocate them, or use some thin plexiglass to have them blink through it.
