40.3mpg in a 2001 Cavalier
 

I broke 40 mpg today. I don't know how much better I can do in this car but I am happy so far. I have a ScanGuage on its way so I hope I can squeeze a few more MPGs out of it. This car is quite the little mpg sleeper.

you got me beat. probably because of the stick shift.

if you want to go above and beyond, check out my garage and see what I have done. most of it is easy to do and yields pretty good numbers. the scangauge is a good place to start

*edit* you can also completely block off the front of your car. 90+% of your cooling comes from under the car. I blocked off the bottom of the car and instantly started to overheat. I ripped that part off. also I left a place between the hood and the bumper so that I could still open the hood. these cars also react well to the WAI. (in this, I am assuming that the 1997 and the 2001 are the same or at least similar enough)

Congratulations on the 40 mpg. Based upon my experience you definitely can squeeze more out of you car. I have a 2003 Cavalier and have been pulling off some amazing numbers this summer--check my fuel log.

Key to success has been picking routes that let me EOC as much as possible (I have a switch that kills power to the injectors). I have found a route that except for one 7 mile stretch in 45 miles, I can EOC like crazy. I've calculated that I'm coasting about 70% of the time. I'm not sure what the impact will be on my clutch/drive train, but EOC has boosted my economy tremendously. I can pull off 50 MPG on short errands around town. I can pull off 70 MPG on longer trips.

BEEF is correct on grill blocking, but only do it after you have a Scangauge. You don't want to cook your motor. I have rigged up a switch that lets me activate the cooling fan at will. I turn it on whenever the coolant temp is 200+F. I turn it off when it drops down to 195F or less.

A front belly pan has worked well for me (look at last summers vs this summer's MPGs). I've made mine out of fiberglass shower wall ($30 at Lowes). It's durable and easy to work with. Just make sure you don't fully close off the underpan, but leave a slot in it for the radiator air to escape. My opening is adjustable, so in cooler months, I can close it off some.

I believe that I have not yet tapped out everything in my car. I think it is a possibility with my route, driving style, and upcoming, to average 75 MPG during the summer months. In winter, I hope to average around 60 MPG. We will see.

Gotta love that pushrod 4.

The only real difference between the 1997 and the 2001 is the transition from batch fire to SFI in (I think) 2000.

I've been wondering if you'll ever post! :)

phleas,

I'd like to know how you did some of the stuff to your car. did you ever disable the daytime runners? how about the vertical windshield wipers.

I have an auto so I am sure that I won't ever see the numbers you are seeing but I would love to get closer.

thanks

BEEF-

The DRL fuse has been pulled. This leaves the daytime lights off, but illuminates a service warning light on dash. I can live with this.

The one vertical wiper...doesn't bring much if anything in terms of FE. I did this by removing the wiper fuse. I cut an old wiper fuse in half and saved the prongs. With these prongs, I soldered onto the ends of two pieces of wire and made it possible to plug back into the fuse box. In one of the pieces of wire, I installed an inline fuse, same amps as removed for the wiper. From this fuse and the other piece of wire, I installed a toggle switch. This setup enables me to start the wiper motor and leave the wipers in any position.

My wife has a 1999 Cav, Auto. The best I can get out of her stock, non-hypermiled modified car is about 37 MPG. The automatic really hampers potential.

Google for the DRL module (I think it's a sub-module of the BCM). You may be able to disable the DRLs without getting the dash light; GM's design for that stuff is usually pretty malleable.

On the Cavalier it's actually stupid easy to disable the DRL. If you disconnect one of the high beam lamps you disable DRL because all it does is run the high beam lamps in series.

....so then what do you do for high beams?