The reason i bought my 2.2 eco 5 speed cav ls sport was for gas mileage.

currently un touched dead stock i get 36mpg highway and around 30ish in the city.

i have unlimited use to 3 different dynojet dynos and free usage of HP tuners.

i dont want to do any performance with this car, i want to wring out as much MPG as i possibly can....

has anyone tuned thier car for economy?

i thought i might give it a try. i know i am going to sacrifice power for economy. but i wanna see if the increase in economy will justify (in my mind) the power loss. Id also like to see how underpowered the car accually will be. I kind of like the peppy little 4 banger in this car, still makes it fun. but id sure like more economy...


any thoughts?

and i just noticed i put this in the wrong section.....


please move if need be. sorry for the confusion

Most of the modifications for N/A performance, will help gas mileage also. They reduce the amount your motor has to wok moving the air / fuel into and out of the motor (i.e. the motor is a pump....) The reason most people get less gas milage, is they put their foot down harder and more often with these mods, which uses more fuel! I know a few people on here that used HPT to tune their cars for performance, but ended up getting significantly better gas milage, along with the added performance gains.

yes i know this....

all i wanna do is tune. im not adding a "hot air" intake lol. or anything of that nature.


I just wanna tune the stock car that i have for more MPG.

i also wanna see if i can live with the power loss and see if i can accually get more MPG. I also wanna see if the MPG increase will be worth the power loss.... if not i can easily switch it to stock

like i said i have unlimited tuning time and HP tuners.

jmccormick wrote:i also wanna see if i can live with the power loss and see if i can accually get more MPG. I also wanna see if the MPG increase will be worth the power loss.... if not i can easily switch it to stock

like i said i have unlimited tuning time and HP tuners.

If you're just leaning it out, there shouldnt be a huge power loss, but it could run hotter and longevity could ultimately be affected. I know a lot have tinkered with teh DFCO settings and achieved good economy results, so that's probably the best place to start...

thats what i was talking with one of my instructors at school about. Just leaning it out would gain better MPG . BUT it would run hotter.. I am going to try and see if i can tune it without making it run super hot. id like to lean it out. but i wanna try other things too...

one of our instructors toyed around with a piece of crap corolla he had as a daily beater. He got an O2 sensor simmulator for it. tricked the computer into thinking it was running rich by sending false voltages back to the PCM. the car leaned out and he got an extra 7mpg. but it threw all sorts of MIL's and crap.

I go to wyotech in blairsville. GREAT school.. so we have 3 chassis dynos. and a crap ton of tuning software. (efi live, HP tuners, SCT, F.A.ST XFI, Accel DFI, megasquirt) basically every tuning software you can think of

hooks me up with one of those dynos.

I think there are a few posts around about tuning for mpg, but it also depends on the type of driving you do mostly.

I think you can get decent improvements for city, but less improvements for highway.

As stated if you tune for proper power, you should increase MPG. I have on my car. Our cars shot for 14:7:1 AFR stock. This can not be changed for regualr driving. You can adjust fuel for WOT driving, or power enrichment, which can benefit MPG's. From the way you sound I would not waste your time on this.



FU Tuning

from the way i sound?

This isn't tuning related, but I got better gas milage out of my 2.2L OHV w/3sp, when I changed the final drive ratio from 3.18:1 to 3.43:1! GM put more of a highway gear in them than a city gear and most of my driving is in stop-and-go traffic. I save an average of 1.5 miles per gallon. The few time I do any kind of distace, I onle lost about 1 mpg.

jmccormick wrote:from the way i sound?

Yes. You do not seem to want to hear what people have told you. You want to increase gas mileage try keeping your tires at proper pressure, car tuned up. Drive normal and be done with it.



FU Tuning

i do not seem to want to hear what people are saying..... hmmm ok thanks for that.

anyways.. i already drive normal my tires are checked every week. and i change oil ever 3 and a new filter with every change..

I know people have unlocked mpg with tuning. because the factory tunes cars for the happy medium of performance and economy. Why not experiment, i have unlimited credits with HP tuners. and a dyno. with a wideband. so who cares. id like to see if its possible....

I know this is somewhat off topic, but theres a guy on solsticeforum that claims hes getting average 47mpg on his LNF GXP. I know its a completely different beast, its basically a gas powered, spark fired diesel. You should be able to yank 1-2 more mpg out of the L61.

People aren't saying its not possible, but you should start with the suggestions mentioned. Experience counts!

jmccormick wrote:i do not seem to want to hear what people are saying..... hmmm ok thanks for that.

anyways.. i already drive normal my tires are checked every week. and i change oil ever 3 and a new filter with every change..

I know people have unlocked mpg with tuning. because the factory tunes cars for the happy medium of performance and economy. Why not experiment, i have unlimited credits with HP tuners. and a dyno. with a wideband. so who cares. id like to see if its possible....

Actually GM seemed to be more on the economy than performance with the Ecotecs as far as tuning goes. PE delay set about 100 RPM's before rev limiter. As stated by a few people if doing performance mods and tuning correctly you are making the motor more efficient which will get better MPG's. Also as stated the factory ECU is preset (not able to be changed) to a 14:7:1 AFR for normal driving. You can not change this. There is a way to make the car run off of pre-set setting all the time, and lean it way out to try and get better MPG's, but this would come at a big cost. Change in weather conditions would affect this and could make it much leaner (unsafe), it could cause faster wear fo the motor and decrease life of the motor.

You claim 36 highway and 30 city, why not be happy that you get more than alot fo cars on the road and leave it be and have a car that should last for a very long time.



FU Tuning

John Higgins wrote:

jmccormick wrote:from the way i sound?

Yes. You do not seem to want to hear what people have told you. You want to increase gas mileage try keeping your tires at proper pressure, car tuned up. Drive normal and be done with it.

you do kinda seem like a know it all that has to right and dont want to listen to what anyone else has to say

oldskool wrote: a gas powered, spark fired diesel. Experience counts!

Huh???

Bagged Base Coupe (Tinkles) wrote:

oldskool wrote: a gas powered, spark fired diesel. Experience counts!

Huh???

That is basically what the LNF is - SIDI - spark ingnited direct injected

Oh, I thought you mean the Homogenous-Charge Combustion System! GM's still working on that...

I have seen guys get A/F-ratios under steady cruise of 16.1:1, so it can't be impossible. It's mainly a matter of fuel quality & drivability. Don't compromise either and you'll do well.


Go beyond the "bolt-on".

if some one is getting 16.1:1 they have definitely changed something or something is very wrong. you can not change the AFR the car shoots for except for PE. all other times when not in PE, the car will shoot for Stoitch (14.7:1).

as for tuning for economy, adjusting things such as DFCO, fuel trims, spark advance can play a big roll in your fuel economy. dyno tuning is great for shooting for max power output or flat curves, but for tuning for economy, street tuning is great. i would think it would not be that easy to tune your fuel trims on a dyno.

honestly, best thing to do is start by picking what octane fuel you would like to run. that will limit things such as spark advance, which will play a big factor in tuning. everything else will come in line once you decide on that.


1997 Cavalier Z24
Bomz Short Ram Intake
Vibrant Cat-Back
KYB GR2 Struts
Goldline 1.75" Springs
RK Sport Upper Insert
RK Sport Lower Dogbone
Custom Tune by Shane @
innovativetuning@rogers.com

15.647 @ 88.02 MPH

^ It was with a intergrater box... One that can be programed to change the values received by the SBEC (Yeah, it's on a Mopar... So!?).


Go beyond the "bolt-on".

thats interesting. still there are other ways to improve MPG than @!#$ around with trying to change your car from shooting for a stoich ratio.


1997 Cavalier Z24
Bomz Short Ram Intake
Vibrant Cat-Back
KYB GR2 Struts
Goldline 1.75" Springs
RK Sport Upper Insert
RK Sport Lower Dogbone
Custom Tune by Shane @
innovativetuning@rogers.com

15.647 @ 88.02 MPH

Wyotech. FTL. Universal Technical Institute FTW. How much do you drive where you need to get better economy than that? I would be happy with that. I get 30 highway with no a/c. Probably only 24 ish city.


What's funny to me is people bragging about beating Cavaliers in street races.

Tuning will help, but I hear some are getting good mpg gains just from getting a header.
Just something to toss in the pot.


2003 Sunfire with 2 1/4 inch turbo muffler, 2 1/4 piping, 2 1/2 inch resonator, a 2 1/4 inch catalytic converter, 2 1/2 inch down-pipe, a 4:2:1 RK Sports 'clone' header, E-bay strut brace, ground wire kit and an AEM true cold air intake NOPI edition.

Nickelin Dimer wrote:^ It was with a intergrater box... One that can be programed to change the values received by the SBEC (Yeah, it's on a Mopar... So!?).

So this was not on a J-Body then. If that is the case this does not belong in this post.



FU Tuning