I ran my experiment for a little over two weeks. After more than two weeks of driving a max of 70 on the highway and slower acceleration in an attempt to raise my gas mileage, I’ve got the results. The driving was a bit grueling at times, especially when the starting speed speed limit is 70 on the highway. I managed to do it for a little more than two weeks and finally filled up my gas tank a little before I ran it to the bottom. After all that I gained about 1 mpg. I guess I won’t be driving that slow anymore. Apparently it really depends on the vehicle. I imagine an SUV or truck would see a larger increase from slowing down due to the larger wind resistance. I drive a 2008 Accord V6, so I guess it’s somewhat aerodynamic.

I’m on day three of my wind resistance versus fuel consumption experiment. The drive is not so bad, the worst day was really the first. By looking at my fuel guage and the current mileage on the tripometer, It appears that I’m getting better mileage than I normally do. I think I may extend this experiment out a week or two just to get a better average.

Day two of my gas mileage experiment. See ->http://blog.buckrobinson.com/rants/mpg-experiment/

The mornings seem to be the toughest. I’m always in a hurry to get to work, but afterwards it’s not so bad. I found the station guide for my XM satellite radio and tuned into CNBC. It gave me time to listen to what I would normally watch as soon as I get home. I’ve been using cruise control to keep it dead at 70 MPH. Occasionally I have to slow it down because I can’t pass without going well over my target speed. That part is driving me a little nuts, but maybe I’ll get over that too.

I’m looking to buy a new car. I’m a guy, so I really hate shopping. It’s a pain in the ass.

I’m buying a more family oriented car, which makes it kind of a boring drive. I’m coming from a car that puts down 500 horsepower to the wheels with 540lbs of torque. Family cars just don’t compare, and thus makes it boring to shop for.

Anyways, back to the moron dealers I’ve been in contact with. I put out a request for quote on the official sites of each manufacturer. This was for about 15 different dealerships. All but one have called me back with the following information: “Please call me at your earliest convience”. They also took the time to email the same message.

Wait a minute, didn’t I request something?! Oh Yea! A quote. Guess how many sent me an actual quote without being asked a second time? ONE! One dealer, a Honda dealer, sent me a quote the first time I asked for it. The rest ignored my request, ignored the fact that I requested it online at my convience (my preferred method) and that my preferred contact method was email.

This is annoying! I received countless phone calls during the day disrupting me during work. The very reason I requested online quotes was to avoid the disruption.

Some dealers were even more annoying. When I asked about the new Pontiac G8 GT from dealers, one dealer returned a phone call, and only one. Again, no quote. Just a message about the first shipment had been spoken for and call me.

Why are dealers so secretive about their pricing? If I called any other business that had concrete numbers about the products they are selling, they would have zero problem giving me a quote. Hell, the selling process of the auto insurance business has been turned upside down because of the instant gratification of that progressive pioneered. And that’s not even hard numbers, they have to run the calculation of stats based on questions dumbed down enough for the non-underwriter layman.

The one place to offer me a quote will probably be the place I buy from. I say probably because I’m still debating the make/model of the car. I plan on posting all of the emails from the dealers that I have received and the names of the dealerships.

Is the Ford Modular 3 valve more efficient than Honda’s K20A? The answer might surprise you.

First lets start with how everyone seems to think import’s engines are so much more efficient. It seems to be the first thing the owners and lovers of these cars seem to spout when talking about an American V8. Most of the time the larger engine makes more power, so they fall back into the stance of , “but my car is more efficient”, “I make 100 HP per L”.

Lets take a step back and define efficiency. HP per Liter is such a false representation of efficiency. If you want to measure efficiency, define some better rules. Volume that the engine takes up, not combustion volume, but the physical outside dimensions. Maybe fuel efficiency, which can be affected by all things outside the realm of the engine (weight, driver, gears, transmission, wind resistance). Manufacturing costs, dependability, etc…

There are alot of better ways that efficiency could be measured, but they don’t. Why? It’s an easy defense of why their car is better. It’s an ego thing. Nobody wants to hear they made a bad choice. I’m not saying that buying an import is a bad choice, but no one wants to hear that their investment is not perfect or the best thing on the road. The thing that gets me though, is even in this definition of efficiency - it fails.

What 111 HP per L really means.

I’m using the Japan spec Civic type R engine for the example. 2.0L engine 222HP @ 8000RPM = 111 HP per Liter. If you think about it, the engine isn’t really pumping just 2.0 Liters of air to reach 222 HP. It needs to spin to 8000 to reach that goal. So with that in mind and the fact that it’s a four stroke engine it’s really using 8000 / 2 / 222 Liters of air per horsepower. In other words about 36 Liters per horsepower.

Let’s break down that formula. The first number, 8000, is for the RPM required for peak horsepower. We divide the RPM by two because for every two rpms the engine fires all it’s cylinders. The last number, 222, is the peak horsepower for this engine.

Let’s apply this to the 3 valve Mustang GT engine. 5750 / 2 / 300 or 34.5 Liters per HP. Seems a little more efficient to me.

Of course this is only peak HP numbers. We haven’t even touched torque or power under the curve. I’ll leave that for another rant.

What car would you get if price and rarity were not an issue? It doesn’t have to be a daily driver and it does not have to remain stock. It does not have to be a daily driver or even street legal.

I think I would go with the latest Saleen S7. Tons of torque with supercar manners and handling. No need to wind up to 8000 RPM to hit a good power level.

I’m still getting the videos together, but here is a scan of the dyno from the Z28. Sorry about the poor quality, but the printer at the dyno shop was running out of ink. I adjusted the levels to make it more legible. In case you can’t read it at the bottom, the max HP is 500.23 and the torque is 539.65.

I’m making my first run at the track tonight. I’ll post my times later.

I’m preparing the ‘89 Mustang for an overhaul of the interior. I’m going with Black with gray accents. I’ve snapped a few “before” pictures so I can see the changes. Unfortunately I forgot to take “before” pics of the back seat.

Here are some pics of the finished camaro.

After a long wait for my car to be done, it’s finally finished… for now. As you know the guys at JL Turbo were installing a FMIC for me. Well the FMIC turned into a FMIC, Meth/Water injection kit, 918 Comp Cams Springs and chromoly pushrods, Spec stage 3 clutch, electronic boost controller, and a cat delete From Thunder Racing.

We had it tuned on a dynojet. The final number for the low boost setting(4.5 lbs) ended up being 413 HP in the low 4000 RPM. For the high boost though (8 lbs) I ended up at a hair over 500 HP. We initially hit 530 HP with plenty of fuel and room for improvement in timing at about 9.2 lbs, but I was looking for 500 that day and decided to back it down being on the stock internals still. If I wanted to chance my internals a bit I’m sure I could push it to 550. I just don’t like being on borrowed time.
When I’m ready to go back I know I’ll have a bit more left on the turbo, a built engine, and the larger meth/water injector to throw in. I think before I up the boost again some port and polish work on the heads is in order as is a ported throttle body, and maybe some MSD coils.
These guys did an awesome job with the install and the tuning is fantastic. A very safe, flat air/fuel ratio.

I will try to post pics and vids soon for you guys.