1980s EF

[americanramen]

Not a lot of older cars here I've noticed so I figured I'd post the general plans for my vehicles. Please post any other tips that I might have missed, getting EF numbers hasnt really been a priority until now.

1989 Ford Mustang 2.3L / 5speed
1989 Dodge Daytona 2.2L / 3speed auto

Goals

I hope to have two vehicles with 160HP that can easily tackle the mountains I live in. Balance fuel efficiency and performance

Plans

1)Major Tune-Up including replacing the O2 sensor. Now should I pay more to get the exact OEM set O2 sensor or go for a cheaper one?

2)Weight reduction I'll be removing everything in the vehicle that I do not currently use, I'm even going as far as removing the backseat from my Daytona. I'll try to find some ultra lightweight wheels as well at least half of the weight of my current ones.

3)Lowering the vehicle to help decrease wind resistance

Thats a pretty basic idea of what my plans are I probably wont be turbocharging my vehicles, but the difference in the NA Daytona and the Turbo Daytona as far as EF goes isnt very significant according to fueleconomy.gov

I do not know a lot about suspension does suspension play a large role in mileage?

[brick]

Hi. Sounds like you have a great project on your hands! I really wish the US auto makers hadn't abandoned the development of better 4-cylinder engines in favor of the obligatory V6 and V8 powerplants we're stuck with today. By my reckoning a 2.3L Mustang even with a turbo ought to have quite a bit of FE potential.

The first two items on your list are very much worth doing. In the process of that tune-up don't forget about the really simple stuff including keeping those tires nicely inflated. A lot of us get great results (both in terms of FE and performance) from running at the maximum pressure for which out tires are rated. Unfortunately I haven't a clue what the answer is to your O2 sensor question.

If you do a lot of highway driving you may see some small improvements from lowering the car but I wouldn't spend a lot of money on it. A while back we had a member with a Del Sol (and I think he still checks in from time to time) who lowered it for the same reason. I don't recall stellar results but you might try searching for the posts by krousdb for the real info. Alignment is important to rolling resistance, though, so you might consider having that checked.

And definitely avoid turbocharging a N/A engine if FE is your primary goal. A 200HP turbo 4-cylinder is likely to be much more efficient than a 200HP N/A six with larger displacement, but the same generally can't be said for the turbo engine vs. the equivalent with the same displacement but less power.

Let us know how it goes!

[BailOut]

Welcome aboard! A few things:

1) The first thing you should do is pump your tires up to at least their max sidewall pressure. This costs next to nothing and yields measurable results due to lowered rolling resistance.

2) AFAIK, lowering will only help if your vehicles have very smooth bellies, i.e. full-length belly pans. Even then your cD will only change slightly, especially since neither of your vehicles are tall to begin with, so it's a rather high cost thing to do for little return.

3) Stick with OEM O2 sensors. The ECUs in older vehicles generally cannot recalibrate themselves on the fly (heck, even some modern American ones won't do it) so your best bet is to keep the resistances within the factory limits.

4) This site is all about hypermiling anything and everything and there is nothing at all wrong with wanting to get the most out of what you have, but I want to point out that you don't need 160whp to drive in the mountains. My car produces 106whp peak (if you believe the tests) and I climb mountains every day without hitting WOT for weeks at a time. Check the link in my sig for some visuals.

5) You may want to look into a vacuum gauge. Others can tell you more about it but it's a common tool to use on pre-OBDII vehicles to help you dial in your driving style.

[americanramen]

I agree with you whenever I read articles about the SVO Mustangs of the 80s I get disapointed when the vast consumers wanted their V8s back! Now I wasnt alive through the fuel crisis of the 70s but I'm suprised that people were so quick to forget about that! I really wish that Ford had kept up with it.

Now Chrysler/Dodge on the otherhand I really love that they kept with their 4 cylinder research and collaborated with Japanese automakers. The Daytona did pretty well, and as did the Mitsubishi Eclipse which shared a similiar engine. Also the Chrysler Lancer engine which was R n' D by Mitsubishi went really well also.

I think that because of these collaborations between the two car companies Dodge was so successul with their Neon and SRT-4 being able to have great FE and performance.

The Ford Focus is pretty interesting to me, MUCH more stylish than the Escort of older years. Too bad the European 4WD escort didnt make it Stateside. I think after I finish up with these cars I'll garage them and buy a Focus...

Sorry BailOut I'm writing your response right now calls are coming into work pretty fast haha