DIY Modifications, fuel savers, and performance tricks to increase gas mileage
The other day I had a thought about DIY modifications, possible fuel savers and other performance tricks and tips to increase gas mileage. See, although this is a performance oriented blog, as the cost of oil per barrell crosses the 70 dollars per barrell threshold once again, and as the economic depression in the USA (and thus in many other parts of the world) seems to be very much a mainstay till around 2012 according to analysts, I can’t help but think about mileage and how so many people might want performance parts for their car, but they may also NEED better fuel mileage.
This got me to thinking about how we as automtive enthusiasts modify our cars for increased volumetric effeciency and higher performance in a specific rpm range of around 4000 rpms and higher. This is mainly due to the fact, that when you are racing, you spend alot of your time on the eastern half of the tachometer in the higher end of the rev range and thus it makes sense that most performance products and tips are focused towards higher rpm effeciency. However, there are some (but not all) performance modifications (and racer’s secrets quite frankly) that we as enthusiasts may use to gain that power advantage, but can be utilized to effectively boost gas mileage.
This isn’t only a theoretical debate as I’ve done this ‘accidently’ on my first car, a 1991 Toyota Celica GT back in 1999. In typical 10 year old car fashion it ran horribly when I first bought it, as indicated by my first tank of gas that was over in about 180 miles. Over the next two years I modified it and tuned it, not only increasing its performance and acceleration, but also acheiving over 32mpg (which is about 4 mpg over the factory figures, when the car was brand new, and more importantly I was doing this on a 10 year old car that was definately not babied throughout its life).
My friends and I also went out and replicated these results on a 1988 Celica GT-S, a 1996 Jeep 4.0 I6, and my friend’s moms Nissan Quest V6. My uncle also bought a 1993 Cadillac Deville that was getting double the mileage on cruise control as it was during normal driving. I recommended he change one thing on his car, he did and he got his mileage back. Then I went ahead and did a similar electrical fix (different part though) on my dad’s 1994 Cadillac Fleetwood brougham.
Anyway, enough stories of the past, let’s look at the future… I’ve sat down and brainstormed every thing you can do to boost mileage on an older car and I have come up with a hand written rough draft of performance modifications that you can do to your car to gain back it’s factory mileage and to even go beyond that by another 4+ mpg.
I am thinking of turning this draft into a fully detailed guide, but first I’d like to know that there is serious interest in this guide before I go ahead and invest time in this product….
If you are seriously intersted in a mileage booster guide please show us your interest by subscribing to this topic below.
The beauty of these kinds of modifications is that they obviously pay you back with time, so if you start out with a horribly performing car, or if you put a lot of mileage on your vehicle, then this information will end up saving you money in the long run, which is really cool.
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