Weight reduction

[oil pan 4]

As I said above, I lose about 1mpg highway per 500lb that I add to my suburban.
It does make a difference.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by mechman600

Weight reduction, unless extreme enough to change rolling resistance, is unlikely to affect highway mpg.

If your highways are flat. But if you have hills (or mountains), you have to supply energy to raise the mass of the vehicle up the hill. Most of the time, you are not going to recover a significant fraction of that energy on the downhill side.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

I was watching history channel, modern marvels: "Aluminum".
They had a GM engineer (who had an engineering PH.P) says that "a 10% reduction of mass gives you an 8% boost to fuel economy".

I took a little over 200 lbs, maybe 220, out of my car with curb weight 2262. I'm really confident it is a significant part of the reason I get 60-65mpg. Who knows how much. But I continue to be amazed that this simple 98 Civic DX will return 70-80 mpgs on the instant readout cruising steady at 55mph. It does not have lean burn, and it is significantly but not radically aeromodded.

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

My car weighs 2050 pounds up front and 1450 in the back.
Any front wheel drive will suffer even worse weight distribution.
In a rear wheel drive car 50% 50% is ideal. Right now its pretty close to 60/40.

Wow, your front axle has almost more weight than my entire car weighs on it.

I think rearward bias is better because it improves traction, not 50/50 split.

[Superfuelgero]

A word of warning: I've cut about 10% of my weight (200lbs). With the tires aired up, the sprung to unsprung weight ratio can make for a bumpy ride. My advice is to start with the suspension, brakes, wheels, etc, then move in.

The benefit to all of this is brisker acceleration without using more fuel. In congested areas where hypermiling can create tailgating issues, this is useful.

If you're a heavy p&g'r, this can hurt you also though (shorter cycle times). I drive rolling hills, so this is less of an issue (forced p&g), since I can hold my speed more steady.

[Baltothewolf]

I wonder what exactly I could pull out of my civic to make it lighter. I think I'll pull my spare tire and Jack today, anyone got any other ideas? I'm not ready willing to tear up the interior to accomplish this feat.

[backpacker3]

Wheels are a good spot to lose weight. You also have the option of taking out floor mats or finding lighter ones, on my car there are some blocks in the rear doors that block the window from rolling all the way down that can be removed they're about 3 lbs apiece if I remember correctly you could see if that's an option for you. Any extra stuff in the center console the glovebox and stuff like that is a good spot to lose weight as well even thoroughly cleaning out the car will reduce weight.
Radios can be swapped for lighter ones and if you have the stock one there will probably be more features too on even a $50 dollar one. You can take off any plastic side moulding/trim if you have it.

Depending on how far you want to go there is also lighter shift knobs, boots, and or replacing the shifter itself with a lighter one e.g short shifter, trimming down hvac control knobs, lighter steering wheel, lightweight seats, and finally how is your ECU and cruise control module mounted?

[Baltothewolf]

Originally Posted by backpacker3

Wheels are a good spot to lose weight. You also have the option of taking out floor mats or finding lighter ones, on my car there are some blocks in the rear doors that block the window from rolling all the way down that can be removed they're about 3 lbs apiece if I remember correctly you could see if that's an option for you. Any extra stuff in the center console the glovebox and stuff like that is a good spot to lose weight as well even thoroughly cleaning out the car will reduce weight.
Radios can be swapped for lighter ones and if you have the stock one there will probably be more features too on even a $50 dollar one. You can take off any plastic side moulding/trim if you have it.

Depending on how far you want to go there is also lighter shift knobs, boots, and or replacing the shifter itself with a lighter one e.g short shifter, trimming down hvac control knobs, lighter steering wheel, lightweight seats, and finally how is your ECU and cruise control module mounted?

No cruise control, and I have no idea about the ECU, I'm probably going to check to make sure it's the FED ECU today. As for nit picking the little things, I'm sure I will get to it all eventually. I do want to get a list compiled though.

[cowmeat]

Weight reduction in such small increments doesn't make sense if you're having to buy replacements. If there was a way to do the actual math, and I'm sure there is, it would show you that even replacing a ten dollar shift knob would never pay for itself in that car's life.
I would stick to removing the basics, and only replace any item you already need to replace with lighter materials.
In fact, I'd work on aero and driver habits before I would even bother with weight reduction, they will pay off quicker.

[sendler]

Added mass only hurts your fuel economy when you step on the brakes. Taking weight out will improve performance numbers but won't help fuel economy on the highway especially if you use any Pulse and Glide. It may be a lot of trouble and expense for nothing if you don't have a stop and go commute. Diligent PnG can actually improve economy with added mass if it is part of an aero mod.
.
Here is an interesting comment about increased economy despite adding 1,300 pounds in an aero trailer.
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"The highest mpg I've recorded with my truck was when pulling my gap-filled, full-boat-tail trailer.I was 1,300 lbs heavier than stock and recorded 22% better mpg than the best ever recorded without it.(47.9 vs 39 mpg)"
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http://ecomodder.com/forum/323828-post14.html
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