Quote:
Originally Posted by Number 3
Doc, love your passion. But you won't get an EPA certified 2 to 3 mpg simply by reducing unsprung weight.
I absolutely agree that there are a ton of things you can do to simply make a car feel faster and quicker by simply adjusting throttle tip in. It can make a big difference in feel......................just not MPG.
Again, even assuming you are right, and I agree there is an element to how it "feels" in your point, it will be hugely expensive to get 100 pounds out of the car in this area. I can assure you that GM and every other OEM would literally kill for 2 to 3 mpg and if it were as easy as you suggest we'd see 13" tiny wheels and teeny tiny tires one every car. But you don't and there is a reason for that.
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Are you absolutely sure about that? I never said it was easy; it wasn't easy for me but I was only modifying my one car. It would be "easier" to some degree for GM because they can actually make the technology they need; I had to wait and research like crazy to put together what I did. But based on my actual experience I can say it would be worth GM's time and money to do more research in this area. Yes it will be expensive initially, but what isn't in order to meet cafe standards?? The problem with pouring millions into certifying one engine is it's only good for that one engine; they have to do it for every new or modified engine if I understand it correctly. The tech they would develop for reducing unsprung I believe would actually be cheaper in the long run as it can be used across many vehicle product lines and can be carried over year to year. And there wouldn't be expensive certification tests involved.
I don't know how they go about getting an epa certified rating but I firmly believe it would be worthwhile to create one "mission modified" test car that's only had a reduction in unsprung to see what the actual results are. My car is modified for the track with appropriate cam and everything and I STILL get pretty decent gas mileage; especially on the freeway. If I was just modifying for street/daily driver I have no doubt I could get better mpg out of a stock SS without engine mods and it would be a noticeable improvement in performance. And that's just me modding an already manufactured car. If I had the backing and resources of GM behind me I'm absolutely positive I could improve the performance and mpg WITHOUT modifying the already-certified engine.
It would be an investment on GM's part but a worthwhile one that would pay off for years and years.