EMERGENCY GAS MILEGAGE BOOSTING

[LegacyPunk]

Holy gas prices batman!!, what would be some good/ extreme ways to up gas mileage?, besides plugs,wires, filters, etc.

I thinking about ditching my back seat, and throwing my intercooler back in.

Anybody else got any CRRRAAZZYY Ideas??

[tris91ricer]

Buy a hybrid. That's Cra to the motherfuckin' Z.

[professor]

fit a set of four high-pressure temporary spares

probably good for +5 MPG at least

don't turn or stop

[legacy92ej22t]

Don't use AC, keep windows rolled up, don't go on boost, don't turn car off if only stopping for a couple minutes and lastly develope an alternative fuel source that derives from cow farts.

[Busdriver]

car pool

I do it at least twice a week with my neighbor.
we work in the same area....
use lots less gas and emissions...

[vrg3]

Use cruise control on the freeway.

Turn all electrical accessories off when you're not using them (radio, headlights, etc).

Bypass the power steering pump by getting a shorter belt that fits over the crank pulley and the alternator pulley.

Turn your MBC all the way down.

Remove any unused seats. Remove the spare tire (maybe stick a can of fix-a-flat in its place).

Refuel only a couple of gallons at a time, keeping the tank near empty.

If you have a stickshift, lug the engine everywhere you go.

Run the lightest-weight oil permissible in the engine and differentials (which includes the gearbox on a stick).

Keep the oil levels at the lowest permissible level.

[Manarius]

Holy gas prices batman!!, what would be some good/ extreme ways to up gas mileage?, besides plugs,wires, filters, etc.

I thinking about ditching my back seat, and throwing my intercooler back in.

Anybody else got any CRRRAAZZYY Ideas??

Buy a new car.

[Tleg93]

Well...

I drive 66 miles round trip to work. I did the plugs, oil, and coolant, that might help a little. I also dropped the boost back and made sure my tire pressure was good. Someone told me it's going to top out at $6/gal. I hope not.

[91White-T]

1. Place car in neutral.
2. Let car behind you push.

[evolutionmovement]

Flat panel the undercarriage wherever possible (especially the engine area), fold in mirrors as much as you can get away with and tape all seams you can.

Steve

[scottzg]

do everything listed so far and you still won't get half the mileage.

[Tleg93]

I just imagined seeing a guy driving a vehicle duct taped all the place. Man, if things are getting that bad we're in for a ride.

[LegacyPunk]

What if I just rebuild the whole car with balsa wood??

[entirelyturbo]

If you have a stickshift, lug the engine everywhere you go.

Vikash, I agree with everything but this. Don't you think that driving around at 30mph in 5th with the engine at 1100rpm would just put more strain on the engine, causing it to use more fuel? Especially on a turbo where the turbo is making no boost and the 8:1 CR is barely enough to move the car forward. Not to mention that it just wears the engine bearings down faster.

[0perose]

my suggestion would be to buy a diesel car and look into doing a waste vegetable oil conversion, or possible make your own biodiesel processor out of an old water heater

[evolutionmovement]

If I had the money and knowledge of diesel tuning I'd try building a closed deck diesel Subaru.

I lugged my last engine all the time and the bearings were in excellent condition. The turbo engine off boost isn't that much weaker - torque is about the same as N/A.

Steve

[0perose]

closed deck diesel subaru.... using a subaru engine? can you convert an n/a gas engine to run on diesel? I don't know a whole lot about diesel engines in general, just been reading everything I can find on biodiesel and WVO for the past year or two...

I've been considering an older 80's GL wagon with some kind of small diesel engine in it... like the one from my dad's mercedes 300D but that thing is so dog slow it takes 5min to get to 60mph

[Richard]

to run on diesel, you need really high compression like 19:1 and higher. there is no spark ignition either. the fuel combusts when it is compressed to that high of a degree. gasoline engines typically don't run past 11:1 compression ratio. you'd need at the least stronger pistons and head gaskets. your valves and springs would have to be stronger too.

[evolutionmovement]

THere are a lot of things to consider. My rough idea would be to put injectors where the spark plugs are, get custom bottom end and pistons made, cams, valve train, exhaust, etc. Engine mgt would be a whole different issue and I don't know if I'd put a turbo on it or not. A small turbo would spool all the time and would probably be running with the wastegate open all the time. A big turbo would throw in too much boost for the engine, I think. It's mostly just an exercise in daydream engineering.

Steve

[vrg3]

Don't you think that driving around at 30mph in 5th with the engine at 1100rpm would just put more strain on the engine, causing it to use more fuel?

It's definitely worse for the engine, but no, it doesn't cause it to use more fuel. Having a closed throttle really hurts the engine's efficiency because it has to pump air through the restriction. Having the throttle wide open really makes the engine much more efficient.

The only way to stay at WOT for any significant length of time is to lug the engine. And low RPMs are generally better for economy than high RPMs anyway.

Especially on a turbo where the turbo is making no boost and the 8:1 CR is barely enough to move the car forward.

Yeah, performance will suffer greatly if you lug the engine all the time. But you gotta pay to play, and that cuts both ways.

Not to mention that it just wears the engine bearings down faster.

Yes. It increases combustion pressures. It makes detonation more likely because the pressures and temperatures have more time to cause improper combustion. It wears the bearings faster because it keeps oil pressure low.

But LegacyPunk wasn't asking about optimizing the total cost of using and maintaining his car. He was just asking for crazy ideas that would reduce his fuel consumption per mile.

[subawhatsubawho]

Don't leave you cars running while you just "run in for a second". They say not to brake hard too.

Someone mentioned keeping your car near empty....then you will have to keep putting more and more expesnsive gas into your car.

I would rather drive around for a week on 2.95 gas than to get a few gallons of 2.95, then a few gallons of 3.39, then a few gallons of 3.75

See where I am going with this. Buy some 5 gallon gas cans and fill them up when you find the cheapest gas, but don't drive all over looking for it.

www.gasbuddy.com

I think I am going to need to take my speakerbox out of the trunk soon. In place of it might go a marine fuel tank that feeds my main tank. Granted there will be more wieght but it will be better than power robbing speakers and a 1,500 watt amp.

[evolutionmovement]

Get an Australian Ford Falcon with a blower and hijack gas trucks.

Steve

[entirelyturbo]

Good points Vikash.

However, using a little bit more gas would be more cost-effective than having to rebuild your engine coz you strained it too much.

Here's some other tips for getting good gas mileage:

1) Don't have your engine running any longer than it needs to be. Start it, let it run for 30 seconds tops, then go on your way. And when you've reached your destination, turn it off. Now if you've got a big turbo and you've been driving it hard, then yeah you'll need to idle it down, but if you're gonna Grandma it all over the place (not to mention we have water-cooled turbos), that's probably not necessary.

2) Sit at idle for as little time as possible. When you're sitting at idle, you're getting 0mpg. You're using gas without moving the car. Cool ways to do this are: take backroads where there isn't much traffic or traffic lights. Even if the backroad way is slightly longer, you'll use less gas because you will be moving the whole time. Also, learn the traffic lights in your area. Watch their patterns, know when they're going to change. If you see a green light up ahead that you know is going to go red soon, go ahead and gun it a little bit to get through the light (don't fly through it at 100mph of course, but do hurry up so you get through it). The extra gas you used when you were accelerating to get under the green light won't be near as much gas as you will waste sitting at the red light.

3) Roll your windows down and turn your A/C off around town if you want to save gas, and roll your windows up and turn the A/C on when you're on the highway. The wind resistance of the windows being down on the highway will actually put just as much, if not more, of a strain on your engine as the A/C will.

4) Needless to say, keep your engine in good tune. Plugs (gapped correctly!), wires, air filter, fuel filter, maybe a coilpack if yours is the original, O2 sensor, and occasionally, do an Italian tune-up on it to blow out the carbon.

[vrg3]

]However, using a little bit more gas would be more cost-effective than having to rebuild your engine coz you strained it too much.

I agree -- abusing your engine to save a little gas will likely cost you more in the long run.

[evolutionmovement]

But what long run? Lugging mine for 140k (can't speak for the previous owner's 107k) seemed to have no effect on the bearings. I'd have no problem thinking they'd have gone at least another 100k as they barely looked used.

Steve