I've seen a lot of people going crazy over gas mileage lately, spending A LOT of money to get small increases in mpg. I'm not going to do that, but I have been trying to see if there was anything I could do to improve my mileage.

I've been working on backing off the throttle in traffic and when accellerating to speed, anticipating traffic lights sooner, short shifting a bit and slowing from 75-80 to 65-70 on the highway (this is known as actually staying within 10% of the speed limit!). I've gone from 16-17 to a solid 18 mpg on the last two tanks of gas.

I've been curious for some time as to how much a vacuum gauge would help change driving habits, and I believe it would be pretty significant. When you're leaving a stop light and working your way up to speed, I think it'd be a big help in finding the best compromise between acceleration and economy. I think it'd be a big help on the highway, too. I've been working on better anticipating my passes, planning earlier and using less throttle when I do so. I think the gauge would be helpful there, too, as I could do a better job of finding the best compromise between throttle and economy.

So, I was thinking about what the best gauge might be. One with preset "good" and "bad" might not be so helpful, as different cars (and cars with bigger cams) make different amounts of vacuum. What is economical for one might not be so economical for another.

Also, staring at a vacuum gauge all the time could end up being very unsafe. I've seen gauges that can be programmed to change colors when they hit certain values; that would be cool here.

I even wonder if you couldn't accomplish your goals with something like a shift light, only programmed to go off when you hit specified vacuum levels.

I really wish someone made a HUD where you could select what readings you wanted to display. One of those could be vacuum readings.

i don't know of any guages that do this, I'm just sort of bench racing, only on gauges. Anyone have any thoughts?

 

ummm ..... anyone?

Here's what I've found, so far.

Auto gage Analog Gauges: ATM-2337 - summitracing.com

J.C. Whitney is supposed to have one, as well, but their sites been down for the past two days.

 

Make Waves Instrument Miles-per-gallon Gauge : JC Whitney: Van Parts & Accessories

My van has an Autometer Vacuum/Boost (one day!) gauge installed to the side of the instrument cluster.

You can see it in this movie, but I am not paying attention to it to the least amount.

YouTube - Chevy Van 350 3

 

That's strange, apparently you can get to the whitney site, but I can't. I've restarted the computer and reset the modem and hub, but still no go. I can get everywhere else just fine.

I'm thinking about putting one in an a-pillar gauge pod, along with a shift light. Seems like it'd be the easiest to see while still being able to see the road.