Lightening up a car for gas consumption

Argeo · 08-30-2005, 04:54 AM

I have a beat up 92 Honda Accord with 160k on it. I drive about 30 miles a day and the car probably gets about 20-25 miles a gallon. I am thinking the car is really worth nothing so why not experiment with it. Anyways, if I pulled all the seat except the drivers, the spare tire, door panals and anything else that is not a necessity, would it be better on gas?

Any guess? I am thinking yes since there is less weight to push around.

Thanks,

David

IROC · IROC's Garage

The answer is yes, but the changes would be minimal. While you're at it, I would go through and do a tune up, valve adjust, blah blah blah and increase the air the tires, etc., to maximize the mileage.

A friend of mine had an old Civic that he drove back and forth to work. I did the above tune up stuff and especially a valve adjust (they were waaay off) and his mileage went from low 20s to almost 30 mpg.

Mike

Argeo · 08-30-2005, 05:20 AM

Thanks for the response. I'll check that stuff out.

David

RickM · RickM's Garage

I would've suggested to convert to Natural Gas but the cost of that is just as bad and poised to go through the roof just in time for winter.

techweenie · techweenie's Garage

Put 2-4 lbs more air in your tires. That will probably make the biggest difference (besides a good tune-up).

Dantilla · 08-30-2005, 07:21 AM

I just bought a used Miata. Much lighter than my 3/4 ton 4x4 pick-up.

I'll drive the truck now only when I need to carry/tow things.

masraum · 08-30-2005, 07:30 AM

I've got a '97 miata. I get about 23mpg in town. Some miata people are getting 27-35. I just can't keep my foot out of it. It's well tuned and relatively low miles.

David · David's Garage

This link doesn't go into a mileage improvement, but I'm sure applies somehow.

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/t94570.html

IROC · IROC's Garage

In a somewhat related vein, I worked on a military base from about 2002-2004 where the speed limits were generally 45mph - 50mph and the MPs severely frowned on violating those posted speeds. My drive on the base was about 30 miles/day. I found that driving those mind-numbingly monotonous speeds resulted in a respectable increase in gas mileage. I was used to getting about 275 miles/tank (in my truck) and it went up to about 325 miles/tank (about a 3mpg increase) while I worked out there. Now that I'm back off-base it's down to 275 or so again.

Mike

Dantilla · 08-30-2005, 12:49 PM

I took the Miata on a PCA tour last weekend (the only tires at home for the 911 were Hoosiers) and after flogging the car hard to keep up, it got 33 mpg. It's a '93 with the 1.6 litre.

djmcmath · 08-30-2005, 01:16 PM

IROC, I can second that speed story. Driving from Connecticut to Florida I had a few tanks of gas on straight-level ground to burn, and determined that doing 80mph made a noticeable impact on mileage. Doing full tanks of gas on the back roads at 50-55 generally resulted in awesome mileage, oddly enough. Seems to me that I've seen gas consumption curves as a function of engine RPM somewhere, probably in Paul Frere's 911 book. I doubt that would apply to a Honda, though.

Dixie · Dixie's Garage

If you ditch the fenders, doors, quarter panels, bumbers, and all the glass you'll save a lot more weight. You might even manage to get another 1 or 2 mpg.

Victor · 08-30-2005, 06:45 PM

What if you pulled out 3 plug leads and crimp the fuel line with a clothes peg?

You could also cut a holes in the floor and ask you passengers to run along flintstones style. Then of course you would no longer be able to rip out the seats to lighten things up.

Ahhh the trade offs.

Argeo · 08-31-2005, 04:41 AM

Well thanks everyone for the replies. Some were completely useless but at least funny. Smile goes a long way in the morning.

David