how to help my matrix - Page 7 - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

saand · 08-28-2010, 11:25 PM

That is one crazy belt setup, but on the up side it means if you go to a single belt for the alternator and get rid of the AC and PS you would remove losses from both of them which is considerable and the added loss of the 2 belt guiding bearings. Although I haven’t seen much actual info about efficiency improvement for this mod I think you might get a considerable improvement here.
A method I can think of is completely removing the existing belt and buying a belt that is big enough to just go around the main drive wheel and the alternator wheel. Then fashion a mechanical piece so that you can move the alternator up and down using a screw / leaver arrangement. This will give you tension on the belt and will mean you will be able to actually put the belt on. Look at how your power steering pump tensions the belt maybe you can use the same brackets for tensioning the alternator. Alternatively you might be able to find at a wrecker a tensioning wheel (just a wheel and bearing on a metal bracket) which you could fasten to location the power steering is currently at.
Also if you are going to make a metal bracket to tension your alternator looking at a wrecker for a while might find you some brackets/tensioners that are almost what your after and a little modification like drilling holes will make it perfect for you

So I think it is workable but may take some time to do. Maybe someone can give an indication on the improvement they have gotten from removing the PS and alternator. it’s not currently on the wiki but this info will give you an idea if it’s worth doing. At a guess I am thinking probably 5 %, I have done this mod myself but I don’t have the data sorry I made a whole bunch of mods at the same time but I can tell you it’s less than 10% because that is what I got between tank fill ups with all my mods

Weather Spotter · 08-28-2010, 11:58 PM

The PS pump is stationary, there is a stand alone tentioner which I might re purpose.

But with a recal out for my car due to ECU failures (I will get a new on for free) I will wait until that is done before any major mods. I might need to take some of my mods off before I get the replacement done.

saand · 08-29-2010, 12:07 AM

Sounds good, By the way if you want to get some numbers for removing a PS belt and/or AC delete for the PS pump its very hard to do an ABA test because hydraulic lines often have to be reconfigured so that steering isn't really hard. So you might want to do a baseline test before your mod and a test after

Weather Spotter · 08-29-2010, 12:18 AM

I have lots of "A" runs from my testing over the last few weeks. As long as I live in this area I can use the same road for my testing. Just pick a low wind day and my data should be very close (good enough to use). this is what I did with my side mirror data, I had an issue with my bolts, I can take it off, but it will require a lot of fab work to put it back, so no taking it off for testing. I just used old data for the "A" runs. My "B" data was all of current day's "A" runs (nice and spread out, lots of samples too).

At this point I think that my modding is close to where I am reaching diminishing returns. I do not want to hurt the resale value of the car much, so removing these things might cause issues.

I might do a longer Kammback, but most of the things I can (or want to do are done).