03 Matrix Mpg Build Thread Options

[Daox]

Well, its almost summer and that means its car workin time. I figured I'd start a thread for the Matrix as I really want to get it over 40 mpg this summer. There is also the fact that we put 4-5x more miles on this car than the Paseo since me and the wife carpool in the Matrix most of the time. So, it would make sense to start here, wouldn't it? So, here it is, my 2003 base model Toyota Matrix.

(IMG:http://www.tercelreference.com/Downloads/matrix.jpg)



So, lets recap real quick what has already been done to the Matrix.

[Daox]

The Matrix is the wife's work car for the most part and also our trip car. She drives it most of the time and it therefore sits right around the EPA rating. I'm still working on teaching her to drive differently, and its working slowly but surely. Anyway, she makes a lot of trips from company to company throughout the day, many of them are short trips in the city. So, anything I can do to reduce warm-up time should be of benefit not only to fuel economy and emissions, but also to her comfort (yes, bonus points for the husband.) So, I very recently made two grill blocks for it. They've been on the car for almost two weeks now. I haven't pulled her milage book out of the car to see if its helped at all yet. Something to do this weekend.


Before
(IMG:http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/3947/grill1qy5.jpg)



After. Upper grill block.
(IMG:http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/2105/grill5gk3.jpg)



After. Upper and lower grill block. I ran out of fasteners so I used the upper ones on the bottom until I ran to get more.
(IMG:http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/4681/grill6rh2.jpg)



Updates:
The block did work quite well to warm up the engine faster. I'd say it warmed up 20-30% faster than normal. It also increased intake air temp a few degrees (3-5°F) since the intake is behind the driver side headlight. The mileage gain is pretty impossible to tell. I have not done any A-B-A testing with it, and in normal driving it is not possible to notice. The material (foam board) did hold up, but not that well. It used to be black and is now whiteish-brown. I'll be looking to remake new blocks out of coroplast or something similar in the future. However, the foam board is still hanging in there. Its just not pretty.

I have removed the lower block now that its getting warm out because I noticed the radiator fan kicking in quite often when doing city driving.

[Daox]

Well, I just got the block heater installed. It wasn't too bad. There was just a hole in the block on the driver's side above the transmission. The heater slides in with some grease over it and clips into the hole. Unfortunately, the hole is very burried and I wasn't able to take any real good pictures. Here are the ones I do have though.

I still have to see what of timer/remote I can find exactly for it though. But, that can wait a little bit at least.


Kit contents.
(IMG:http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/9040/blockheater1dy9.jpg)



Heater installed.
(IMG:http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/9333/blockheater2pw8.jpg)



Heater wiring. I routed the wire around the batter following the main wire harness to make it look clean. It then goes through the front of the car through the headlight hole along with a few other wires.
(IMG:http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/3026/blockheater3df8.jpg)



The plug. It is held in place roughly by the grill block. You can kind of tuck it up under it while it is not in use.
(IMG:http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/5029/blockheater4gp1.jpg)



Updates:
The block heater worked very well and greatly reduced warm up times. It also got me through the winter with a weak battery since it never had many real cold startups. Unfortuantely, late in the winter season the cord was pulled far enough out of the bumper to drag along the ground. There is about half of the metal pins on the plugs left, but enough to work. So, I'll be looking into doing something to repair that.

[Daox]

So, what on the table for the Matrix next? Well, I really want to work on the underside of this thing.

The front of the vehicle will probably get attention first. I don't have any good pictures of it, but as with most cars, it only has a front skirt that extends back a little ways. I'd like to do a full belly pan under the engine bay.

Here is a shot from another one of our Matrix owners on the board (sorry, forgot your name). As you can see, there are two support members on either side of the exhaust. There is a fairly large step there. I'm thinking of using some aluminum flashing to cover the whole middle section between the support members.

(IMG:http://www.tercelreference.com/downloads/matrix_underside.jpg)



That leads us to the back. I'll have to see what can be done with it. The muffler sits sideways in the very back of the car. Definitly going to need some aluminum there.


Other than the underside aero mods, I'll be looking at a WAI to increase load while cruising. The wife doesn't P&G, so this is probably one of the cheapest ways to increase mileage. I'll just have to experiment with different temps. I have a feeling the engine may be sensitive to warmer intake temps as it already has a 10.5:1 compression ratio and still runs on 87 octane.

[Daox]

So, that brings us up to date except for this:

Alright, I finally had a free weeknight! So, I decided it should be Matrix bellypan time. Last week I picked up a 4'x8' sheet of black coroplast for this project. The front piece here took half the sheet. Not much to it really, just cut, fit, cut, fit, etc. I really am liking the results even though I didn't have enough time to fasten the back side of it yet. Darn sunlight, theres never enough of it.


Here is what we are starting with.
(IMG:http://www.tercelreference.com/downloads/car116.jpg)



Here is the coroplast sheet. I used half of it for the piece you'll see below.
(IMG:http://www.tercelreference.com/downloads/car118.jpg)



I took off one of the wheels and traced out where it needed to be cut for clearance. You can kind of see my pencil marks here.
(IMG:http://www.tercelreference.com/downloads/car123.jpg)



This is the near final form.
(IMG:http://www.tercelreference.com/downloads/car137.jpg)



And here is it fitted on the car using the jack to hold the back side in place.
(IMG:http://www.tercelreference.com/downloads/car130.jpg)

This post has been edited by Daox: May 7 2008, 07:05 PM

[trimovingxr]

Daox, this is a new approach to building-up a Matrix, for sure. Those are some good ideas you've incorporated, so far.

Although not really practical in the snow, you can reduce aerodynamic drag by dropping the suspension and/or installing a front air dam. Also, wheel covers would help, like those moon-disc style on this Prius Bonneville racer...

http://www.motortrend.com/features/auto_ne...rius/index.html

Narrower-profile tires, like 60-series, would help reduce rolling resistance, especially if kept inflated at like 35+ psi. A taller tire, like 26" diameter would reduce cruising rpm (in high gear), but the speedometer would need to be recalibrated.

Good luck with this project!

[VegetaXX]

Where did you find that material? Ive been looking for something like that to cover the bottom of my vibe because the plastic shrouds was eaten up years ago. The stealership wants $400 for them

This post has been edited by VegetaXX: May 7 2008, 09:13 PM

[Daox]

Thanks for the tips trimovingxr. I know most guys are into the HP build up. I used to do that too until I found it was futile and you rarely use all the power of the car anyways. So, now I mod for mileage and with the gas prices flying up I'm reaping the benefits of it. I've actually already achieved my 40 mpg this summer. Best tank was 43.2 mpg and that was through some nasty stop and go, and a very impressive rain storm, and I wasn't driving the entire tank (I get way better mileage than the wife). 45 mpg would be a piece of cake if I had driven the whole tank.

I already do have a few things done to the car. I bought it with Eibach sportlines already installed so it is lowered. I also run my tires at 50 psi to decrease rolling resistance. This works wonders for handling and tire wear (no, they don't wear excessivly in the middle) too.

The front air dam isn't a bad idea, but it is not going to happen. Smoothing out the underbody will provide superior aerodynamics. The air dam works because it diverts air from hitting the aerodynamically dirty underside of the car. The downside is that it increases the frontal area of the vehicle which increases drag. If the underside of the vehicle isn't dirty theres no need to use the dam and that can keep your frontal area down which will decrease drag on top of having the clean underbody.

VegetaXX, I bought the material (coroplast, aka corrugated plastic) at the local sign shop. They were the only place in town that had it. I've heard the only other good place to get them is a plastics supplier.

[Daox]

The bellypan is finished up. The back is held to the chassis with those plastic expanding body fasteners with the pin in the middle. They work great. Unfortunately, the pictures turned out really dark though so I'm not even going to bother posting. They look like the last picture but without the jack. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I took it for a spin on the highway and everything is nice and smooth and quiet (no flapping noises). When I get some time I'll do the coast down testing and get some final pictures.

Edit: Here is my best picture... I had to provide something. Told ya its dark though.

(IMG:http://www.tercelreference.com/downloads/car187.jpg)

This post has been edited by Daox: May 14 2008, 06:52 PM

[zelig]

I'm watching this thread with interest, and came up with some questions...

Was it not possible to fasten the coroplast on the inside edge of the front bumper? Have you considered "filling in" the slats at the corners of the front bumper, and would it help things any?

(And how's the ride with the Eibachs?)

[Daox]

Good questions.

I am still mulling over what I'm going to do with the fasteners. I'd like to make it a fully tooless design. Chances are I'll replace the sheet metal screws and fender washers with some of the plastic fasteners I used in back. They seem to work really nice. That would allow me to tuck the bellypan up under the bumper. However, as far as aerodynamics go its really not a big deal. When air flows over your car it creates a boundry layer of turbulent air. The fast moving air basically flows over the boundry layer. So, small imperfections like that would be inside of the boundry layer and wouldn't effect drag much. I do have some extra small pieces left from cutting it all out. I may fill in the corners of the bumper there. I also have to cut a hole in it yet so I have an access hole for changing the oil.

The next step is filling in the area between the two support members behind the engine bay. This will be done in aluminum flashing. Its slightly more of a pita too cause I'm going to have to drill a bunch of holes in the support member for mounting.

The ride with Eibachs is great. Even with my tires pumped to 50 psi it still rides nice. Yeah, its a bit harsh, but its not like you get a sore back on long trips.

[indigoink]

This sounds all good but what about oil and transmission fluid changes? I assume you have to remove that underplate before beginning work. How hard is it to remove?

T-bone

[Daox]

Right now, to remove it I have to take out 7 sheet metal screws. This is quick and easy with a battery drill. Then, I have to pop out the two plastic fasteners in the back. I'll eventually probably go to all plastic fasteners.

Hopefully this weekend I'll have some time and will cut an access panel in it just for doing oil changes. That'll sport 3-4 plastic fasteners of some sort. That'll make oil changes a piece of cake.

This post has been edited by Daox: May 16 2008, 07:40 AM

[Turbo&Auto]

I like the underbody panel, good idea! Not sure how much you gain from the grille blocks but def can see the advantage of the underbody piece. Interested to see what else you try out (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Daox]

Well, the mileage continues to increase as the temperatures do. Last year around this time we were getting low to mid 30s with the occasional high 30 mpg tank. As of right now, my last 5 tanks have been:

4/27/08 - 43.2
4/28/08 - 40.0
5/02/08 - 39.8
5/05/08 - 39.7
5/15/08 - 41.3

Hopefully the next tank will see a little jump from the bellypan. However, I can't attribute any specific gain to the modifications without testing. A lot of the gains have been through refining driving technique. The recent jump has been since my wife has been trying out some of the simpler driving techniques since we both drive the car. I find it pretty funny that we sold her 96 Tercel for the much larger Matrix and we're now getting better mileage out of it.


This is my mileage log, click it to see the actual entries.
(IMG:http://www.cleanmpg.com/garage/images/cha701.png)

[xrs22]

I may be looking into doin' something like this. I do all highway miles, around 60+ a day roundtrip. I've seen this done some time ago though but on a camry or mr2 but i just haven't really gotten to it.

[cramar]

I had a 2000 VW Jetta TDI which had a factory belly pan. VW did this because it worked at increasing mileage. It was a total pain though. Many people destroyed them by hitting road turds (frozen slush) or other objects on the road. And they were a few hundred $$$ to replace. If I remember correctly, there were 13 screws to remove it to do an oil change! Probably why most car manufacturers don't have them—PITA!

Speaking of oil changes, I don't know what kind of oil you use, but a test on the Jetta revealled approx. 1 mpg increase with top-line synthethic oil. Don't know if there would be the same thing with a gas engine.

[xrs22]

I can't find any coroplast for s*** around fresno. They're either too small or don't sell custom sizes. I used some big sized cardboard to figure the design i want since i have an xrs. I'll probably make mine a 2 piece version w/ a hole taken out for oil changes. I'm in cali. and my car is always garaged so the belly pan for the front, middle and rear would be a good idea but i probably won't do the upper grill and air dams. What does aluminum flashing look like?

[Daox]

Its just a roll of sheet aluminum. You can get it in different widths and lengths. You can get it at any home improvment store. I got mine at a Menards (not sure if those are in Cali though).

This post has been edited by Daox: Jun 3 2008, 09:15 AM

[xrs22]

Its just a roll of sheet aluminum. You can get it in different widths and lengths. You can get it at any home improvment store. I got mine at a Menards (not sure if those are in Cali though).

We had a Home Depot but the stuff is sheet metal i believe and it's a little heavy. I'm assuming we're trying to steer away from weight vs. aerodynamics but i may have to order some off a site or do mine in pcs..