Team Leftover Bananas!
 

Thought I'd start a post for the team! Private messages can be a pain sometimes ;) Anyway, thought this might make things easy for us :)

Current Standing:
New cycle starting!
"The Leftover Bananas"

Current Members:

• Team Captain: OdieTurbo - Confirmed - The_Last_SL1
• bbgobie - Not Confirmed - Black Chariot
• brucepick - Confirmed - Sven - Volvo 240 Wagon
• rvanengen - Confirmed - Mercedes 190e 2.6L 5-Speed
• Rick Rae - Confirmed - 2000 VW Cabrio

And to start things off, I've got a few things to do:

• Get that darn air dam installed!
• Remove the passenger side mirror.
• Try to use less A/C.

Anyone else have some things they want to get done for the next challenge?

Heh-heh, I'd like to get my air dam back from my buddy who's cloning it in giberflass. It's a spare-time project. He has a wife and a baby and a house so you can guess how much spare time he has!

Meanwhile, I'm using a big temporary coroplast air dam ala NASCAR which needs reconstruction every week or so.

And I'd like to get my front end cleaned up. Functionally better than stock now but it looks ugly. Really.

Not sure, but I could swear I get bet better milliage after a car wash?

It's the hydro-delta vector effect.
Even better than flux capacitors.

I'm serious!

I know it doesnt make much sense. But i've had a few tanks where i've really struggled. Seems to corrolate to the weeks I dont wash my car!
gonna wash this weekend and see how it goes next week.

This would be a tough ABA Test!

I was just having some fun - sorry.
Ya never know, maybe there's an actual connection between a clean car and FE.

I shouldn't talk, I hardly ever wash mine.

You mentioned the difficulties in doing ABA testing.
That brings some thoughts to mind, but we don't want any mud-slinging here!

Seriously, I hope it all goes well.

Who knows? Maybe when my car is clean the sun warms up the black paint faster?

Or as you said, the hydro-delta vector effect!

Well, OdieTurbo made the questionable decision to dub me a Leftover Banana, so greets to everyone. I don't know how much I can add to the fight but at least I'll try not to embarrass the team. :D

I've read the rules and have a general idea of how the FE Challenge works, but don't hesitate to throw out a "Hey Rick, don't forget to _______" here and there at least until I get in the rhythm of this. I don't want to miss any deadlines or stomp any rules.

Regarding things to get done, I installed an air dam a couple of weeks ago but haven't had time for any coast-down tests yet. The car seems to be coasting better at higher speeds but that may be placebo effect, as I haven't identified a definite FE change yet. I think what might be happening is, I'm keeping a constant TPS reading on a regular route and the reduced drag is resulting in slightly higher speed, canceling out the potential MPG increase. Anyway, I want to get some solid tests on this as soon as I can, because I think the dam needs to be shortened a little to be optimum.

It'll be a while before I can get to it, but I also want to slap on some rough cardboard rear wheel skirts to get preliminary numbers for that mod.

And, once the weather cools off a little I'll block off more of the grille.

Non-mod-wise, I'm currently working on adjusting my driving style to take better advantage of fuel cutoff.

Rick

Welcome to the team!

Hey all! Do you think we should all put "Team Leftover Bananas" as our "Custom User Title" in "Edit Profile"? Kinda show some team pride and all that :)

Excellent idea!

Got my oil changed last night. 5w20 Royal Purple Full Synthetic or something like that... Huge diff, on the drive in I didn't struggle to hit my targets like I have been for the last month or so.

Only problem is I have a few MTB races this month, which means I'm gonna be driving around with the bikes on my car, and a lot of extra load.

Cool. Maybe I can get my numbers up again...

Tomorrow, weather permitting, I'm changing oil and swapping another 2.5 qt of dino tranny fluid out for new synthetic Mobil 1 tranny fluid. Am changing out 2.5 qt. tranny fluid at each oil change now.

Sunday I REALLY REALLY want to put the new front face on. Been driving with no grill, no grill block, nothing. Bad for FE, I'm sure of it. Looks ugly too!

Zounds, foiled again.

Didn't change oil or tranny fluid.
Put my attention on the new front face because I'm planning on visiting my parents this coming weekend - car shouldn't look ugly AND messy inside.

I made good progress on the front face. Got the critical outer corner mount points established, cut and drilled the thin plywood panel (2.7 mm!) so it can fit on. Not installed yet as it needs holes for headlights plus slot for radiator air.

Then I found the source of my coolant leak. Heater hose, a bugger to get at. Four hours this morning, got to work late but the hose is replaced.

Then I discovered the radiator is leaking. No sign of that earlier, and it would be clearly visible due to the engine bay layout. I think that with the system sealed now, probably for the first time in a month or two, the pressure popped the radiator. Hopefully I can pull off that job tonight. Got two spare rads on the shelf!

Good thing I like working on my car.

Zounds! You guys have been busy!!! :D I'm not gonna be on much, no PC at home still, got the problem fixed, but have to re-assemble, hopefully this weekend. No PC at the place I'm staying either, just here at work (I'll get in trouble if I'm on too much :( ) Gas mileage dropped but usage also went down. Instead of a 1 1/2 hour drive to work, now it's about 5 minutes! I'm staying at a friend's place for now.

Keep up the good work! And remember...

GO BANANAS!

I'm back! How much did I miss?

Welcome back. I hope this means you got your computer/Internet access problems squared away.

Precious little, as far as I know. Be sure to check in on the FETC thread -- there's talk of shortening cycles, not running them in the Spring/Fall or maybe not even in the Winter, and also one comment about not seeing enough interest to start again.

I guess I jinxed it by signing up. :p

Seriously though, I'm fighting hard to even get close to my numbers from a month ago. I'm hoping it's just the weather but the temperatures haven't dropped that much yet. If that's what it is I'm gonna be turning in some sucky numbers when it gets down around freezing. :(

I'm really not sure what to try next. I was thinking about rear wheel skirts and a belly pan, but I've been driving like a snail to get the numbers I have so far, which means aero mods aren't going to help much. (They'll maybe let me drive a little faster and keep the same numbers -- which would be nice, I'll admit.)

I'm still taking note of where all the large election signs are near my home, though. ;)

Rick

Somehow it's tough getting good numbers these days. I'm lucky to see 29 where in the heat of summer I saw 33 at least once. Couple times recently I had to drive 70ish for several 60-mile trips and ended up with 24.x mpg for the tank.

BUT I'm on new tires that I'm running at about 47 psi. Wheeee!

I'm in New England, we'll get some nasty weather sooner or later. It's going to kill the FE. One 70-mile trip home last winter in 5" snow, I got only 19 mpg!

Also my job is changing. Don't know where the new one will be yet but could be a much shorter ride.

Anyway, I'm game if y'all are.

Don't get me wrong. I think it can be a good thing to run the challenge in tough conditions - like winter. So what if it more difficult to get good FE in bad weather. It happens to all of us. Just like maintenance issues, people needing rides, whatever.

When I first signed onto the challenge, I figured it might run year round, good weather and bad. It hits all of us, and by requiring each team to have a member north of Mason-Dixon, it hopefully hits us all more or less equally.

My two cents.

Bruce, you should consider posting those thoughts to the FETC Take II thread. I imagine the Commish would appreciate it.

Rick

Done.
I shoulda put it there in the first place

No biggie -- I read most of the threads around the site :)

I'm proposing that we get going on this...stay tuned for more info...

Commish

Are we ready to roll? I thought we were and jokingly made a comment about that in the FETC Take II thread.

Now it looks like the Commish wants to start the next cycle on Monday! :eek:

I'm cool with that, but I didn't mean to commit us if we're not ready. Do we still have a full team and are we ready to go?

If not, let me know; I'll post a retraction and take my lumps for speaking out of turn.

Rick

Whoops - sorry, I wasn't checking this thread.
I'm in.

What about the other bananas?

Well, I PM'd everyone and Rick Rae, brucepick, rvanengen, and myself are in... no word yet from bbgobie.

I'll keep you all posted or rh77 will ;)

Take a look at bbgobie's gaslog for Black Chariot.
He usually tanks up every week or two - but no fills logged since 9/13.
Hmmm? I hope all is well w/bbgobie.

I haven't been on for ages due to "life difficulties," but since there's still occasional discussion about restarting the challenge I thought I'd better pop in and post a note.

For the last several months my work has included doing gas station audits, each of which requires adding fuel to the tank. I have little control over what brand of gasoline gets added when, and a gallon here, three gallons there makes it impossible to keep my gas log accurate.

I've given up on my Shell V-Power test for the time being, and haven't seen a point in trying to keep my gas log up to date. I'd definitely not meet the fill-up criteria for the challenge, so until things change you'll have to count me out.

Sorry,
Rick

P.S. As far as the important bit is concerned, I'm still fighting the fight and have been maintaining a little above 33MPG.