All ways to get better gas mileage

[elcamino1]

Not a big increase but every little bit helps,change from 145 80/12s to 165 80/12s.

[muscle_Car1]

Remove the back seat & maybe the passengerside seat if its only a commuter.
You cold add a cold air intake before the vaf. Take apart the stock filter box. Get rx7 vaf adapter plate thing & fab your own up

And add a tornado to the intake. And the fuel line magnet. And...


^please note I am joking on the last few.

[gottafesty]

I've noticed that my 90 L 5-speed gets near 50 mpg when the top speed is around 45-50 and no hard accelerations or accelerations up hill when possible. When going down a longer steep hill use the transmission to hold your speed. No need to gas, brake, gas, brake, gas, brake...down a hill. Let gravity do the work.

Or you can just get right up behind a large semi that's cruising at a decent speed and draft a little. Not the safest thing to do nor is it my recommendation. But it would reduce mpg's.

[ejp2fast]

Or you can just get right up behind a large semi that's cruising at a decent speed and draft a little. Not the safest thing to do nor is it my recommendation. But it would reduce mpg's.

like that windshield sticker that says "I'm not tailgating, i'm drafting" readable only by the guy in front of you.

[notahybrid]

I plan on getting rid of the back seat, and lightening up the body with FMS composite hood and hatch. I already have a light '89 carbureted L, no options except AC and rear window defrost. I don't even have a radio at the moment. I've though about ditching the AC to further enhance mpg's, but it's a comfort item I'd like to keep. Other things I plan on doing are a roller cam(have), FMS aluminum flywheel(have), 2.25 in. catback exhaust(don't have), lowering kit(don't have), alky/water injection(have), and custom ram air. I believe all that should help a bit. There are some extreme mods I'm considering for later if they even remain feasible like adding a turbo, perhaps chopping the top down an inch or two (anyone know what I could gain from that?), and ditching the alky set up in favor of a homebuilt HHO generator(separates hydrogen and oxygen in water through advanced electrolysis) The ultimate goal with the HHO generator is to someday not burn any gasoline at all. Big goal I know, but I like a challenge. I've already seen lawn mowers run off of HHO. The only problem is producing enough for a larger engine while keeping the system compact enough.

[m715]

What are your plans for the air unit? First dibs? Trade?

Michael

[notahybrid]

I'm still working out the ram air. Doesn't look too hard though. I have two options: go up and out the hood or use a duel snorkel system to the carb and hook it to the lower radiator support or use an FMS front bumper with the foglight cutouts and do it that way. I'm keeping the AC for now if that's what you meant Mike.

[Pu241]

... a homebuilt HHO generator(separates hydrogen and oxygen in water through advanced electrolysis) The ultimate goal with the HHO generator is to someday not burn any gasoline at all. Big goal I know, but I like a challenge. I've already seen lawn mowers run off of HHO. The only problem is producing enough for a larger engine while keeping the system compact enough.

Nice transition into fantasy!
Mind telling me about advanced electrolysis, because I'm only familar with regular electrolysis.
Have you made the calculations on how much hydrogen you need to replace the equivalent amount of gasoline at a 11% efficency of converting electricity into hydogen?

[scitzz]

Nice transition into fantasy!
Mind telling me about advanced electrolysis, because I'm only familiar with regular electrolysis.
Have you made the calculations on how much hydrogen you need to replace the equivalent amount of gasoline at a 11% efficiency of converting electricity into hydrogen?

Unfortunately, too many people buy the HHO hype.
Pu241 is correct, electrolysis is a terrible way to get Hydrogen, if I remember correctly, the best way is from coal, so far...
Also, I have actually run a car with Hydrogen from a tank, for a couple of minutes. I know it works, but, the exhaust is water, and that just cannot be good for the internal engine parts it comes into contact with.
Here locally, I talked to a guy who claims HE knows a guy who has the HHO assist in his car, and gets better MPG, and efficiency, I am trying to meet him, I hope I do, so I can call shenanigans...
As far as the question in the first post about adding magnets... BS, it does not help. Matter of fact, most of those things that claim that, can actually hurt your mileage. I listened to a popular mechanics podcast recently, and they had tested most of them, almost all had adverse effects....
My 2 worthless copper coins...

[CharlieZ]

Listening to a guy on the radio today talking about "Hypermiling." Says he got in excess of 70 mpg on a Prius from Chicago to NY doing the run for CBS TV. This info and much more at http://www.cleanmpg.com/

I get a smile on my face when I hear of these thermos bottle hydrogen converters. Reminds me of the medicine man salesmen hawking his cure-all elixirs off the back of a wagon.

Pretty good thread going here.

Charlie Z

[Pu241]

Don't get me wrong I'm not saying you can't use hydrogen as a internal combustion fuel or even that a small amount might actually improve efficieny of combustion.
But you are not going to extract more than about 33 to 35% of the chemical energy in either fuel. We are talking about a heat engine.
Now if you use that hydrogen in a fuel cell that's not a heat engine and you should be seeing about 70% of the chemical energy converted to electricity.
As far as a fuel, hydrogen isn't an ideal IC fuel, as it tends to burn unstabily aka dentonates. I'm not too worried about the water exhaust.
It will be high temperature steam. The exhaust will likey suffer before the engine internal parts.
But, if it was an issue, a ceramic coating would likely solve most of it!
Better route is to use the that electricity to charge a set of batteries for an electric car or better yet use PV to charge those batteries.

[ejp2fast]

Check out this thread for more about HHO generator and water fuel cell:

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14695

[ejp2fast]

my co-workers this morning were talking about the ongoing oil issue and were mentioning about somehow heating the fuel before it enters the engine and this would increase efficiency (summertime not as much of an issue). Putting heat tape or something else on the fuel line and somehow being able to regulate the fuel temperature with a gauge and so on...
also, they said about HEATING the intake air (for effieciency not performance)...
has anyone else heard of this?
the thing is, would you really see the increased results or like 0.25 mpg increase.

[CharlieZ]

Check out the Volvo "Recharge" IMHO, a smart approach. 4 electric motors, small gas engine to maintain battery charge when needed. Reasonable road specs.

http://editorial.autos.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=481565&topart=hybrids

[notahybrid]

I'm intending to investigate every avenue that comes my way, even if it does seem like alot of hype. I'm not claiming to be some sort of Thomas Edison, and I personally believe that alot of the stories about magic carbs are urban myth, but I like to play Mythbusters sometimes so I'm going to check the HHO thing out for myself. Besides, alot of great ideas were first disregarded as being impossible. I agree that EVs do pose as a wonderful way toward the future. They've been around for over 100 years already(Jay Leno owns a 1909 Baker Electric), which kind of makes me wonder why we don't see more of them. Biofuels are ok, but the price of corn based foods have gone up(which if you look at the ingredient label is almost everything). Big conglomerates are pushing hydrogen fueling stations for future cars with IC engines. Hydrogen is explosive, 2.5 times more so than gasoline, which makes it dangerous and expensive to store and transport. If future IC engines were to rely on hydrogen, there might be a practical way to pull it out of water. Water is the world's most abundant source of hydrogen. I personally have looked through the patents of Stan Meyers. I think he might have been onto something. He supposedly used computer technology and high frequency variable pulsed electricity to separate the water molecule. His later models claimed to have accomplished this inside the combustion chamber. Some have said this violates Faraday's law and the law of energy conservation, idk. If he was right, then it wouldn't be the first time scientific laws had to be rewritten. I do know though that Mr. Meyers died immediately after having lunch with UN officials. He was quite popular in the scientific community, even working for NASA and being a guest on a Discovery Channel documentary. Only one coroner did the autopsy on him when there are usually two. Sounds a little fishy. Anyway, it's an intriguing idea, and I've already had fun examining it. Here's two vid links if anyone want to watch them. The bottom one is the documentary Mr. Meyers was part of.
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http://www.icubenetwork.com/files/watercar/non-commercial/dave/videos/Wfcrep.WMV

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9JagAv2nUE