Win $100.00 in Free Gas! Design Contest: Ecomod my Ride

[SVOboy]

I beat you with the link! Thanks to sebastian indeed, ABG is a great site to keep up on the news.

[Oldsmobile]

Ran into this at autoblog green, and thought I share a few ideas.

The Escort has a cousin in Europe that came with smalle engines. Instead of trying to ecofy a 2.0 liter engine, why not just order up a smaller 1.4 liter unit?

Also, massively replacing body panels with fiberglass parts and perhaps a custom front and rear bumper would take you pretty far.

And as far as the interior goes, custom seats made with aluminum tubing and maybe replacing inside door trim with aluminum sheet would make it pretty light. And even though just pulling out all the sound deadening material and carpet would make it light, a more usable solution would be to replace the stuff with lightweight carpeting material.

[XFi]

Very nice! Thanks for the ideas...Welcome to Ecomodder.com! A smaller dispacement engine would make sense, as well as lightening the vehicle and aero mods. Hope you stick around!

[Oldsmobile]

Originally Posted by XFi

Very nice! Thanks for the ideas...Welcome to Ecomodder.com! A smaller dispacement engine would make sense, as well as lightening the vehicle and aero mods. Hope you stick around!

THX, I'll try to stick around. I was thinking along the lines of Fiat's Ecobasic. It was a concept built around 2000 as a super efficient, super light normal car.

Looks kind of weird, but light weight was the point of the study:

http://www.channel4.com/4car/ft/feat...ept+car/1272/1

[XFi]

Originally Posted by Oldsmobile

THX, I'll try to stick around. I was thinking along the lines of Fiat's Ecobasic. It was a concept built around 2000 as a super efficient, super light normal car.

Looks kind of weird, but light weight was the point of the study:

http://www.channel4.com/4car/ft/feat...ept+car/1272/1

Neat vehicle, I haven't run across info on that one before....
Thanks for sharing the link.
As far as weight reduction...
I think that this EcoMod Project will definately be going on a diet!

[MetroMPG]

Here's a question, XFi:

A determined hypermiler could probably achieve double the car's EPA combined rating with the car in its current, unmodified form (well, with a few prep. items like tire pressure...)

Now, that kind of feat could only be achieved at a pretty low average speed, in ideal conditions where the driver could operate more or less unmolested by other traffic.

But it does make me think the "doubling" requirement might need some context...

Under what kind of conditions are you striving for 58 mpg? If it's @ a steady 75 mph on the freeway, you may be in trouble. But if you'll deem 58 mpg @ 45 mph avg speed a success on a rolling country road, that's a horse of a different colour.

[XFi]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Here's a question, XFi:

A determined hypermiler could probably achieve double the car's EPA combined rating with the car in its current, unmodified form (well, with a few prep. items like tire pressure...)

Now, that kind of feat could only be achieved at a pretty low average speed, in ideal conditions where the driver could operate more or less unmolested by other traffic.

But it does make me think the "doubling" requirement might need some context...

Under what kind of conditions are you striving for 58 mpg? If it's @ a steady 75 mph on the freeway, you may be in trouble. But if you'll deem 58 mpg @ 45 mph avg speed a success on a rolling country road, that's a horse of a different colour.

My goal IS to double the MPG in real world driving. Let me explain that comment...
When I say 'real world', I am meaning 'my real driving environment'. This would be a mix of Highway and City driving. It is everyday commuting. It is stop and go. It is all weather conditions. It is all speeds. It is with traffic. It will not be 'ideal mpg conditions' by any means. I drive a lot for work and sometimes a good bit of it is at highway speeds. If I drove in Ideal conditions ONLY, you are right, I could probably hit this with very few modifications.

Highway mileage will be hard to hit, but I will meet a 60mpg average with this vehicle. If I drop lower on the Highway, I will make up for it in town.

More than my mpg goals, this contest is to get people involved. It is an exercise to get people thinking about what small changes can be done, and to see that numerous small changes CAN add up to BIG changes in fuel consumption. It is not meant to be a cutthroat competition, but a fun way to share ideas with each other, then to see them implemented on this EcoModded Ride!

[Yaristock]

Saggin Wagon

Interior
Remove excessive sound-deadening
Replace electric windows with manual
Replace all bulbs with Led bulbs

Body
Use sawzall to reshape rear into a teardrop shape ending, utilizing the stock rear windshield(to reduce costs, also replacing with plexiglass.)
Rear wheel skirts and flexible front wheelskirts
Grill Block
Underbody cladding
VW style air diverters to divert air from wheel area at the bottom
Shaved door handles
A type of air deflector to cover the area where the wipers reside

Engine
Increase EGR size
HAI
ECU remapping
Composite intake for weight savings
Reduced injector size
Engine Block Heater

Suspension
Reduce right height by 3inches
tighten suspension to reduce excessive bodyroll(possibly resulting extra engine load)

Wheels
Lightweight allows and lightweight wheels to reduce rotational mass

Brakes
Stainless Steel Lines
Powerslot Rotor
(saving gas is worthless if you die)

[AndrewJ]

Coche de José MarÃ*a González de Hermosillo
(If your car was manufactured in Ford’s Hermosillo, Mexico factory)

or

Coche de Wayne
(if your car was manufactured in Ford’s Wayne, Michigan factory)

I sure hope your car is Mexican, the Jose just has that ring to it

Anyway, this is a bit more of a "practical" build taking into consideration real-world budget and effort constraints, as well as leaving you with a still-practical car.

Engine
2.0 CVH engine: 84.8x88mm (bore x stroke)
Swap bottom end to 1.6L Escort (81-85) 80x79.5mm
(a lot of info about increasing displacement, not so much about decreasing it. Head bolt pattern and oil galley locations should be the same for all Ford CVH engines, but consult a shop manual for details)

4-2-1 header, Pacesetter makes one for 1.9CVH, requires relocation of cat converter downstream. All CVH have same manifold bolt patterns. $155 shipped from ebay.

Warm air intake (aluminum dryer hose to airbox from under header)

192 degree thermostat (Duralast, Valucraft, Failsafe) $15

Unbelt or completely remove A/C (depends on your climate, comfort level)

Unbelt Alternator (keep belt and a wrench in trunk for long trips)

Relocate battery to cargo-area, replace with 2x 6v deep cycle.
Wire to engine compartment with 4awg amplifier wiring kit $60 from auto parts store

PV panel in cargo area for trickle charging while parked. $89 from JC whitney
http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/P...016460/c-10107


Battery charger and block heater share common 110V plug
Charger : Soneil 12v smart charger $75
http://www.amazon.com/Soneil-12V-5A-.../dp/B0007ZAL0C
Block Heater: Genuine Ford/OEM $28 shipped from ebay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-O...QQcmdZViewItem



Body:
Mirror delete (use power mirror interior “covers� from junkyard if you have manual mirrors. ABS plastic to cover outside)

Front airdam (ABS or PVC plastic sheet)

F&R wheel skirts: front skirts hinged at top with Teflon sheet bonded to inside tire-contact-points (ABS or PVC plastic sheet)

Side skirts (ABS or PVC plastic sheet)

Lower ~2" with cheap coil-overs, cut springs (sorry it seems nobody makes spring kits for 97 wagons...)

Wheels & tires:
Bridgestone B381 185/65R14 low rolling resistance tires

Honda VX/HX 14� wheels (4x100 bolt pattern will fit)

“Full Moon� hubcaps


FE Instrumentation

Scanguage II



picture to follow whenever I can muster up the energy to properly photochop one.

[MetroMPG]

I think Andrew should win based on the name alone!

I would happily drive an H2 into the sunset if it were named Coche de José MarÃ*a González de Hermosillo.