What We Tell People
I accidently came across a copy of the local paper where I had been interviewed about how to improve MPG. This was from May 2008 when gas prices were near their peak. Like most people who get asked such things, I gave them the old clichés about air up, slow down, tune-up, yadda, yadda, yadda. As Kevin Kostner in “Bull Durham” told the rookie: “Cliches are your friend.”
Fast forward to this spring. I buy a 1996 Impala SS (I always wanted one of those) as a driver while I get more aggressive on the pickup. A bit of work tracking down the usual used-car gremlins and trying to baseline the car in case I get the urge to ecomod it. It is a great driving car. But the critter seems immune to the old chestnuts. I can hypermile my brains out or drive it like Tony Stewart (a very aggressive NASCAR driver for you non-US guys) and regardless I can throw about 1.5 MPG over the whole range. I’m running 60 psi in the tires (20% over the sidewall max). No joy. The car coasts well. But regardless, it gets 20 MPG plus or minus 0.75 MPG. The car is 35% lighter than the pickup but gets 30% LESS MPG. If this were a truck, I’d say it is overgeared. MPG insensitivity to other measures is a classic symptom of overgeared trucks, but this car has 3.08 gears – pretty long-legged by today’s standards. I think the big factors are the gas engine and the automatic transmission. The LT-1 runs nearly completely throttled and inefficiently and the torque converter is built for a high-powered engine and feels “loose” to me. But, when you think about it, this is the vast majority configuration – gas engine and automatic transmission. Like it or not, this configuration is very resistant to the old chestnuts. So when we spouted the clichés, people tried them and got no results and they figure we are full of the brown & smelly stuff. So, when (not if) the price of gas & diesel goes up again I am gonna change my tune. I’ll tell them: 1. No clichés. I presume you are smart enough to properly maintain your car. 2. If you drive less than 7,000 miles a year, don’t worry about it. Any meaningful action will cost more than it is worth. 3. If you drive enough that it hurts, trade in your Sequoia (euphemism for any SUV)for a Prius (euphemism for any high-MPG car). Take the trade-in beating and enjoy the good MPG. 4. If the price of fuel hurts enough but you really need a Sequoia or Tundra, you’ll have to become a form of hot-rodder to live with it. You’ll come to see the basjoos-mobile or Phil’s T-100 as beautiful, you’ll do an engine and transmission change to a diesel with a stick and you’ll change you gearing and put those Goodrich Long Trail TA’s (low RR 16 tires) on the vehicle. 5. Don’t waste your money on snake-oil solutions like acetone, two-stroke oil, or Brown’s gas. 6. Small modifications general get small results. |
The clichés have been tried, tested and proven effective on most of the vehicles. An AT by default makes hypermiling harder because you have to fight it most of the time. I tell people with a MT not to fear rolling heavily into the throttle and shift early, but I can't tell people stuck with an AT to punch it, because they have mostly no control over the shifting. There are so many variables that affect fuel mileage that the best advice to give people would be to head over here. But since very few people will do that, my generic advice is to take is easy, slow down and use your brakes as little as possible.
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I would find someone who knows these cars backwards and get it them. They should be able to tell you fairly quickly. Try a local "old school" car club or an internet search. Pete. |
Car clubs think MPG is craziness. They all act they are wanting to win the Indy 500.
The car is basically a Caprice cop car with a lower stance and Corvette engine. |
The old chestnuts are tried and proven but just not all that effective for gas engine/automatic transmission cars (the vast majority).
They do all we tell them and drive wildly out of their comfort zone and get 1-2 MPG improvement. They want more. They think we are nuts and go back to texting while they drive. Put a diesel in it and improve by at least 40%. Put in a stick and gain another 20%. Gas/automatic versions of my Super Duty struggle to get 10 MPG. Straight from the factory I got 18 MPG. |
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Following your (and my) advice, my 4 liter Mustang isn't too far behind your 2 liter Elantra.:) |
Big Dave -
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Manumatic Technology : TwistMachine.com, CNC Innovations for Hot Rods Quote:
Chevrolet Impala - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Quote:
CarloSW2 |
If I keep it, it will get a T-56 or maybe a Tremec 6060.
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Another thing you could work on is the whole manumatic idea, since it's a #x##E version.
I bet you if you shift the selector into the lowest gear, take off like a moron, foot to the floor, you won't hit redline. The TCU will automatically shift without your input (via the selector lever). That means you can manually control when the TCU sets shift points with switches, and you can probably manually control TC lockup as well. If you're worried about the transmission dying, doing the mods will just kill it faster (in your mind) so you can swap to a manual sooner. :) |
With a 350 ya need to practically be idling down the freeway to end up in a decent part of your BSFC map. In order to get near 30mpg ya need to drop from ~1500rpm@55mph to ~1000rpm@55mph, and even then, you'll still only be at ~400g/kWh instead of the optimum around ~300g/kWh.
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