I have two projects this summer in the fuel economy sphere. The first is my 2005 Chrysler PT Cruiser Turbo. This thing only gets 25MPG on a good day and frankly that stinks. Sure, I do enjoy the turbo when I pull onto the highway, but thats the only time I ever floor it. If a Tahoe can get 24MPG, this thing should be able to get 30 with some consistency.

The PT Cruiser

My first plan is to research spark plugs. I have a suspicion that the 2.4 Liter is running a small gap and am curious if I can increase that gap to get a bit more spark without messing up the sensors. From there I'm going to add a K&N high flow air filter to the mix and pull out any corrogated intake piping and replace it with smoother pipes. Lastly I'm going to do some checking into the exhaust system and see if I can increase flow at all.

The '64 Chrysler

My other project is a lot more dear to my heart. It's my 1964 Chrysler Newport (that is being slowly turned into a 300 by the addition of serious ammounts of chrome). I haven't started taking it out onto the road yet, but with a 361 under the hood (about 5.9 Liters) I expect to have a starting point of around 12MPG city and 18-20MPG highway. I've already bumped it up to electronic ignition (I can't bear messing with points) and have installed a new carburator - a carter 2BBL that has a wee bit more tech than the previous carb.

My goal is 30MPG. My first step will be to make sure that tires are good, rear axle is properly lubed and the transmission is solid. If I'm losing power in my drivetrain then there's no hope. Once that's all confirmed I'm going to swap to dual exhaust and get an H pipe between the exhaust pipes. That creates a vacuum in the exaust system and also increases flow. There is no overlap on this engine when both intake and exhaust valves are open, so I don't have to worry about sucking out unburned gas.

My testing will all be with a 5 gallon fuel tank under the hood, so I can be very precise about my fuel consumption. I hope that just with proper tuning I can hit the 22MPG mark. From there I'll have to get inventive.

I plan to test with E85, a Methanol Blend (if I can find one - My 66 Chrysler I had when I was younger got 30MPG on methanol, but it had 10.5:1 compression and really liked the higher octane), and HHO. Since I have full control over the fuel system and no concern about the tank and the lines i can change gas and run the tests fairly thuroughly.

I'm really looking forward to installing an HHO system on the '64 as I think that the large bore of 4.1 inches will really benefit from a more flamable mixture increasing the rate and completeness of the burn. I'm also interested in seeing if the HHO, and the E85 for that matter, will remove the common unburnt gas smell you get when driving behind a carburated vehicle.

Let me know if you have any ideas on what you think would help on either of these projects!