White Gnat logs 2nd 800+ mile, 65+ mpg tank

[wmjinman]

The first one started near the top of Donner Summit in the Sierras, so there was a 3000 ft. net elevation loss on the tank.

But the next tank ended at the same gas station it started at, so this one is "honest". Finally completed my warm air intake (now that it's summer, right?), so the last third of the tank was with warm intake air. It seems to keep it in the 100-110 degree range most of the time, but hit 140 climbing the hill out of Carson City earlier today - the hottest I've seen so far.

I also added a cardboard "mock-up" air dam and tested that. A couple milestones were reached there, too. In three sets of two-way tests at 55 mph, I finally got an average of 55+ mpg for the first time.

And at 40 mph, I was able to achieve an average of 70 mpg in two sets of two-way runs. This is the highest speed I've been able to register 70 in controlled, two-way testing. I credit it to the combination of the warm air intake and the air dam.


> see thumbnails: Hot air intake & cardboard air dam <

[sarguy01]

Wow! And that is the four cylinder, correct?

[nemo]

[wmjinman]

Originally Posted by sarguy01

Wow! And that is the four cylinder, correct?

Yes, a 1.3 liter single overhead cam, 4 valves per cylinder. It's a replacement engine out of a junk yard, supposedly out of a 2000 Metro automatic with 7000 miles on it when I installed it in my car a year ago Feb. So if you look at my mileage logs back in Feb/March of 2013, you can see the mileage improve as the engine breaks in, I refine my hypermiling, and the weather warms up.

[sarguy01]

Originally Posted by wmjinman

Yes, a 1.3 liter single overhead cam, 4 valves per cylinder. It's a replacement engine out of a junk yard, supposedly out of a 2000 Metro automatic with 7000 miles on it when I installed it in my car a year ago Feb. So if you look at my mileage logs back in Feb/March of 2013, you can see the mileage improve as the engine breaks in, I refine my hypermiling, and the weather warms up.

My 1995 had the 1.3L with 200,000 miles on it. I got 45-50 mpg in mine with no hypermiling. It ran very well, didn't burn any oil and still had decent compression. Who knows what the previous 50 owners used for oil and how long they went on changes. So, with that car's sketchy history, I'd say the 1.3L is a really decent motor.

7,000 miles for a junkyard engine is awesome!

[j12piprius]

Does the bumper slope straight, the same as the air dam?

How did you keep the cardboard air dam in place at the bottom?

[wmjinman]

sarguy01 - Yes, I got extremely lucky with that junkyard motor. It was almost like breaking-in a new engine when I started driving it again. The story was the car got rear-ended 10 years ago, got hauled to that junkyard, and just sat there ever since. Another part of the story, if you can believe it - not sure I do - is that they'd finally gotten tired of having that thing sitting there and it was due to be crushed and sold off for scrap in a couple of days. If that should happen to be true, it's truly a miracle find.

When I first bought the car, I think it had something like 78,000 miles on it, and I usually got in the 40's without hypermiling. I remember one trip I got 51 mpg and was amazed. But that never happened again until after I got this new engine in. But I had loaned it out to a lot of people, and I suspect they didn't take the best care of it. - think I've learned my lesson about that now!!!

johnlvs2run - No, the bumper curves back & tucks under. So at one part of the cardboard sheet I used was a tab. I glued another piece of cardboard to this tab & then with that part centered, attached it to the bottom lip of the bumper with a couple of small c-clamps. The size of the tab was designed to hold the bottom of the air dam in that more-or-less vertical position. Over near the sides, I cut a couple shallow triangles out of cardboard as spacers between the bumper and the edges of the air dam. That was to keep the oncoming wind from collapsing it back against the bumper. Then the outer two pieces of the air dam were taped over that & the far ends secured to the front of the wheel openings by tape.

It won't last long, it's already showing signs of deteriorating, but I think I was at least able to prove to myself that it works. - Onward with the construction of the REAL air dam that's NOT cardboard!

[MetroMPG]

Just got caught up on this thread - congrats on the tank!

[wmjinman]

Just filled up again yesterday. I tried - tried so hard I even ran it out of gas - but it only made it to 779.8 miles until that happened. At least I'm keeping fresher gas in my "spare gas can" now!!!

At the gas station, I noticed one of my rear tires was low - only 30 psi - so that may have contributed. Also, my cardboard air dam was deteriorating, and I needed the "clean" bumper outline exposed to trace the shape for the new air dam, so I removed the cardboard about 300 miles ago - and still don't have the new one on yet.

These may have contributed to my lower mileage and range this tank, but as I think about it, 63.65 mpg isn't too shabby - - - is even my third highest tank ever, so looking for "the problem" is kinda weird - - - maybe I shouldn't consider there to be a problem, eh?

[nemo]

Originally Posted by wmjinman

63.65 mpg isn't too shabby

Certainly isn't.