A new year and thoughts on Gas

Welcome to 2011 ladies and gentlemen, I have a feeling this year is going to be a good one. I have some mods in mind for this year lined up. However, I will see how my financial situation is every step of the way. To start off 2011, I have ordered a small mod again from the RevXtreme guys. I won't get into it too much right now, but I am excited where this year will take me.

Originally I wanted to start modding suspension this year, but I might be holding that off. I think I want to enjoy the stock setup a bit more before I stiffen and lower the suspension. However, by the summer time, I plan to have the windows tinted, and perhaps paint some calipers and wheels. I am also considering a tune in the near future, simply because I want to tweak a couple of aspects of the car, since I've got some bolt-ons installed.

Well, as John Lennon once wrote, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans".

Who knows if these mods will even happen this year lol.

On a more realistic note, gas prices are at an all time high, again. I can see a huge difference driving the Camaro in the winter versus the summer. It seems that the colder the weather, your car uses a lot more gas. Someone mentioned that it has to do with your Air to Fuel ratio. Which is actually, for most of the time, the reason why you have bad fuel economy. For example, bad mods, or an un-tuned car could cause a bad A/F ratio, resulting in bad gas mileage. But back to how cold weather effects gas mileage. Cold air is much denser than warm air, this triggers the oxygen sensors to think that there is too much air, so it injects more fuel to balance out the ratio. Simple enough I suppose. However, as always, if you drive with saving gas in mind, you can still shed a couple of dollars off per mile with a couple of good driving techniques.

- Don't open your windows at high speeds, it causes drag.
- Don't turn on heat or A/C if you don't have to, energy ultimately comes from your fuel.
- Don't plug in too many electronics when you don't have to (GPS, Radar detectors, cellphone, etc).
- Don't accelerate too hard.
- Try shifting at lower RPMs.
- Avoid roads that require frequent stopping.
- Keep your maintanence schedules in check. Cleaning filters, and changing oils will do wonders.
- Keep your tires pumped to the recommended tire pressure.
- Keep junk that you don't need at home, and not in your car. The more weight you have in the car, the more energy it requires to move at the same speed.

Those are just the ones on the top of my head. However, most of this stuff is common sense anyways. If you fail at following those steps, or others, don't complain about the gas prices! More on mods later.