Save Gas Money For More Caching

[Dentful1]

I know most of us are being hit by these high gas prices and have just about slowed to a crawl to go caching. Here are a few tips that I personally have done and done in the past to increase my MPG.

1. Get a new air filter. Preferably a K & N Air Filter. They increase MPG and horsepower.

2. Open up your exhaust. This is where you can be illegal and get away with it. Most country boys have straight pipes on their trucks and they are loud. You can talk to your local muffler shop to help you out with your specific vehicle. Those big V-8's can be opened up to get as much as 5 added MPG. If you don't want the loud roar than check out the Flowmaster Series Muffler. They have a nice exhaust "note."

3. Keep your tires inflated to the maximum allowed. During the summer you may want to go 2 - 3 pounds less because when the tire heats up due to driving they will increase in pressure.

4. Just slow down a little. That is the biggest thing. It's hard to do that, trust me.

I have a 2005 Honda Civic 1. 7 Liter. I have rigged up my own "Cold Air Intake" and took off my muffler. It is a little louder but not annoying like those "Rice Racers." I was getting 38 MPG traveling to Hot Springs from Glenwood everyday. Now by doing all the listed things above I have increased it to 44 MPG. The hardest thing is to slow down from running 60 in a 55 to 50 in a 55. The noise from the missing muffler is not bad considering how much less I have to pay at the pump.

A little sacrifice for more Caching time. I can do it. Can you?

[Dentful1]

I just fueled up this morning on my way to work. Here is the low down.

499.6 miles drove
10.54 gallons to fill up tank

That is 47.40 Mile per gallon

http://bestsmileys.com/wow/3.gif


It works!!

[RugerPilot345]

WOW that is great......you are the man!! 8O

8)

Joe (RP45)

[RugerPilot345]

Was watching the news and this was discussed to the extreme a few minutes ago....they call it "hypermilling"!! WOW!! 8O

http://hypermiling.com/

8)

Joe (RP345)

[Dentful1]

I just got back from Cachemates house to get some caches loaded up for my California trip and Mrs. Cachemates walks in the door and offered to buy my car for $2,000. I told her she needs to think of a higher bid. I then told Cachemates that I got 49.2 MPG on my last fill up Tuesday morning. I noticed that Mr. Cachemates was in touch with some guys from Little Rock on getting his truck to get better MPG. That truck of his drinks gas like a fish does water. I told him about a "cold air intake from K&N." I also told him to get a set of straight pipes for it. I sure do hope he considers those options.

[AR-HICK]

I think that would be a good idea for Cachemates. :D
STRAIGHT PIPES 8)
He could drive around like he did when he was a teenager.
Rrruummm! Rrruuummmmm! POP! POW! Bang! 8O
You would not be stealthy, but you would be COOL! 8)
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[jclaudii]

I could only dream of getting 40 MPG, much less 20 mpg. southerngirl and I drive a Jeep Wrangler for our caching and general trips. One tank (around 15 gallons) will last us about 250-275 miles, if we ever get 300 miles out of a tank were jumping up and down with joy! The gas prices has hit us hard and can be seen by our caching numbers for this year compared to last year. Hopefully we'll start grabbing some of the caches that are closer to home instead of passing by them when we go on errands.

I don't have many options for the Wrangler as far as fuel economy. Loud pipes would be too annoying, and I replace the air filter often enough along with spark plugs. As far as driving different, we find ourselves going slower on the interstate and drafting big rigs for a few mpg extra :).

Happy caching and we hope to see you on the trial soon :)

[Dentful1]

Aw yes, drafting big rigs. If you can get away with it, do it. MYTHBUSTERS did an episode on drafting behind big rigs. IT IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS and illegal, BUT, you can improve your overall mpg by as much as 50% drafting a big truck at say around 20 feet behind it. You can get away with drafting at about 100 feet behind a big truck (about twice the length of the truck) and still get great benefits traveling long distances on the interstate, around a 25% overall improvement on mpg. I will try to find this Mythbuster Episode and see about posting a hyperlink to it.


Dodges, Chrystlers, and Jeeps get the worst gas mileage out of 3 major auto manufacturers. Try a Ford Hybrid or a Chevy Hybrid, better yet get a Honda.

[Dentful1]

Here is the hyperlink to the Mythbusters test on drafting a big rig. My numbers were a little flawed but remember every car gets different results. If I remember right, Mythbusters used a Dodge Charger. Do some figuring and see what you can come up with on the chart.

http://mythbusters-wiki.discovery.com/page/Big+Rig+Drafting

[flannelman]

I have been looking into a cold air intake and a more open exhaust for my Ford Focus ZX3. I get 29 mpg with regular driving and get up to 35mpg if I just put around. I have also been looking at Brown's Gas generators. They claim to increase milage by splitting water atoms though electrolysis. It looks interesting and it should work on any rig.

[jclaudii]

Yea I watched that mythbusters episode. I watched another episode where they did the myth of "will flying tire rubber decapitate a human?". I stay back quite far, possibly in the 75 - 100 feet range. I would hate to have a steel belt re-cap come flying at me at 65 mph.

Have you seen the water injection stuff? themileageguys.com in Little Rock sell kits for to inject a fine water vapor into your engine. The theory is that is cools your intake and intake air down allowing for a denser air charge in the cylinder. Once compressed and the gas is burned, the heat causes the water vapor to turn to steam causing the vehicle to have an increase in torq. The steam (water vapor) also (supposedly) cools the inside of the cylinder which decreases detonation and lets the PCM advance the timing a tad bit. I don't know if they work, but I've been seeing their banner on places like todaysthv.com and they even did a news interview with them while back.

I am interested in the browns gas stuff, but I would hate to try it out on my Jeep, perhaps i can try it on on my other car. Let me know if you try the browns gas thing out.

jclaudii

[flannelman]

I'm gonna do some more reseach on it but I'll let ya know what I come up with.