I'm not talking about hydrogen conversion or anything.
Do the cai's work?
High flow exhaust?

Anything out there below $300 that works?

if you want better fuel economy the most important thing is to modify yourself. In the 70's a lot of people got vacuum gauges to keep an eye on how much load they were putting on their engine and thus how much fuel they were burning.

So how about the high-flow intakes and cats? Do they effect fuel economy? It's dyno tested that they add horsepower, so doesn't that mean they'd get better mpg at the same speeds?

if you make your engine work more efficiently you'll get more mpg. free flowing intake and exhaust work well. the problem with these mods is that you have to modify your driving style when you upgrade because you'll have more power so you need to learn to use less throttle at the same time.

but i agree, the best thing to do will be to change your driving habbits to use less gas. the upgrades will help but you'll be spending money on them and i doubt you'lll make it back with the fuel you save.

I don't think a cat back will do much without modifying the rest of the exhaust. headers will help, high flow cat will help, after those, a cat might help. intake will help but i dont think a bigger throttle body will, it'll let more air past. increased compression, better ignitioni might help. anything that isn't rinnung right will hurt performance and mileage. using a synthetic oil will help, i've seen some people get alot more and others get about the same mileage. and taking out any weight from your car will allow you to use less gas.

i heard on ngk website that there plugs suppsuple help save gas.

Well how old of a car are you driving? I mean if it's older you could probably replace the O2 sensors and get a little better gas mileage. I think O2 sensors go for about $70 a piece. Then you can buy a K&N filter which should increase your mileage by 1 or 2 mpg. I think they go for about $40. The sparks plugs will help. The more effeciently you burn fuel the better gas mileage you're going to get. I heard synthetics will help. I tried synthetic oil and really didn't see any increase. I heard synthetic tranny fluid also helps.

The main thing is to take it easy and not gas on it everywhere. Slower acceleration always helps. If anything carpool with some friends. It doesn't save gas on the car but it saves gas overall and that's a few less people driving.

I plan on ditching my belt driven clutch fan and going with electric. My clutch fan usually doesn't engage unless it's over 85 degrees outside. But when it does, it sucks a lot of power. I imagine it kills the mileage too. It would be a lot easier for the engine to drive the alternator to power a pair of 10" fans than it would to power one big belt driven fan. What amazes me is that a lot of older cars had a fan that didn't even have a thermostatic clutch. It was directly connected to the pulley. Man, what a waste.

Walking shoes and/or a bicycle both get good gas mileage. :wink:

But doing a basic tune up helps a lot. Like stated earlier, change the O2 sensors if they are old, new plugs, wires, and fuel filter helps a lot. Also, don't forget about the fluids in your engine: be sure the coolant, oil, and transmission fluid are all recently new, these help reduce friction (oil & trans) which lead to less stress on the engine. If your car isn't too old, then you might want to consider switching to synthetic or synthetic blend oil when you change your oil.

Amen on the synthetic. My engine was rebuilt about 20,000 miles ago and I'm running Mobil 1. I'm also going to switch the rear end to synthetic. My transmission has 215,000 original miles and still going strong with a new torque converter installed when the engine was rebuilt. I may go with synthetic in that eventually. My power steering pump also uses transmission fluid. I just might switch to synthetic in that too. Anything to reduce friction. I also did a tune up a while back and made the mistake of using Bosch plugs. The AutoLite plug wires are pretty cheap too. So I'm gonna get the NGK plugs that are specified in my manual and get a set of NGK plug wires. I'll try the K&N filter thing to see what the fuss is about. Right now, I get around 23 MPG. My highest about a week ago was 27. I'd like to see 30 someday. I'm driving an 84 Toyota Van and it's amazing how good the mileage is for a cracker box on wheels.

In response to the earlier question... I'm driving a 95 Civic hatchback 1.5 with 145k mi.
And it's not like I get bad gas milage, I just want better. I DO drive efficiently. No quick take offs ect.. I get around 40 mpg. I'm using NGK spark plugs. They aren't anything special, they were $2 each at autozone. Are you guys talking about some fancy ones? Or are there just these kind?
And about the synthetics, I'd be spending more money on oil than I'd be saving in gas. And don't tell me I only have to change it every 10 or 15 thousand miles. That's just nonsense, I've done a lot of research through other forum strings about synthetics. Look them up before you try to dispute this.

Oh yeah and it's a 5-speed so advice about transmission fluid won't help much.:)

Yeah, the 10,000-15,000 mile drain interval on synthetic is just bullshit. Some oils can guarantee protection up to that many miles. But that doesn't mean you can go that high all the time. I'd still change every 3,000 miles, but it wouldn't hurt if you're overdue a couple thousand miles because you haven't had the time or the money to change your oil.

The NGK sparkplugs my manual specifies to use are $6.99 each.

No you can run synthetics longer than 3k. Changing at 3k is kind of a waste because of price. You have to watch the oil quality and make sure it doesn't get dirty. My car leaks a little oil so I found out synthetic isn't that great because it leaks way faster.

Oh yeah and it's a 5-speed so advice about transmission fluid won't help much.:)
Manuals still use MTF, which does require changing over time. MTF lasts longer than automatic trans fluid though.

After how many miles should the fluid be changed on a manual tranny? And isn't it just gear oil? Could I use that lucas stuff? My civic has 145k mi. on it.

Honda recommends 'Honda Genuine MTF' to be used in the manual trans. Gear oil is for differentials. 10W-30 motor oil can be used, but it's not really recommended. The change interval is every 30,000 miles.

I drive a 97 EX Coupe. Contrary to popular belief I've got a SOHC and not the VTEC, same as in the LX. Cars paid for so its the best type of car to own. I put a K&N filter and Bosch+4 plugs in the car. I'm running NGK ignition wires.

On the interstate I was originally getting around 30/31. Bosch plugs and it climbed to 33/34. K&N and went to 35/36. A better set of ignition wires and I'm getting around 38/39hwy on roadtrips. I do some time in the parking lot (a stretch of I-485&I-77 in Charlotte SC where you just seem to sit. It drops my avg to between 35-36mpg. I'm near all interstate to and from work.

I'll amen the driving habits. I'll go up a hill @ 82/83 and pass a truck climbing the hill about 74/75mph. By the time we're going down the other side, the pick-up's doing over 90mph. I drove like that for a tank to see what would happen. My mileage dropped to 27mpg for that tank! Good Lord, how can people afford to drive like that? Let off the gas on top of the hill and apply it at the bottom. You save more gas coasting/vs flying down than you burn climbing the next! In addition to that, you overall average rate of speed will be higher which means less time in traffic!

How about exit ramps? Morons cutting 3 lanes of interstate while breaking hard to stop within the next 100yrds. What about getting over to the right about 1/4mile+ earlier, gradually slowing down and just coasting to a stop on the exit ramps? You not only save gas, breaks, wear on tear on engine/tranny but also tramendously reduce the risk of a major wreck.

In city - don't gas the car hard at a stop light. You may take off faster than me, but you'll still be sitting right next to me 200yrds later at the very next light.:uhoh:

How about exit ramps? Morons cutting 3 lanes of interstate while breaking hard to stop within the next 100yrds. What about getting over to the right about 1/4mile+ earlier, gradually slowing down and just coasting to a stop on the exit ramps? You not only save gas, breaks, wear on tear on engine/tranny but also tramendously reduce the risk of a major wreck.

In city - don't gas the car hard at a stop light. You may take off faster than me, but you'll still be sitting right next to me 200yrds later at the very next light.:uhoh:

Thank you. I see too much of this on a daily basis. It's amazing how much people bitch about gas prices, but they never get it though their head that THEY can improve their own gas consumption buy just driving SMARTER.

:1:

My dad gets really, really pissed at me when we're on the interstate and refuses to ride with me. When I'm cruising...say 78mph and I'm passing some one I get over before I have to slow down. I stay at 78mph. After I pass, I get back over. His gripe is that I should have been in the left lane in the first place and should have never moved back over. I reply, "I'm not going to be a selfish @$$hole and block the passing lane."

well it depends, if there's no one around it really doesn't matter, but if someone comes up behind you, you should get right before they have to pull out.

As a rule I stay right. I grew up in W. Texas. If no cars were around and you were not in the right hand lane, you were getting a ticker faster than you would speeding.

In Illinois, it's now illegal to drive for more than 1 mile in the left lane on an Interstate highway. ...not that anyone really follows that law, but it's there.

Texas law states that if you are not passing you must stay right. If you take more than 30 seconds for the nose of your vehicle to clear the front tires of the vehichle being passed, or mid-wheels for semis then you've taken too long. Most counties enforce it but not all. Those who do generally don't care if say a Corvette's doing 100mph in a 70. As a result, Texas has the lowest and accident rate on their interstates along with Montana who enforces very similar laws. Their accident rates are nearly as low as the Autobahns.

On the Autobahn you have to stay right if your not passing and you can't use cell phones or even smoke while driving. You must wear a seatbelt. They have a lot of restrictions on it.

:naughty: I hate not wearing a seatbelt or talking on a cell-phone. If I'm on the interstate and you call my cell and it's not an emergency I'll give you a short response, "I'm driving." *click*

For some reason especially on weekends when we're going places and making a lot of stops and riding around town I don't wear mine. i notice it's getting a habit. I feel too constained sometimes with it and since I don't have AC its pressing against me makes me feel hotter. I don't do much talking on a cell phone period but sometime me and my buddies BS on the CB. I really don't get how now people are having problems. I mean CB have been around for like 50 years now and there was never a problem with truckers or other epople using them. I mean back in the 70's it was pretty widespread to have a CB radio and I don't think there was much incidence with "distracted driver." How come it's so different now?

The not wearing a CB thing comes from getting smacked in the legs pretty hard from my parents as a kid. We had a little '83 Sentra and within arms reach. Living in Mississippi & W. Texas at the time it was always hot, always shorts weather and the bear skin stung. It had a lasting impression. About 6-months ago I went 3 blocks to the grocery store and my legs subcontiously started stinging. I put on my seatbelt even though I was almost the the grocery store's parking lot and the stinging went away. I told my parents (I'm 31) and they laughed saying at least they did something right with me.

The problem with the cell phone is that most people concentrate on the phone and not the road and in most cases don't realized they almost caused a wreck. Mythbusters did a test and showed it was just as dangerous as a blook alchohol level over just over a .10. Pretty frightening actually.

Not wearing a CB, eh?

Nah i live in south tx and ppl around here drive nuts it's shocking when your doing about 85-90 on the freeway and ppl still tailgate ya but usually i speed it up to 90 heck the majority of ppl go 80+ on the 70 mph highway lol even old ppl pass me up the times i'm doing 75 and over(night time) i just laugh and say man that old person is crazy. Oh yeah i drive a 95 town car and it's not that bad on gas at 85 i'll usually put it on Instant mpg and it'll read about 20-21 mpg. Dont have to worry about hilly terrain it's all flat lands around here

Oh yeah I heard acetone helps fuel effeciency. Like 2-3oz per 10 gallons.

Sounds wise, but put something under the gas pedal.

Here're my three best tips.

Drive less

Drive slower

Every time you use the brakes, you're costing yourself fuel. Back off earlier, coast more and save money at both ends.