An Act of Faith

[Hodag'stiva]

So I've been trying some of these hypermiling techniques this year. I've been really conscientious about my speed and RPMs, I've been using Engine Off Coasting (EOC) where it's safe and I've tried to restrict all my driving to the highways.

Before heading to a nearby town on business, I glanced down and noticed that I left town with 385 miles on the trip OD. For seventeen years in this car, I've been tanking up whenever I've gotten to a quarter tank or to ~350 miles. It was now 42 miles to the next town and there were but a handful of stations between here and there. And the cheap $3.93/gal (plus a 4¢/gal coupon) was at the end of those 42 miles.

So, do ya feel lucky punk? Do ya?

Sure, I haven't had a tank at less than 40 mpg in weeks. And, on average they seem to be hitting on 42-43 mpg.

But with a 10 gal tank, that means 420 - 430 miles. And I've got to get 427 miles out of this tank. And there's a lot of nothing between here and there. As I took the above picture, I was passing one of the last gas stations I'd see for a while.

The good Lord watches out for dunks, fools and cheap Festiva drivers.

Kept her at ~62mph, kept the revs down, stayed behind a U-Haul for 20 miles or so, and got to where I was going in an orderly and timely manner.

End result? After going into town, then back out on the highway for the cheap gas, it was 435 miles at 47.4mpg and I had eight-tenths of a gallon left.

I wonder what it's going to take to hit 50mpg. Any ideas?

B

[collegeboi]

intake ?

[jglutz]

You don't have to runn down to 'E' to measure your MPG.

[collegeboi]

how can u measure it another way?

[neanderpaul]

Run out a tank at 45 - 50 mph you'll hit 50.

[lessersivad]

Carbonvmax is right. Please refer to this post;

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14723&page=4

Go to response #37. 50-55 mph=50.27 MPG. 55-60 mph=45.5 MPG.

[Hodag'stiva]

You don't have to runn down to 'E' to measure your MPG.

True, I prefer the method of dividing the miles driven on the trip OD by the amount of gas it took to fill up the tank. The picture was just taken when the needle was hanging out around "E".

The problem is that there's so much variation in our little gas gauge. I'd love to find the one that Max had in Road Warrior - that read in liters (well, gallons for us) remaining.

And the forced air gizmo he kicked in with the pulley on the gearshift. For the Saturn ION, of course. We wouldn't want to mess up the lines of the Festy.

Not willing to sacrifice everything in the name of hypermiling. Without a doubt, if we ran the cars at 15mph, we'd have truly impressive numbers. We still have places to go and jobs to do. I don't think anyone wants to hear that I'm late - "but you should see the numbers I'm racking up!"

May try blocking the engine - some folks have had success with that.

B

[FestYboy]

first things first, when doing highway speeds, have your rear windows proped open and crack your front windows about 3". you'll know when to stop because the air noise will get really quiet. then add an under belly tray to the engine bay. lower the car. align the car with as little toe as needed. inflate the tires to max psi. the goal is to reduce as much parasitic loss as possible. you can also run 1/2 quart low with your oil with out worry. start removing excess weight where possible. instead of blocking the engine off, tilt the rear of the hood up to let the excess air pressure escape into a low pressure area at the base of the windshield (again, less drag).

these are a few fairly easy ideas (except the belly tray) that can be done quickly and cheaply.

[Hodag'stiva]

first things first, when doing highway speeds, have your rear windows proped open and crack your front windows about 3". you'll know when to stop because the air noise will get really quiet. then add an under belly tray to the engine bay. lower the car. align the car with as little toe as needed. inflate the tires to max psi. the goal is to reduce as much parasitic loss as possible. you can also run 1/2 quart low with your oil with out worry. start removing excess weight where possible. instead of blocking the engine off, tilt the rear of the hood up to let the excess air pressure escape into a low pressure area at the base of the windshield (again, less drag).

these are a few fairly easy ideas (except the belly tray) that can be done quickly and cheaply.

These are all great ideas - I generally run with the sunroof popped open to the first position and every other window closed. The tires are at max+, and from the tread wear I can see that I need the alignment touched up.

1/2 quart low? What's the theory on that?

B

[freshtiva]

Run out a tank at 45 - 50 mph you'll hit 50.

Vmax is right, I had to take a route to work for a month once and the road had a 50mph speed limit. Only two stop signs plus it was flat and down in a river valley out of the wind. I got my personal best of 53 MPG for two tankfuls. It was perfect conditions. Put it in fifth and let it barely run at low RPM, it can be done. Ive never got better than 43-45 at HWY speeds. Good Ideas festyboy !! I not brave enough to run it to empty, I dont think Ive ever put more than 8 gal in mine during a fill up. Good to know there is a reserve though.

[festyxfi]

Ditto here, I can pull 50mpg @ 50-55mph in my carbed 89. An EFI should be able to beat that. Running tires @ 48PSI helps alot, but does make for a rough ride. I just call it the price we pay for saving $...

[KingFish]

And the forced air gizmo he kicked in with the pulley on the gearshift. For the Saturn ION, of course. We wouldn't want to mess up the lines of the Festy.

I LOVE THE ROAD WARRIOR, that said it kills me every time I watch that bit, thats a supercharger poping out of those seams and I've never seen one sit still at 6000 rpms until someone pulls on a reverse lock out. But Humungus No2'ed rail car still ROCKS!!

Same craptastic thing in the 80's movie My Science Project. Kid had a goat I think with a charger sticking out the hood and flipped a switch @80 mph and it just started to spin away!!! Wow, movie magic.

[gothguydante]

man i'm lucky if i get 35 dang auto... i wish it was a 5 spd... but i don't have the skillz to swap it... but well atleast you didn't get stranded.. some wrong turn stuff might of went down... haha i watch to many movies...

[FestYboy]

These are all great ideas - I generally run with the sunroof popped open to the first position and every other window closed. The tires are at max+, and from the tread wear I can see that I need the alignment touched up.

1/2 quart low? What's the theory on that?

B

forget the sunroof as there's no need for boundry seperation there, but there is need for seperation at the hatch (hence the rear windows). as for the 1/2 qt low... less windage at the crank; it won't have to cut through as much oil, thus reducing parasitic loss.

[rancheeto]

intake ?

what can you do to the intake?