Eclipse Weight Loss

I'm really excited about this and I hope you enjoy it. I was able to take some time and remove a bunch of "excess" weight from my car. I'm sure some of you are thinking (and I know it because I've already had some comments in person) that a passenger seat doesn't really qualify as "excess" weight, but I usually don't carry passengers around. Also, it only would take four bolts to get it back on, so if I had to I could easily put it back.

Below is the evidence of the main things I've done - I might still remove some more molding and trim before taking it to get weighed, but nothing significant. You might notice I put the center console back in at the end - my wife was a little nervous about having the air bag sensor exposed after I mentioned all the warnings about having it disabled while working around it. It would look pretty foolish to get into a wreck for trying to save 10 pounds.

So, submit your guesses in the comments for the new weight of the car - remember it started at 2940 pounds and I've pretty well documented the heaviest pieces I've removed.

Another Contender's Control Week

One of the guys (we'll call him BH) participating submitted his control week numbers.
After driving 161.7 miles in his 2001 Honda Accord LX Coupe, it took 6.640 gallons to fill it up, resulting in 24.3 miles per gallon (which is right in the middle of the city mpg that the car is rated for). He has a lot of room for improvement though.

Control Week is Over

My control week of normal driving is over. I filled up the tank today and was surprised at how well my normal gas mileage was. I went 147.6 miles and it only took 4.715 gallons to fill it up. That is an amazing 31.3 miles per gallon - I was expecting around 28, so it's going to be tough to beat that (or I'm going to get really good mileage during the hypermiling week). So, I now have a week to make some changes to the car in preparation for my week of hypermiling.

By the way, there are five other people in my area doing this in some form or another so I'll add some of their results as they come in.

Anyway, here's the proof of my normal mileage:
First, the instrument cluster before filling-up (showing 147.6 miles):





















Then, the pump (showing 4.715 gallons):





















And now the instrument cluster again (showing the tank refilled - the needle is actually still rising because I sick of waiting and needed to get back to work):

Control Week - End of Day Six

There's only one day left of my control week. Tomorrow at lunch, I'm going to fill up the tank and figure out what my gas mileage was for this week of "normal" driving.

Also, today, I made it to a scrap metal recycling place and they let me weigh my car (seemed like it might be somewhat common). So, it is currently sitting at 2940 pounds (with me in it - about 175 pounds). According to Edmunds, the curb weight is/was 2855 pounds, so I guess I must have unintentionally reduced the weight by some of my repairs over the years. I'd love to be able to pull out 940 pounds and bring it down to an even ton, but I doubt I'll be able to get that much out. Sometime over the next week, I'll get that done and be sure to post the results.

Anyway, here's the next to last picture of my control week. I'm up to 126.5 miles and I've used about 1/4 of the tank (which is supposed 15.9 gallons - so that'd put me close to 30 mpg, but we'll see for sure tomorrow).

Control Week - End of Day Five

Two days left in the control week and I still haven't traveled very far, but that's kind of the point - it's been a pretty normal week for me. In related news, I've found somewhere nearby where I can weigh my car! I'm trying to decide when to do it. It's near my office, but I want to be able to weigh it, empty it out and then weigh it again before using up too much gas so that I'll have a pretty good idea of how much junk I was able to remove.

Anyway, here's the picture from today - I'm up to 90.1 miles and almost down to 3/4 of a tank of gas left. (P.S. In the future, I'll have mostly clearer pictures on this blog, but for this challenge, I'm mostly using my cell phone camera - which is obviously pretty low quality.)

Control Week - End of Day Four

As predicted, I haven't driven anywhere today, so there's no need for a new picture. I'll return tomorrow.

Control Week - End of Day Three

I'm up to 82.2 miles and the tank is between 3/4 and 7/8 full. I'm not expecting to drive it between today and tomorrow so, this might qualify as the "End of Day Four" picture too.