So... Gas prices on the rise. Time for me to start modding for MPG.
I will be posting the mods, the price, and the mpg gains. Most stuff will be cheaper stuff that I do myself. I am currently measuring my gains by the gas tank so every time I fill up on gas I will try to do another mod.
Current mods:
Goldline springs
Drag DR-8 17" rims
Short Ram Warm Air Intake
Adjusting Driving Habits
I will post the last few tanks of gas w/ a brief description
G.Gas- Miles-- Mileage --- details
10.20 - 80606 - 00.00 ------ First recorded
11.10 - 81017 - 37.30 ------- First tank of gas. 65 mph, 80 mph passing speed run tests
12.08 - 81431 - 34.20 ------- Moving + alot of stop and go downtown
10.08 - 81800 - 36.50 ------- more 65 mpg, 80mph passing tests
08.16 - 82113 - 38.35 ------- Adjusting driving habits to include nuetral coasting when no one is behind me
out of time more to continue
Back. Previous mileage continued:
G.Gas- Miles-- Mileage --- details
10.78 - 82544 - 39.98 - more 65 mph 80mph passing
10.13 - 82960 - 41.10 - Put on my summer rims w/ falkon Tiers @ 50PSI. broke 40mpg
09.85 - 83368 - 41.00 - Alot of city driving + Alignment done
10.78 - 83836 - 43.40 - Experiment of driving 55 mph and no passing. only 2.4 mpg gain. I dno't think I will be driving 55 mph again.
So my best tank was 43.4 mpg. But that was only going 55 mph in the slow lane and no passing. My next mod will be a ScanGuage that is coming in the mail sometime next week. Once that is calibrated I should be better able to conserve gas on the spot.
Next two mods will be to replace my wheel hubs as I know one is going bad and to switch oil to synthetic. Its about time to change manual transmission oil too.
My baseline mileage to compare all new gains is 41 mpg traveling 65mph passing @ 80 mph.
Next mods pending:
0. Scanguage to be deilvered next week.
1. Change worn wheel bearings/hubs possibly change rear brakes( I am hearing a slight humming at low speeds)
2. Change transmission fluid
3. Switch to synthetic oil
4. Windshield Wiper delete ( I will keep inside car in case of rainy day)
5. Front Grill Block
Any feedback will be appreciated. Also any guesses in the mileage gains from those coming mods? My goal is to obtain 50 mpg before summers end and 60 mpg before the end of next summer.
From what I remember the scangauge doesn't work with j's very well.
I can take mine out of my vw to double check but I think it was missing even the most basic functions.
Want hub spacers rear disk brackets or trailing arm bushings? Shoot me a PM.
Have you considered doing some weight reduction?
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Still not low enough for a signature.
Don't know what is out there for your engine but for v6s a lot of places like crane and comp cams sell cams that improve gas mileage by 10-20% or more. I have never tried it. That is just what they told me. I am not trying to get better gas mileage as where I love gas had dropped from $3.90 to $3.27 in the last 30 days. It has been falling and I don't know why.
On the inside my car looks like a fighter jet.
In my 5-speed 03 cav, every time i coast in gear my DFCO kicks in and shuts off the injectors. So i get better fuel economy if i leave my car in gear because it doesnt need to use fuel to keep the engine running. Im not sure if autos cavs have DFCO or not.
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Have you checked out
Ecomodder Many mileage mods from mild to extreme.
I too push for maximum fuel economy with my 04. You may want to switch your warm air to a cold air intake as you will get much improved fuel economy that way. Your car will use less gas when the air is colder because the air is denser, allowing a smaller amount of fuel to have a more efficient effect when igniting. Also, run your tires hard to keep them rounder. Just some things that I have learned over the years.
Keeping your RPMs under 2500 when accelerating will make a pretty big difference in mileage
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those heavier than stock rim's with wider contact patch tires wont be helping you.
I choose the technology built for land speed records... not the technology built to save on emissions and gas mileage.
Any recent updates? I am planning on modding my 03 5 speed 2 door cav for gas milage, so any and info will help me out.
Well before I fitted my exhaust and my driving habits went to crap on my 2200 I was running a resistor for my IAT input (came out to 134 degrees F I don't remember what the resistance was) and a resistor in parallel on my ECT to raise it about 5 degrees F at operating temp. Anymore and I had serious cold start issues (coolant temp was reading about double ambient temp at start up for a 10 degree boost at operating temp). This got me around 40 mpg in stop and go highway mileage (think two lane road with traffic lights every half mile or so) with very conservative driving. I also was running a drop in K&N
I'm bringing this thread back with a question because I'm thinking of getting either a scangauge or ultragauge sometime soon but I'm a bit nervous now that I see this. Does anyone know if the scangauge still doesn't work with j body cars? If it does has anyone used the ultragauge and have any experience with it?
Also I wasn't going to do this but I have to point out that a warm or hot air intake is better for mpg than a cold air intake because it will get the engine running at optimum temps quicker and help keep it hot.
2002 Pontiac Sunfire SE Sedan 2.2l Ecotec 4 Speed Auto.
backpacker3 wrote:I'm bringing this thread back with a question because I'm thinking of getting either a scangauge or ultragauge sometime soon but I'm a bit nervous now that I see this. Does anyone know if the scangauge still doesn't work with j body cars? If it does has anyone used the ultragauge and have any experience with it?
Also I wasn't going to do this but I have to point out that a warm or hot air intake is better for mpg than a cold air intake because it will get the engine running at optimum temps quicker and help keep it hot.
I own ultragauge. It's pretty sweet, mine currently reads out instant mpg, avg mpg, coolant temp, eng load, voltage, and short term fuel trim. I used to have ambient air temp(IAT), you can even set it to (not sure how accurate) read out your current hp and torque readings. Theres like 40 something different readouts to choose from on our cars, some cars theres more. I think its pretty awesome and it was well worth the money.
What year and engine do you have?
2002 Pontiac Sunfire SE Sedan 2.2l Ecotec 4 Speed Auto.
02, 2200 OHV. Its sweet, it warns you of any pending and confirmed trouble codes and warns you. If you read though the manual on the website and you can see all the features.
Tinkles(KGM) wrote:In my 5-speed 03 cav, every time i coast in gear my DFCO kicks in and shuts off the injectors. So i get better fuel economy if i leave my car in gear because it doesnt need to use fuel to keep the engine running. Im not sure if autos cavs have DFCO or not.
We do have DFCO in auto's, but under low loads the it shifts at XX mph not rpm.
My car will only go into DFCO above 1500 rpm, the closer to 1500 it is the longer it takes to kick in.
Tuned mine to enable at 2400rpm/ shutoff @ 900rpm
