Hand throttle
 

Since the accellerator pedal is very MPG sensitive at low throttle settings and very difficult to accurately adjust with slight changes in foot pressure, I made a hand throttle out of some scrap materials laying around the place. I set it so it functions that same way as the hand throttle on my tractor, i.e. the hand throttle sets a lower throttle position that can be overidden by pressing on the accellerator. The hand throttle only adjusts over the first 1/3 of the accellerator pedal's travel and converts 1 inch of pedal movement into 4 inches of lever movement, making it very easy to adjust to an exact L/km value when cruising on flat roads. Its just a simple pushrod that presses down on a metal plate attached to the pedal.

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...3df48317a1.jpg

You could possibly a drive by wire throttle body and a potentiometer for course throttle and a potentiometer for fine throttle and if there is a resistance delta on the pedal's potentiometer, it could override the control box ;)

Hand throttle,Thats a great idea, I notice the same thing, very hard to make small changes with the foot, and then my foot or leg gets tired from tension. On my cars its seems to either accelerate or decelerate, no in between. very hard to keep a steady speed on flat ground.

That's a great idea! I'm definitely adding that before my next trip. It's extremely difficult to gold a constant speed in the Green Machine, and is tends to cause some bad leg cramps. This should work wonders!

Have you noticed any mileage changes yet?

basjoos -

Most excellent. I have been thinking about the same problem, but your solution never occurred to me.

CarloSW2

No brake release?

Who uses brakes? ;) ...but seriously, I bet he's lowered the throttle long before he goes for the brake. And as for safety, when the clutch is in, the engine speed doesn't hurt anything (except FE). Maybe.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who gets leg cramps!

Werd! :D The only thing I'd be thinking about is panic stops. I mean, I'd want to get in a few since it'll be different than in N or gear. Just food for thought.

A word on leg cramps. In Japan there is NO SUCH THING as cruise control. It just isn't an option. I am not sure whether it is illegal. After asking family members (Japanese people) they didn't even understand what it was. I explained it to them, and they were freaked out by the concept. They thought it sounded dangerous, so I further emphasized that it can be disengaged in a multitude of ways.

So yeah, I get bad leg cramps in my right leg. I assume this is why my right side of my back hurts too.