What are your modding goals / resolutions / wish list for 2010?

[Eric]

I'd like to not take such a big fuel economy hit in the winter - so I'm adding a PriusII thermal storage tank to my Insight, and maybe putting a heater core in my exhaust to heat up my coolant with waste heat a la PriusIII. My commute is very short, so it is all about the initial thermal transient.

Also considering going to throttle by wire so that I can force the engine to always be at either the efficiency peak, or the lean burn efficiency peak - then fill in the power levels in between with the IMA system.

If there is anyone in the Boston area, we are thinking about putting together a ecomodding club at Sprout (a community shop in Davis sq). We have a heated garage space, small machine shop, electronics lab, and people who are excited to tinker with cars. If you are interested, let me know.

-Eric

[pgfpro]

Goals for the Honda

I want to finish the boat tail by the end of February. Do some tuft testing.
Install my aluminium belly pan and do more tuft testing.
Remove my mirrors and more tuft testing.

Test my new EGR system in March.

Pass emission by the end of May.

My new Honda mpg goal is to get over 100mpg with all the new mods.

Run a 10 second 140+mph 1/4 mile run.


Goals for the Truck.

Do a rear mount turbo kit.

Install Tuner Cat and run my new lean burn system.




Did you accomplish your previous years' goals?

With the Honda I didn't really set any goals other then to establish a base line and improve on it from there.

[NeilBlanchard]

Two things:

Build a prototype boattail (or large full Kamm back) and full belly pan for my xA.

Design and possibly start building a ground up, uber-efficient EV.

[Weather Spotter]

I would like to achieve a consistent 40mpg+ 90 day rolling average.
over the summer I would like to get 45+ mpg.

no mods planed (no money).

[dremd]

50 MPG @ 70 MPH Cruise
Currently get 45mpg fills with Cruise set at 70 MPH
So Easy to beat that around town, but speed kills.
First order looks like it will be transmission upgrade.
Then hopefully something super cool.
Then (when it gets hot again) get the Ice Chest out of the chilled seat system.
But to be honest the Golf is in need of a good bit of Maintenance (Timing belt, Clutch, front brake rotors, squeaks are getting bad again), so it is very probable that not much will happen.

[gone-ot]

...my "goal" is to first (a) achieve 36-38 mpg and then (b) maintain that FE as much as feasibly possible (summer = yes, winter = no).

...I never make New Year Resolutions because "crow" and "shoe leather" make lousy snacks.

[Chalupa102]

I plan to get at least 45mpg and keep it constant with my Corolla. I'm planning to put the stock exhaust manifold on in place of the aftermarket header to see if it makes a difference and when it gets warmer make a full belly pan out of coroplast.

[MadisonMPG]

Rebuild Geo engine, with economy package. Fully belly pan, and lowered 1".

[RobertSmalls]

Originally Posted by Eric

I'd like to not take such a big fuel economy hit in the winter - so I'm adding a PriusII thermal storage tank to my Insight, and maybe putting a heater core in my exhaust to heat up my coolant with waste heat a la PriusIII. My commute is very short, so it is all about the initial thermal transient...

Welcome to the forum, Eric! It's always good to see another first-gen Insight modder. Btw, the car already has an exhaust heat retention scheme in the head/exhaust manifold casting, but I'm sure it's possible to do better.

I suppose my goal for 2009 was to get a more economical car. Mission accomplished. For 2010, I want to meet my project goal of 70mpg overall while exceeding the speed limit. That's 32% over EPA Combined, which was easy in the Subaru, but difficult in the Insight in the winter.

It's too cold out to work on aeromods right now, but a rear view camera or two is in the cards for 2010, along with front-to-back underbody coverage. I also plan some temporary roof extensions for fuel economy competitions and road trips.

Aeromods will provide the big gains on the highway, but electrical mods will help more on my commute. I intend to install MIMA_L, and, if possible, go PHEV with the tiny stock battery pack. If I plug in the Insight every night, I'll also run a 12V battery charger so I can deep-cycle my 12V battery, and maybe run a block heater. In any case, I'm going to electrify the garage once the ground thaws.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by Eric

If there is anyone in the Boston area, we are thinking about putting together a ecomodding club at Sprout (a community shop in Davis sq). We have a heated garage space, small machine shop, electronics lab, and people who are excited to tinker with cars. If you are interested, let me know.

Oh, man! Why couldn't you be thinking about setting this up in my area? My kingdom for a heated shop!

Welcome to the forum, Eric. It would be very interesting to follow your thermal management mods. Hope you'll post about them.