New member-poor man's prius

[ajbirken]

Cool forum!

New member with a new to me gas saver. 1988 Chevy sprint with a 5 speed manual.

I had a 1989 ford festiva before this, but sold it on a whim.

Not bad to get prius like mpg for $250.00.

I must admit that I have several gas guzzlers (I have a bad jeep and 4x4 habit), but like to save money.

Here is my rough route on google maps. There is one weird backtrack that I can't seem to get the computer not to do. There is a cool streetview that actually allows you to see the terrain in raleigh.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=e...=UTF8&t=p&z=12

I have a few areas that I coast downhill with engine on, but also have several steep hills to climb. Any advice on driving style esp the hills are appreciated.


thanks,

adam

[rweatherford]

Welcome! .

[JusBringIt]

for downhills, i usually shut my engine off at the top and coast down, as for uphill, getting up to about 55 mph should be good and staying in fifth decreasing speed to reach 40mph at the top to prevent engine labor.

[FrJohn]

Good morning to you ajbirken, and welcome to the forums! For starters, pump those tires up to the maximum rated sidewall pressure, and then kick that right shoe off! You'll get far better "feedback" with a stocking foot, than with a shoe on.

As far as the hills, we also have an abundance of those in Pennsylvania. I coast down the hills (yep, I do exceed the posted speed limit by a mile or two per hour on the coast down), and then accelerate in the flat, to the posted speed limit. When started up the hill, lock the accelerator, and allow your speed to bleed off.

A Scangauge II would be of great assistance to you, but I don't know whether it'll work on a 1988 model car. I do believe that's prior to OBD II coding.

I'm certain someone will pop in here with more suggestions, but I did want to say hello to you, and welcome you to a wonderful place.

Enjoy, post your tanks under the "mileage logs", and let us know how you're doing. Above all, have fun!

Pax,

Fr. John

[ajbirken]

Originally Posted by FrJohn

Good morning to you ajbirken, and welcome to the forums! For starters, pump those tires up to the maximum rated sidewall pressure, and then kick that right shoe off! You'll get far better "feedback" with a stocking foot, than with a shoe on.

As far as the hills, we also have an abundance of those in Pennsylvania. I coast down the hills (yep, I do exceed the posted speed limit by a mile or two per hour on the coast down), and then accelerate in the flat, to the posted speed limit. When started up the hill, lock the accelerator, and allow your speed to bleed off.

A Scangauge II would be of great assistance to you, but I don't know whether it'll work on a 1988 model car. I do believe that's prior to OBD II coding.

I'm certain someone will pop in here with more suggestions, but I did want to say hello to you, and welcome you to a wonderful place.

Enjoy, post your tanks under the "mileage logs", and let us know how you're doing. Above all, have fun!

Pax,

Fr. John

Thanks for the welcomes.

I have been handling the hills like FrJohn has suggested. This thing is computer free, so the only feedback I think I can get is from the odometer and the pumps.

I figure even if I "drive like a madman" with the 3cyl 1.0L powerhouse, I will still be using A LOT less fuel than if I drive my jeeps!

Seriously though, I do want to "semi-hypermile" (is that a word) for a few tanks to see what I can squeeze out of her.

[Maxx]

A bit much for what you're working with, but I think some people have had luck with using a vacuum guage hooked up around the throttle body/carb to detect when and where the intake vacuum is at, and use that to try to find the sweet spot for FE.

Again, like I said, might be a bit much.

By the way, Nice price of entry!

[atlaw4u]

Welcome to the forum and keep us posted as to your semi-hypermiling results.

Cheers

[Bruce]

Welcome!

For hills, get a running start and come into the bottom as fast as limits/traffic will allow (but 55-60 max) and gradually bleed off speed getting to the top, the same as you'd do with an underpowered engine. For really steep hills, the 1.0l will do this naturally at WOT anyway.

If you drive the hills right, you'll likely get better mileage on them than cruising on flat terrain.

Make sure you read this article...over and over and over....

http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1510

SG is not an option for an `88. The cheapest (zero cost) option is to calibrate your fuel gauge: fill at full, 3/4, 1/2, 1/4 and E and record the amounts. Extrapolate the pips in between from the fill amounts (e.g. if 3/4 is a 3 gallon fill and 1/2 is 5 gallons, then 5/8 is 4); then you can find your MPG for each trip by dividing the mileage of the trip by the fuel used. Not quite as accurate as a SG, but at least it'll give you faster feedback than whole tanks. This way, you can try driving different ways on the same commute and compare the results.

Make sure you read the fuel gauge when it's level...not on one of those steep hills.

[ajbirken]

Well I couldn't wait to see what kind of ballpark mileage I was getting. So I filled up after 110 miles and it took 2.759 gallons. This is all city driving. So I calculated 39.87mpg.

That's between 91-99% of the epa estimate depending on which you use (the old or the new).

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/calcu...lumn=1&id=4219

Not bad, but I am sure that I can do much better with more practice.

I know that 100 miles is not the best overall estimate, but I was too excited to wait.

thanks,

adam

[diamondlarry]

I'm not too familiar with the Sprint fuel delivery system but, does it happen to have fuel injection? If so, there is a device called a SuperMID that may work. A member here(Yoshi) makes them. The last I heard, it only reads in metric but an American version was in the works.

Welcome to CleanMPG!