Are you worried about high gas prices?

[Bible_Belt]

enter your zip code to find the cheapest gas near you

http://autos.msn.com/everyday/gasstations.aspx?zip=&src=Netx

 

[Bible_Belt]

Gas-saving tips tested.

http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/driving/articles/106842/article.html

running the AC does not decrease mpg very much

 

[Vulpine]

If you guys only new the truth...

The automotive industry is THE biggest hustle on the planet. Automakers have bought up new patents for more powerful, more efficient, all-around better motor designs for years and years. The technology is out there to have regular gasoline motors get 70-80 mpg. I don't need to embellish, it's true.

I have a '91 CRX that has 295K on it. It does 98 in 3rd, buries the needle at after 125 in 4th... and keeps pulling until I grab 5th. Then the fun really starts - the windshield gets an unsettling little "flutter" to it. There's a website where you can punch in the gear ratios and the rpms and it will tell you how fast you were going: I've had it doing over 165mph. You were waiting for the punchline?

After running my own "hook-up" shop, I started getting exposed to technology and the hustles. I tuned my car and ONLY use premium, EVER.

THE PUNCHLINE:

I routinely get 44 mpg in a car that was only factory rated at 36 mpg new. That's if I do 70 in a 65, If I do 80 in a 65, I actually get BETTER gas mileage because the RPM's are in a sweeter spot in the power band. Yes, it has nearly 300k on it, and yes, it's 16 years old. My gas mileage rivals that of new hybrids and will rip the doors off of lots of things on the road.

People refuse to hear the truth. I can rap for hours and hours about how you can take any car and squeeze out an extra 5 mpg and add horsepower fun at the same time in about a half hour's time. People will argue with you about it: My mechanic says... My dad said...

If your mechanic was smarter, he'd own his own shop.
Your dad only knows what his mechanic told him.
Mechanics are factory trained. Factory trained means that the same hustlers that buy up technology patents further the hustle by training their minions to promote the same hype.

I giggle like a little schoolgirl when I'm raging down the autobahn - blazing past suv's, minivans, big jacked-up pickups, V8's... It's a hilarious joke to hear some suits standing around somewhere complaining to each other about: It cost me $80 to fill the escalade this weekend. We only went 300 miles.

:crackup:

I went 450 miles this weekend, and it cost me $28... in premium.

The bottom line is, who has the auto makers in their pockets? Duh. The oil companies. The truth is, I can't wait until premium gets to about $6 a gallon - less cops on the road.

The sickest part of my rant is that I just moved to a new place. I walk one minute, 3 seconds from the door of my place to the door of work.

 

[Bible_Belt]

What tune-up mods did you make to the CRX? Which mods are worth the money? Do you have specific brand recommendations for plugs, plug wires, distributors, and mufflers? Does your CRX have an obnoxious fart-tip muffler?

 

[comic_relief]

Gas-saving tips tested.

http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/driving/articles/106842/article.html

running the AC does not decrease mpg very much

I did that this morning on a 120 mile trip today and I used up a quarter tank of gas.

I did the same trip a couple months ago and I would use up half a tank. The speed difference was that of 20-25 mph. I used to drive 80 mph and now I went down to 55-60. I love this tip that my girlfriend gave me. It saves a lot in the long run.

comic_relief

 

[Bible_Belt]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/energy_gasoline_dc

Venezuela gas is cheaper than water

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Taxi driver Jaime Tinoco works the streets of Caracas in a 1976 Chevy Nova that guzzles 19 gallons (72 liters) of gas a day. But he doesn't worry about fuel efficiency -- filling his tank costs just $2.30.

While U.S. consumers struggle with soaring energy prices, Venezuela's gas is now the world's cheapest at 12 cents a gallon and Washington's regional foe, President Hugo Chavez, vows to maintain subsidies that keep fuel dirt-cheap.

 

[Bible_Belt]

Oil hit $75 today, another all-time high.

 

[PRMoon]

Toyota Celica GTS - 26 mpg city 30 free way
Even with the mods on my car I've only seen a 20 dollar per month increase in how much I pay for gas.

 

[Vulpine]

What tune-up mods did you make to the CRX? Which mods are worth the money? Do you have specific brand recommendations for plugs, plug wires, distributors, and mufflers? Does your CRX have an obnoxious fart-tip muffler?

I dropped in the ZC motor and left the DX tranny on it. It has incredibly "long legs" now. I got a reprogrammed ECU that jacked up the timing curves, so anything less than premium will fire up the knock-sensor and shut down the power. I have an airmass header, cat-back Greddy exhaust, and a drop-in OEM replacement K&N air filter.

As a result, my exhaust is pleasantly loud, not the "Fart-tip"(lol, I hate that sh!t), it's cat back and the beef in the motor rings through. Believe me, you can hear the difference in the exhaust tone when there is actually "beef versus bleat".

The plugs and wires are stock, as is the cap and rotor. Don't fux with "upgrading" those unless you have a "spark box" or have the spark amplifying type mods... those are only useful if you do an upgrade like a fuel pressure riser. The stock set up works fine and great for any stock fuel levels.

As far as recommendations that are cost effective, the first one by far is the K&N cotton filter replacement. Rip out any air flow restrictions you encounter in the intake. My CRX actually had a four-holed restricter plate before the air filter! That went bye-bye the second I saw it. I also ripped out the "intake muffler" in the wheel well.

Keep in mind that a gasoline motor is best related as a "glorified air pump" as far as power goes. The more air pushed through, the more power it will make. Take a turbo or supercharger for example: they RAM air through the motor, thus, more power (yes, there's more to it, but I'm keeping it simple.)

So, after the intake is opened up, you'll notice instant horsepower gains and fuel economy gains. You'll also hear it.

The next upgrade is the exhaust. Start with a cat-back if cash is short. Do both the header and cat-back at the same time if possible: that way it only needs to go up on the lift once. If you have the cash, do try to get a "high flow" cat. The stock cat on my CRX blew out it's guts from all the increased flow, so it's basically a test pipe now. Since there aren't smog laws here in Wisconsin, I'm leaving it. Brands? Again, K&N for the air filter. Go large on the exhaust if you can. The larger names (HKS, Greddy, DC) have actually dyno'd their products for most models individually. For my CRX, some products are hard to come by. So I got a "b class" Airmass header. Don't go cheap on this stuff: Pacesetter is cheap, but it's crappy, thin gauge, Mexican made steel that rusts the same year you put it on. Plus, with the cheaper stuff, you don't neccessarily get any performance increase! I went with Greddy on the CRX because the muffler is stainless. My HKS system I had on previously had awesome tips (my Greddy has a coffee can, the HKS had "sleeper stockish Si style" dual outs) but the muffler rotted quickly and left the system useless after only a couple years. Go with stainless if you live up north and they salt the roads during the winter.

Like I said, dollar for dollar, increasing the air flow are the most cost effective mods you can do. All the other garbage is useless if you don't open up the flow FIRST. The next mods, as a rule of mine, are suspension and brakes to handle the new speed and future speed improvements.

For hooking up cars, I've always had a practical approach:

When the stuff goes bad, replace it with better. Justify the cost by comparing it to stock dealer product. $500 for an exhaust from Honda? I don't think so, not when Greddy will give you a larger diameter exhaust, stainless muffler, more horsepower, and better fuel economy for $650. Upgrades really do pay for themselves. Stock brake pads and rotors for $300 from Honda? I don't think so, not when you can get EBC pads and Powerstop cross-drilled or slotted rotors for $400. Brake pads last you almost 3 times longer than stock pads after the upgrade, not to mention they stop quicker. Again, these things pay for themselves.

EDIT: THE single most important upgrade you can do is pump ONLY premium gas, EVER! Without getting long winded, with the knock sensor and the computer in your car, the cheap gas knocks and the computer retards your timing. Less timing = less power so you end up burning MORE gas to make up for it. Again, there are many damaging effects of cheap gas, trust me here: pump only 92 or better.

Don't take my word for it, run 3 tanks of the crap you pump normally. Track the gas mileage and average. Then run 5 tanks of premium. (the computer needs a couple tanks to "recallibrate" or "relearn" the better gas fuel/timing curves)

Compare power, cost, and economy.

 

[IsiMan84]

Interesting. I have a 95 Grand Cherokee (which guzzles greatly, I know), but I have made some modifications for extra horsepower and mileage. I replaced the air filter box with a K&N intake and the engine computer with one that changes all the timing etc. as you were saying, so I can only use premium gas. My RPMs dropped a little bit at each speed and I idle at roughly 500 RPM now. I'd say I gained 2-3 mpg for regular driving. I drive pretty fast so I don't see the savings as much, but I can only assume how much worse it would be if I hadn't done those mods. Only problem is I can't afford the exhaust and other mods you mentioned, although I have wanted them for a while. I get about 22 or so going the regular speed, but I know it's basically impossible for me to ever get close to 30. I know that's how they screw you though, because vehicles like that are not so efficient off the assembly line and any work necessary to improve them costs an arm and a leg.

 

[chronic99uk]

Be glad you dont live in the UK, where its about 1.6dollars a litre, or 6 dollars a gallon.
You think you have it bad.

 

[IsiMan84]

You also have to take into consideration that it's two dollars to a pound and the dollar is weaker.

 

[chronic99uk]

You also have to take into consideration that it's two dollars to a pound and the dollar is weaker.

Nah id already converted that, its a nearly a £1 a litre here, not a gallon, nearly 4litres to a gallon, works out to 6dollars, you guys pay like what? 80cents? less?

Most of it is tax on us thought.

 

[Vulpine]

Interesting. I have a 95 Grand Cherokee (which guzzles greatly, I know), but I have made some modifications for extra horsepower and mileage.

You can't polish a turd.

You drive a box down the road. The wind resistance on that thing is like dragging an anchor. There is no helping MPG on that POS.

I laugh because people who buy those things typically complain the loudest about the price of gas. Uh... hello? Nobody made you buy a status symbol, much less made you use it as a daily driver with no cargo and only one person in it. IMHO, people who can afford a Cheap Jerky can afford an eco-pod to go along with it for a daily driver and should STFU about the price of gas. (No offense IsiMan84, I'm generalizing)

 

[IsiMan84]

Nah id already converted that, its a nearly a £1 a litre here, not a gallon, nearly 4litres to a gallon, works out to 6dollars, you guys pay like what? 80cents? less?

Most of it is tax on us thought.

Depending on the city it could be anywhere from $2.90 to about $3.50 per gallon. So converted to liters that's $0.77 to $0.93.

You can't polish a turd.

You drive a box down the road. The wind resistance on that thing is like dragging an anchor. There is no helping MPG on that POS.

I laugh because people who buy those things typically complain the loudest about the price of gas. Uh... hello? Nobody made you buy a status symbol, much less made you use it as a daily driver with no cargo and only one person in it. IMHO, people who can afford a Cheap Jerky can afford an eco-pod to go along with it for a daily driver and should STFU about the price of gas. (No offense IsiMan84, I'm generalizing)

Yea I know there's not a whole lot I can do really. The main reason I drive it is because it was my dad's old car and he let me have it after I graduated high school. I had an older Grand Prix at the time (30 mpg) and thought about selling both of them to get a newer decent car, but my dad proclaimed he took such good care of it so I just kept it. Luckily I never went home very often during the school year (3 hours drive) so I saved a lot that way. My driving was also mostly limited to the college town itself since I was busy with sports and other things. I'm driving home today so I'm going to go like 65 instead of 75 and see what the average mpg is on the way there.

 

[Bible_Belt]

Oil is flirting with $80/barrel today.

$100/barrel is looming on the horizon, getting there within this calendar year looks like a conservative estimate.

 

[whistler]

US consumers actually subsidize much of the world's oil infrastructure through our income taxes. I recall an economist or two putting the true cost of a gallon of 87 octane at about 7 or 8 dollars.

Realize too that while the US support of international oil infrastructure (pipelines, development, etc.) via taxes benefits everyone, the gas taxes levied in, say, Europe primarily benefit only the citizens of the country that levy the tax.

It just demonstrates how utterly absorbed we (in the US) are in securing a constant and enormous flow of petroleum.

When people say "Big Oil," it's no joke.