• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

Best mods for MPG w/out losing too much "fun"?

Where is that slap flight smiley..... Find and ButtonPuncher well done in refusing to take a personal attack to pms. I suggest you both give the thread a break so the mods don't have to do anything.

Find, claim whatever you want but next time post proof of your claims. You have zero credibility in my eyes currently. When you believe something is true and it goes against logic you have the burden of proof, not everyone else.

That being said, a lot of wild and crazy things have been postulated in this thread. If anyone can provide some outside proof for or against any of it please post links. I'm going to go dig for some knock sensor related threads...

http://www.automotiveforums.com/t545298.html
 
KennyT772 said:
Where is that slap flight smiley..... Find and ButtonPuncher well done in refusing to take a personal attack to pms. I suggest you both give the thread a break so the mods don't have to do anything.

Find, claim whatever you want but next time post proof of your claims. You have zero credibility in my eyes currently. When you believe something is true and it goes against logic you have the burden of proof, not everyone else.

That being said, a lot of wild and crazy things have been postulated in this thread. If anyone can provide some outside proof for or against any of it please post links. I'm going to go dig for some knock sensor related threads...
Click to expand...

Math and Physics is where I live. You need to reevaluate your logic. Plus, I did suggest several times you guys follow up with what I said and read in the places I told you too, unfortunately, no one wanted to do that, they would rather insist that I am wrong based on gut feelings and old wives tales..... I have provided the following links to get you started, if you require more, please ask. This should settle things.

OCTANE
http://www.squidoo.com/octane
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Which_gasoline_brand_provides_the_best_fuel_mileage
(total search time to find these four pages with relevant factual information, around 5 seconds.)
http://www.epinions.com/content_5329363076
http://www.carbibles.com/fuel_engine_bible_pg3.html
It's a common misconception amongst car enthusiasts that higher octane = more power. This is simply not true. The myth arose because of sportier vehicles requiring higher octane fuels. Without understanding why, a certain section of the car subculture decided that this was because higher octane petrol meant higher power.
The reality of the situation is a little different. Power is limited by the maximum amount of fuel-air mixture that can be jammed into the combustion chamber. Because high performance engines operate with high compression ratios they are more likely to suffer from detonation and so to compensate, they need a higher octane fuel to control the burn. So yes, sports cars do need high octane fuel, but it's not because the octane rating is somehow giving more power. It's because it's required because the engine develops more power because of its design.
There is a direct correlation between the compression ratio of an engine and its fuel octane requirements. The following table is a rough guide to octane values per engine compression ratio for a carburettor engine without engine management. For modern fuel-injected cars with advanced engine management systems, these values are lowered by about 5 to 7 points.
Click to expand...
NOW, if there are problems with zetecs regarding tuning, then I am afraid that is something I am not aware of, and HAVE NEVER observed in any zetec car I have owned, including my zetec contour.

LED
http://www.extragasmileage.com/how-led-lighting-can-help-your-car-be-greener/
http://www.leftlanenews.com/led-lights-stylish-and-fuel-efficient.html
However, LED equipped vehicles save about a gallon of gas a week over cars with conventional bulbs, according to the Detroit Free Press.
Click to expand...
If you really need more, I can start digging up trucking articles. The military also uses LEDs for their longevity and energy conservation attributes. FWIW, I use all LEDs on my truck, and as I have said before, they do draw less wattage, even the ones that are just as bright. If you like, I can provide you links to illustrate the differences in lumens/watt, however LEDs produce more lumens/watt. The fact that LEDs draw less power is indisputable however, because an incandescent bulb uses much of the wattage it draws to generate heat. LEDs only generate light. The heat generated by an incandescent bulb is not free, light is a by-product of that heat, and this is a VERY inefficient way to produce light. The reduced load does not amount to much, but it still all adds up.

ETHANOL AS AN OCTANE BOOSTER
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/06/24/video-ethanol-gets-worse-mileage/

HOT AIR
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081006122707AA3BcH0
http://www.gassavers.org/archive/index.php/How-to-build-your-own-Warm-Air-Intake-WAI/t-244.html
(granted, a cold air intake can still increase fuel mileage over a stock intake, but a stock intake is just a restrictive cold air intake)
http://geometroforum.com/topic/3001427/1/
http://geometroforum.com/topic/2876020/1/
a warmer intake charge will not create higher combustion temperatures, and that is strangely one of the assumptions you guys seem to be operating on, warmer intake charge just means a warmer charge to ignite, therefore it takes LESS energy to heat it to it's flash point, meaning you can spread the heat of ignition further faster resulting in a faster burn. On the contrary, a cold air charge will lead to higher combustion temperatures, because denser air and fuel can be equated to higher cylinder pressure...... Therefore you need MORE fuel on top of the fuel it takes to create a good mixture to reduce combustion temperatures. Don't feel too bad about this one, because so far, very few people I have encountered on this forum actually knew this..... MapOfTaziFoSho, Harrry, and a couple other people..... I could look some more and demonstrate my point about the lower pumping losses by the throttle being opened wider, but, I dont really think anyone on here is disputing the fact that that will give a small gain, and as we all know, it all adds up.

I've enjoyed being flamed so far, hopefully this will put an end to it.

KennyT772 said:
Has anyone made an underbody tray for a contour?
Click to expand...
btw sorry, I hadnt noticed this earlier, but no, noone has made nor does make an underbody tray for a contour. One would have to fabricate it themselves, of course the front and the rear would be the most important parts to cover, if one skinned the full bottom of the car as best as possible, that would be the best case scenario.
 
Pricier options would include a tune for MPG, and carbon bits here and there. Hood, trunklid. Header... I've also read in various places that the aftermarket intake increasing MPG is a myth.
 
I wasn't asking if a company has, that is an easy answer. I'm asking if anyone on CEG has.
 
fulltilt said:
I've also read in various places that the aftermarket intake increasing MPG is a myth.
Click to expand...

i call B.S. on that being a myth for some cars. I have an intake and exhaust on my car, have the plugs gapped a little more than what stock calls for, new spark plug wires, new fuel filter, and i run intake cleaner thru it pretty often. I average 32MPG city with my car. Its a 2.0 MTX with no back seat, spare tire, jack, ,etc. But it does have power windows, door locks, sun roof, cruise, TCS, etc. It does have some random junk back there now like a power steering rack for my Tempo, and other parts for that car lol. I did get 38.7 MPG's on a trip from Harrisburg Pa to Pittsburgh Pa and back. That was flooring it thru all the tunnels on the Pa Turnpike, and with a cast iron 140ci engine block and 6 boxes full of Ford Tempo car parts for half of the trip. It also includes getting stuck in city traffic in Pittsburgh.

However, an intake on my Tempo helped bring my MPG's down a bit, but that also had to do with my driving style 3 years ago. I had gotten 27 MPGs out of the 2.3 auto in that car when it was stock, and after it was modded i was lucky to hit 22 when trying.
 
Jesus Christ... now I have no clue who to believe. It seems like 50/50 of the community argues for/against the inktakes... And I can't find any proof outside of this site that says for SURE which is "right." It seems anomalous either party gets any results what-so-ever.

I KNOW UDP increases MPG, I KNOW an efficient (IE, NOT the stock) exhaust increases MPG, and I KNOW there are some kits than can increase it (Which I'm not going to bother with, it's too minimal)... But the intake is the only thing...
Driving, UDP, Exhaust, tune-ups, oil changes, and relearning fuel map are the only things I'm even considering until someone shows me true, scientifically proven, 100% accurate information about the intake...
 
this guy seems to sum up the whole situation in a balanced way ..

Compaq888
05-14-2006, 02:43 AM
I tried the hose thing with the warm air. I saw a solid 1mpg increase on the freeway but the problem was it lowered my power. As long as you're always driving on level roads this mod will be okay. But if you ride up hills like I do most of the time the engine will downshift the tranny which in result will require more fuel.
 
.. i think the ud pulley is good (saw one in the classifieds) but this is quite a difficult goal to achieve because your car has to do so many jobs and they all demand different things from your engine. ... G.
 
All i have to say is when i got my car, I was getting around 27 MPG highway, and with all the mods i've done i've gotten it up to 38.7.

If you're not going to do an intake on the car, make sure you use a high quality air filter, make sure your Mass Air Flow sensor is clean, as well as the throttle body and intake. I like to use SeaFoam in my car every 10K miles or so.

Basically the easier air can get in and out of the engine, the more power you will make and sometimes the more efficient the engine will run. Also, make sure your tires are properly inflated, wheel bearings are in good shape, and brakes arent sticking.
 
The old tinkmobile, with only a tune, intake, UDP, and a tune-up was getting 34-35mpg on the highway.

Sorry, perhaps some of the information I provided was unclear. Almost any aftermarket intake will give you a small (read miniscule) gain in mileage and power. This is primarily due to the fact that you have a bigger hole to suck air through, this means less pumping losses by the engine.

The point I was trying to make is that a warm air intake that draws in engine air will give you an increase in mileage, but you are sacrificing some of the performance gains you get with an aftermarket cold air intake. The cold air intake makes the same sacrifice with mileage for power.

Granted, you are only talking about 1-4 hp gains with anything you put on the car, so really, it is not that much to worry about, and on an unmodified car, it is generally not worth the price, the biggest gain you will get is a whoosh noise when you press on the gas. In your case, the best thing to do would be to avoid putting on an intake all together, or just do a short ram. You will not gain any horsepower, but you will gain a whoosh sound and a little mileage under many driving conditions.

Also, addressing the myth of losing mileage due to an intake: This is because many people hear that whoosh sound, and their butt dynos are telling them they have more powah, so they drive more aggressively, sometimes just subconsciously, other times, they are doing so to hear the WHOOSH sound that tells their butt they are going faster.
 
We can pretty much end it here, me thinks.
I'm only doing UDP, cleaning MAF/Airflow... and I forget what else.
I'm prbably NOT doing the Short Ram.

But what is SeaFoam? D:
 
I run my tires at 40 psi. It improves the mileage by about 3 or 4 mpg. May affect stopping distance a bit, though.
 
jump over to ecomodder.com that's all they do is MPG. I got my SVTC to see 30-32avg on my mornings in to work for a month that was about a 50/50 split if you factor in stop and go traffic on the Hwy. Just from using some tips I got off those boards. Change the nut behind the wheel is the best thing you can do for MPG.

http://teamzx2.com/threads/31823-50-mpg

he saw 50+ for a 90 day avg. link to his build thread. he's got the DOHC zetec similar/same as what the contour has.

Best of luck to you!
 
I run my tires at 40 psi
Click to expand...
that may be increasing your fuel economy slightly but that is gonna wear your tires down quickly in the center and reduce your traction.
and way to dig up a 3yr old thready btw.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top