I was debating fuel milage tonight with my wife. She states that 55 is still the most ideal speed to drive from a fuel economy standpoint. She does admit that is silly and it is best to turn on the v1 and wind it up.

But for overall ecomony, she insists 55 is the "sweet spot" of fuel and mileage. I do not agree with this. I think it is a matter of engine, tuning, gear ratio etc. One car's fuel/speed sweet spot may be 70 if that is what it is designed for. Another's may by 45.

During all the testing and analysis that went into the Stage 1 and Stage 2 mods, what did you find as the ideal crusiing speed for the 8?

Has that speed changed with the stage 1 mod. It seems logical that it would. I am just curious if in your testing, you were able to find this out.

Thanks and i apologize if this has been covered.

greese

In my experience traveling at about 80 km/hr or 50 mph gives you the best mileage. This can be adjusted up or down by other factors such as:
1. If you are "lugging" the engine (too low an RPM) you may cause higher wear and also you may get poorer mileage.
2. If you are running the engine at a high RPM you will loose more energy in friction and will get poorer mileage.
3. A strong headwind may cause condition #1. under the same conditions that you got the best mileage the day before with no headwind.
4. Rain (a wet road) will raise frictional losses a bit, lowering mileage.
5. Cold weather will raise losses due to more energy expended at warmup (stiffer oil, tires, grease, etc.). It may improve MPG on a long trip, however, due to more efficient fuel burning (cold air is more dense so contains more O2 per volume).

I don't think the mod. will change the "sweet speed" mileage wise. Canzoomer had to "crawl home" on one long trip (freezing rain on "interstate"). He got phenomenal mileage on that trip. A general statement can be made that the mod reduces fuel above about 6000 RPM, but most people don't cruise at that RPM. It does much more, of course, but due to ambient temp. changes (winter) just before the prototypes were installed, there is little we could say definitively about mileage changes yet. We find huge mileage decreases here in winter city driving in Edmonton. I see 14 l/100 km summer and 17 l/100km winter on other vehicles.

Are you in Clearwater B.C.?

Noooo. Clearwater Florida. Although with these cold days in the 50's i feel like i am in B.C. :)

Thanks for the info. I do a lot of highway driving and like to save gas as much as i can. I get reimbursed for mileage by my company. The better mileage I can squeeze out, the better i come out in the end.

greese