Formula D, Summit Point, WV, 2006
By now, most of you should be familiar with our Project Integra, from seeing it as the test subject of "Fact or Fiction" installments or the random tech article (like "Ditch the Daily Grind", Feb '10 2NR). What our newer readers won't remember is that it started out as the subject of our "Ultimate Efficiency" tech series, started over two years ago to demonstrate how modifying your car to increase style and performance can also bring the benefit of increased fuel efficiency, allowing your mods to pay for themselves over time. Here's what you may have missed:
Our DC's second life started when yours truly rescued it from a salvage yard in 2005, in Pennsylvania. It was bone stock, automatic, red, and rusting. The following two years it was kept in factory form and driven nearly 60K miles up and down the eastern seaboard to photo shoots, averaging between 220 and 240 miles between fill-ups. At one point during a long stretch of highway driving, I ran it from full to empty (with a few gallons of reserve in the trunk) just to see what its true mileage was-281, or about 21.3 mpg, based on its 13.2-gallon capacity. Metaphorically speaking, it was a hog.
"Ultimate Efficiency", Part 1
It was mildly embarrassing, too. Sure, it was reliable, utilitarian-I could literally throw all my gear in it, or stand on its roof to get a shot without a second thought-but as an automotive enthusiast working in the scene, "Is that your car?!" was a question I heard all too often from feature car owners, who fought their hardest to hold back disgust. Things had to change. And after enough time spent shooting time-attack and drag-prepped track machines, along with scanning the technical specs of mainstream automotive's newer, increasingly more fuel efficient models, certain patterns began to emerge.
The basic principles of maximizing vehicle efficiency were explored in the first installment (Nov. '07), along with an introduction to testing procedures. By the second (Dec. '07), our Integra had been rid of its faulty power steering, air conditioning and ABS systems to cut static mass, and given an Unorthodox Racing lightweight crank pulley to reduce rotational mass. Its engine had been upgraded with a custom intake and exhaust to decrease backpressure and increase aspiration, and Hybridynamics of Latrobe, PA, Crome-tuned air/fuel ratios and ignition timing to within safe limits, increasing power by maximizing combustion efficiency. All combined, the modifications gained us 24 whp and 23 lb-ft of torque over stock, and a mixed-driving average fuel efficiency of 31.7 mpg-an increase of nearly seven mpg over the revised EPA estimates, and more than 10 over our starting averages.
I painted it green to celebrate.
"Ultimate Efficiency", Part 2
To best understand the fuel efficiency/performance parallel, think of it as a simple algebra problem. More energy would be needed to accelerate a 4,000-pound car from 0-60 in X seconds than one weighing 2,000 pounds. We know that if the 2,000-pound car and the 4,000-pound car both make the same power, the lighter one will be faster. But if we drive it to keep pace with the heavier one, the lighter one will also become more fuel efficient. The US EPA states that for every 10 percent of static mass eliminated from a vehicle, fuel economy improves by seven percent. Hotrodders will tell you that cutting 100 pounds from the average car will increase its quarter-mile times by one tenth of a second. Drop weight and drive your car with a light foot, and watch stop-and-go fuel efficiency increase. Drive it with a heavy foot, and outrun the next guy.