Shelby GT500 replica October 19, 2008
Posted by Shane in Uncategorized.Tags: cars, Mustangs
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Believe it or not, this is a 2008 Mustang:
It has been customized to look like the 1968 Shelby GT500 below – round headlights, chrome bumper and all.
That 2008 model is a custom replica which is for sale here for only $95,000. I’m all about retro, so I say that’s pretty cool. That hood was the inspiration for the custom hood I put on my car below.
Midlife crisis update September 27, 2008
Posted by Shane in Uncategorized.Tags: cars
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I got a Mustang GT a few weeks ago. Here is Phase I of “making it my own”. Shown here is my car with the addition of Cervini ram air hood #1181 and a Cervini chin spoiler.
I’m a sucker for modifying cars. I’ve never owned a car that I didn’t modify in some way.
Constant throttle vs constant speed June 22, 2008
Posted by Shane in Uncategorized.Tags: cars, gas mileage
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Another thing I’ve been trying in addition to the hypermiling stuff mentioned below is not using cruise control. Cruise control obviously maintains constant speed, and it does this by burning extra fuel while going up hill and coasting going downhill.
I’m OK with coasting downhill. Its the burning extra fuel uphill that I’m trying to eliminate. So starting with last week’s vacation to Destin, I’ve been practicing that I call constant throttle driving.
On a stretch of flat highway, I figure out how far I need to push the gas pedal to maintain the speed I want to go. Then I try as much as I can to maintain that gas petal position. By not giving the car extra gas on uphill climbs, I allow the car to slow down, typically by 10 mph or so. Going downhill, I also try to hold the throttle steady. The car usually regains the speed it lost and then some.
Downhill, if the car goes too fast, I simply coast and return to that same throttle position later. Usually, I allow the car to go over my target speed because it will eventually return there anyway once all that momentum is lost.
Hypermilers June 12, 2008
Posted by Shane in Uncategorized.Tags: cars, gas, oil
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Here’s a cool article about people taking great extremes to get better gas mileage. They call themselves hypermilers.
I’ve started taking the steps below for better mileage. I haven’t measured what improvement I’m getting and I probably won’t try.
- Slow down your starts. I try not to get above 2,000 rpm when accelerating. Obviously there are exceptions. I let myself get run over.
- Shift into neutral when going downhill.
- Coast (neutral) whenever practical – especially prior (way prior) to a stop sigh or stop light
Just doing this stuff I think I’m reduced my car to idle speed 40-50% of the time.
