Novel Idea, Performance Mods for Gas Mileage.

[beaterfesty]

Hey festers,
I got myself any idea. How about posting any mods made in the interest of increasing MPG.

Here's my idea;
(share your stuff)
1989 Festiva LX carbed w/ 5sp
Royal Purple synthetic 10w30 oil
Royal Purple synthetic Synchromax tranny fluid
O'reilly plug wires
Bosch platinums
Borg Warner Distributor Cap and Rotor
about 15 cans of carb cleaner and 2 gallons of tolulene

Next mod- K&N E-9181 air filter
New Timing Belt
Header
Head with larger valves (want to experiment)
(share your mileage)

50.7MPG max, 45MPG average


Lame idea? or good way to share tune up tips? As gas heads toward $4.00 I could use some more hints.


I like ridiculing people who drive Suburbans,
Chris



















































































Started at 38mpg and now maxed out at 51mpg

[The Rage]

Where do you buy your Royal Purple Synthetic?. I remember that brand-name from WAY back as an expensive option for a 1969 Goat.

[darkdan]

Search google for royal purple oil. You'll find 1,000 of dealers.

RP is a pretty decent oil. Obviously not my favorite, but 10x better then what most people use. I personally feel it doesn't have the performance vs cost ratio I like.

However, RP dealers are notoriously cut-throat. So if you spend a few minutes on google you'll keep finding cheaper prices.

about 15 cans of carb cleaner and 2 gallons of tolulene

Trying to melt your fuel lines? Personally I use FP60 by www.lubecontrol.com It's not an aromatic solvent.

51 mpg is very respectable. I think my top in my aspire has been 43.

[Safety Guy]

More ideas:

-Wash and wax the car...smoother body creates less drag.

-Pump up those tires...33 to 35 psi minimum; if you have higher quality tires that can take 44 psi or more, put in maybe 36 to 38 psi of air. My cheapos are rated at 35 psi. Note: if you haul heavy loads go easy on approaching these limits.

-That groundwire mod that Will goes into in one of his articles seems like it would produce a more efficient engine system.

-Get rid of any parasitic protrusions like the right side mirror, antenna, etc. Lower your CD.

-A well designed air dam in front may help. The trick is to lessen underbody air flow (that creates more drag) without enlarging your total front end area too much. This mod may work well with the lowering springs.

-With that said, the skinnier your tires, the better. They create wind drag both in terms of frontal area (especially if they stick out beyond the fenders) and in rotational drag (can't help that too much--just stay away from knobbies!). Stick with 145s or 155s when possible.

-Alloy wheels weigh less than the steel counterparts (or they should, anyway!). Less power is used to get up to speed (less rotational mass to overcome). If you have the Aspire suspension conversion, the Aspire alloys (13 X 4.5") with 145/80-13 tires (not a common size anymore) would probably be great on a Festiva. These might not be good enough for the heavier Aspire, with heavier loads, however. Check the load range on the tires for safety.

-Take out that back seat for about a 30 pound reduction. Take out whatever else you can do without.

-For mostly around town driving, stock 145/80-12s on the factory alloys would probably be best. They'd have the least mass to get rolling from a stop time after time.

-For mostly highway driving, especially in an automatic, I'd think taller tires would be best to raise the effective final drive ratio. The 155/80-12 tire size would do this. With 13s, a 155/80-13 tire would be really tall if it fit okay. The 145/80-13 should be tall enough, IMO.

-Keep in mind a few of these things may not go well with each other: Lowering your Festiva to put on a modest front air dam and then trying to run tall 155/80-13 tires would probably not work too well.

Finally, there's "driver behavior."

-Drive like there's an egg between your foot and the gas (and brake) pedals. To do this more effectively, look and plan well ahead of your path. Watch traffic lights for when they will turn green, and remember any patterns to take advantage of. Coast a lot. Even if all you manage to do is to create a lot of "rolling stops," you'll reduce the energy needed to get back up to speed and thus, save gas.

-Don't let the car idle more than necessary. Warmups, exept in very cold weather, should not be more than about 30 seconds.

-If you know a stop will take more than a minute, turn it off. Make sure you have a decent starter! There may be a few awfully long lights out there you can take advantage of.

-If you can, coast to your parking place. Make sure the "coast is clear" so you don't have to brake for someone before you get to your place. Put it in neutral and turn off your engine. At night, keeping your lights on for that last few seconds of "gliding" won't hurt anything.

-In good weather, and in safe areas, push your car if you are in a line. Yeah, this is hard core, ain't it? I've done it a few times at a bank drive through. This is the same drive through that I cut off the engine about twenty-five yards before the line starts. I can occasionally save about two or three minutes straight of run time if I do this, combining coasting with pushing! AGAIN, CHECK FOR SAFETY FIRST! Don't get run over trying to save a thimble-full of gas.

-Plan your trips before you go. Why take three separate trips when you could have done it in one longer one?

-Walk. It's usually healthier. (Maybe not in the "bad part of town" though.)

Karl

[festivagt]

...

Talk about extreme, The only thing I don't think you covered was the pop starting while rolling. This saves the car from having to prime the circut when using the starter if you are running a fuelie festie. Just another thimble full...

[beaterfesty]

Wow! Like the ideas. Dan, I'm getting the RP at a steal. As for the idea about killing the engine at stops... I already do! Idle circuit is jacked bad so it just dies when you stop. And Honda though that they had a novel idea with the insight. I beat them to it. As for removing stuff, I yanked the wipers one week when I knew it would be dry and you wouldn't believe how much drag those little suckers produce! Lastly, I've been eyeballing some 14" rims off of a Toyota Tercel. They kinda look like the same bolt pattern and I just saw an Aveo at work with 17's so... Anyways I guess its time to break out the turtle wax and see what happens. Keep up the great ideas.

Cheers,
Chris

P.S. Working as a brake form mechanic at the local aerospace shop has me thinking about a full belly pan. Maybe some nice .050" 7075-T62 aluminum with pretty little flush mount fasteners and access panels for the necessary fluid changes???

[darkdan]

Sorry, waxing the car....not gonna help.

There's a small layer of air on an object that doesn't really move. It's basically hydrodynamic lubrication.

Look at pictures of wind tunnel testing. Except at the very leading edge of an object (bumpers and the front inch or so of a hood) the smoke is flowing above the object.

Mirrors, windshield wipers, taping up the hood lines/grill, and covering the front and rear wheel wells would do a lot to improve aerodynamics.

[Champ 98]

On Older festys swapping out the old four speed for a five worked wonders on my old 88 carby, and I used the four in one of my racers, (4 spd will stand a little more punishment than the fragile 5spd).

if you use the fifth gear wisely, (no lugging up hills), I was able to get 45 mpg compared to 32 to 35 out of the 4 gear, at highway speeds of course.

[beaterfesty]

Dan, I agree about the waxing, more of a comedic response. We could go into the finer points of boundary layers, laminar flow, etc but unless you want to make your feisty look like a golf ball ( the little dimples are for aerodynamics) lets just say that the worse the condition of the paint (aka not smooth) the better the boundary layer will be Also, I forget one little mod that got me 2 mile per gallon! Lash your valves from time to time! It really does help. Lastly, let me say that I do NOT condone toluene in the tank in massive quantities but read the label on a can of Berrymans B12 chemtool. It's a witches brew of rubber eaters . What I meant to relay was that I was using toluene and carb cleaner on the CARB to get the jets and floats clean. I agree that rubber and aromatics don't mix. Come to think of it aromatics and people don't mix either. BE CAREFUL!!! and happy gas saving.

Chris

P.S. I just filled up and am currently getting 48.8 mpg. Can't wait for the K&N to come.

[97 Aspire 5 Speed]

P.S. I just filled up and am currently getting 48.8 mpg. Can't wait for the K&N to come.

Granted every little bit helps, but IMHO and in my personal experience, the number one thing that helped fuel economy was driving style and not running the A/C.

And please specify at what speed you're getting those quoted mpg. A lot depends on speed driven, etc. (i.e. are you doing the speed limit (70 mph) on the interstate, cruising at 55 on the interstate, level ground, etc.) MPG quotes without particulars are worthless. :scratch:

And just as a side-note:

http://money.cnn.edmunds.com/owners...42/article.html

[beaterfesty]

Agreed, and I'm sorry about not listing the particulars so..

No A/C( blew the high side line), My daily commute is 30 miles one way in rolling hills around Hot Springs, Arkansas and I run between 55mph and 60 mph if I can behave. Anyway, I'm hoping the air filter will up the final gain a little bit.

Cheers,
Chris

P.S. On a run to Little Rock( 'bout 140 mile round trip) I cruised at between 70 and 80 mph and got right at 41.5mpg

[gdawgs]

More ideas:
Finally, there's "driver behavior."

-Don't let the car idle more than necessary. Warmups, exept in very cold weather, should not be more than about 30 seconds.

Karl

Driver behavior is the biggest one.

Idling in the winter time makes a big difference. When it's really cold (-20°F or colder) I leave my cars running a lot. Around here when you go to the store or mall, lots of cars are running. There are a few guys at work who have diesels, and when it's really cold they leave their vehicles running all day long.

[Safety Guy]

I've read that a good wax job on WWII fighter planes upped the top speed maybe 5 to 10 mph. Anyway, that's what they believed. The altitude and speed differences (we're talking over 400 mph here!) may be the catch.

I know a little about the boundary layer, but I wasn't aware it didn't move much. I've read about Laminar flow from info on the wing cross section of the P-51 Mustang, which I think was the first major plane to have it.

And now a question if anyone knows it:

How does the stock rear spoiler design of the Festiva work? Does it actually create downforce at the rear, or does it help cleanly cut off the flow of air to reduce turbulence at the rear? Does it do both, decreasing the CD? I'm wondering if it works or is mainly cosmetic.

My guess is that it may help reduce the CD and create a bit more downforce as well.

Karl

[gdawgs]

Rear spoilers-one of the problems with hatch-backs is that the rear window gets really dirty, especially in the winter time when they sand the roads.

I talked to a guy who installed a spoiler on his Festiva and he said it virtually eliminated this problem.

Not sure about the drag coefficient, it might actually make it worse. I would also think that the down-force created would be negligible. I read something one time that said spoilers are all show until you get up into race car speeds. Don't remember what speed they stated but for some reason 180 mph sticks in my head. So really, probably the only noticeable difference would be the improved visibility. I wouldn't mind getting one if it actually does work.

It's been a while since I took fluid mechanics, but if I remember correctly, there is essentially no fluid movement just off of the surface. At least that's how you analyze text book problems.

[Zeeknof]

I just took a trip about 300miles have the needle pegged and the car floored almost the whole time. 93 stock Festiva. I only got 26 mpg...ouch, I was cruising at 3,000 to a max of 4200rpms in 5th gear....lol I get way better gas mileage through town...35-36. have never topped over 36mpg on a tank...I do drive the car pretty hard though.

on a side note can anyone who knows the gearing of the car with stock tires tell me how fast I was going at 4200rpms in 5th gear with stock tires?

Thanks,
Shaun