TOPIC: Hi Everyone!!!!! Love the forum-Want to start grooving!!!!!!

My name is Martin.

I live in sunny South Africa. I live in Pretoria. A city with about 2 million people if you take Johannesburg as part of it which it is.

I am really interested in saving fuel. I drive a Mitsubishi colt 2000i LDV. Milage in USA gallons is about 17mpg. So I hope to start on that vehicle with the groove.

Just want to say. I am impressed with the results every one is getting with the groove. I want to get a private licence.

Who do I contact for the private licence?

Hope to hear from you all soon!!

Martin

Howdy Martin, Welcome to GadgetmanLand! wow South Africa, you know I can't remember anyone else from over there, W/ a Personal License kit, You ought to be the only Gadgetman, probably in all Africa!
holy Continental Monopoly Batman!

OK Martin, glad you like what we have going on, Ron Hatton sure did leave us with something effective and cool. Collette Thomas, who is in Montana, is the Managing Director, and source for the PL kits of 3 bits and training DVD. I bet you don't want to try to telephone her, $$$, so click the contact us button on the front page, fill in the info, and submit it. It will go to Collette, and also you should email her repeatedly, her email is: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. She is often busy and distracted by family stuff, so email bomb her mercilessly! BTW, the PL kits are $500.00 US funds, plus shipping to SA. I don't know for sure, but the PL kit isn't so large, shipping ought to be modest cost. Meanwhile I will email her as well to give her the "heads up" for you.

The more you read in here, the more you can learn, do look in the Index section top left this page, many sections and topics to see. See,the Groove itself we find, is one part of a process to get the most from any gasoline powered vehicle or engine. Not just cars and trucks either- what about lawnmowers, golf carts, boats, chainsaws, etc. If it runs on Gas, (not diesel) and has a throttle, the Groove can help it. Only gas engine I'm aware of the Groove can't be done on is slider type carburetor throttles.

My usual advice to a Newbie is- find a cheap used or junk throttle body or two to practice on. A good small vice is handy to free up the hands, you will want a good Dremel type rotary tool w/ a flex shaft, don't mess w/ cheap ones. You can watch ron Hatton's many youtube videos on his 2 youtube channels-
GadgetmanGlobal, and Groovy Service Bulletins. Ron did over 2000 Grooves, he was the Expert. He could hold a throttle body in one hand and the flex shaft tool in the other and do a great job. I and others here find it useful to put the TB or carb in a small vice to free up both hands. In particular, search in his Youtube channels- for any video where he has a whiteboard up, those vids will teach his theory, critical to understanding what is going on w/ the Groove, IMHO.

Martin, please feel free to jump in here and ask Q/A as you go along, I and the others will be glad to help. And I recommend also going to the Members list and look for Heysoundude's postings, he has done yeoman work of explaining ideas of Pre-Groove vehicle prep, how to set the stage.

Welcome Martin!!

Tracy G
Certified License Gadgetman
Reno Nevada

Hi Tracy G

Thank you for the enthusiastic reply.

I will email Collette shortly.

Martin

well righto Martin! I called Collette and left a message on her phone about you, and emailed her as well. I advise daily emails to her till she responds. She WILL respond, just not always timely.

Ystervark, I think I'm pronouncing it right. I've seen one of those in the wild up on Peavine Mountain here years ago. Pretty mellow looking one he was, but not for the Petting zoo!

You are mentally on the right track. I've always thought the small engine market has been under-served by us. My very first try at Grooving was a couple of lawnmower carbs, some other G-men have had remarkable results on various small engines. And you folks are coming into Summer now arent you? that's fortuitous timing. Well, just keep on reading here, and watch Ron's videos as well like you've been doing. I Grooved my own lawnmower, it did OK, but it only gets a small amount of use, so hard to judge the fuel usage. I did find, though that after I switched the spark plug to a E-3 brand, it was a lot easier to start compared to original Champion, don't know what you guys have avail. in SA.

As for cars, well, most anything Gas powered can be Grooved. But I wonder if the local car "population" resembles what I've heard about in other countries. Are there still lots of older cars, like from the 90's around? Many G-men have had excellent results on older pre-OBDII ones, that is up to model year '96, the computers are much more docile on the older ones. Vehicle condition/maintenance also matters too.

Tracy G

Tracy G.

We Have these new imports that was put together with older technology. Like GWM and Tata. These cars are fuel guslers and I am sure the technology is also pre 96. I am not sure though. I will look into those.

We have lots of Taxis that use the older technology. I suspect some of them are even carburetor aspirated. I am looking at that market as well.

As for older card there are a few and I will be targeting them as well.

There are also new Jeeps and Chrysler from USA which I think might groove easier than the European cars. I want to get clued up on a few cars that I see great results with and target that market.

Well that is my thinking in any case. Will see what transpires when I get started.

Martin

Tracy G.

Yes the rainy season just started. I think that the lawnmower engines will be a great place to start.

Martin

Here's an update on my dad's 5.5HP Honda lawnmower that I grooved:
This time of year he uses it to mulch and collect the falling leaves. He usually gets about 6-8 paper yard bags per clean-up (the neighbourhood is full of mature maple trees), and he fills the tank twice to do that. This year, with the groove applied, he has mulched a total of 12 bags and only filled up once.
I guess I did a good job with my first groove...so good, he's asking if it will work on the snow blower!

motorcycles, ATVs, Personal watercraft and marine engines possibly...I'm even tempted to mine my father's aerospace contacts for General aviation aircraft engines...

Ystervark - it took Collette about a week to get back to me, even with Tracy's backdoor contact with her on my behalf. While you're waiting, take this time to REALLY dive deep into researching the vehicles/powerplants you wish to Groove, and then start setting the stage for it. There are basics, and then there are specifics and then esoterics with each engine. I, for instance, started playing with tire pressures, spark plug gap and the MPG Remedy on my truck and wound up achieving better than factory/gov't efficiency PRE Groove (there was another mod I found that eliminated the Intake Manifold's water jacket connection to the cooling system that took me over the top, and I treated the entire powertrain (engine, transmission, differential) with RVS as well to eliminate parasitic losses from out-of-tolerance componentry). Some have done the PCV re-route and added air-oil seperation systems for their benefits...and then there's the sensors and grounding to take into account, because we're ultimately going to be reprogramming a computer to respond to our modifications. It's a process for any vehicle/engine. Use this time to investigate what that might be for you, prepare for potential problems before they might crop up...

Sage advice, Heysoundude, and congrats w/ yer Dad's lawnmower! In my opinion, you have the makings of a Staff Writer, my friend. And Martin, I'll throw more pebbles at Collette's window. With mowers, generators, etc., you could wind up doing a big volume of them, quicker/easier to Groove than a car/truck. It could be a lucrative deal. I would say Heysoundude's experience on his Dad's mower seems to be the rule w/ small engines, check the Index to see more.

Tracy G

Heysoundude.

That is good advice.
So I have already gone the additive route with Duralube in my Colt's engine, drive train and differential. Following your advice I am going to do the following.
1. Increase tire pressure to pressure as stipulated on the sidewall of the tire
2. Increase spark Gap to 20% oversize.
3. Reroute PCV plumbing
4. Eliminate the intake manifold water jacket connection to the cooling system.
5. Check and improve grounding wires
6. Make sure sensors are working properly.
7. Something I want to add is checking for vacuum leaks.

I will search online how to do no.4. Maybe you can elaborate a bit so that I know I am doing the right thing here.

Thank you. This will keep me busy while I wait.
I have a logbook on my vehicle for the past 6 months. So I will be able to track changes and not just speculate on increases and changes.

Martin

TracyG.

Thank you for your trouble. I really appreciate it.

Yes I agree that to start something new with the easier modifications makes sense to me. So I can practice on something that is quick and easy to do. With real world results and not much else that can influence the consumption. This should boost my confidence quickly as well.

I did read a lot of the small engine posts and it seems that most mods are succesfull and easy to do.

Martin

Martin - your intake manifold may or may not have a connection to the cooling system, and I didn't recommend you do that. what I DO recommend, however, is further research online into your particular vehicle. I've found a number of vehicle-specific fora that were particularly helpful to me, and I went from the common consensus across them (eventhough I suspect there were some of the same people posting across the different ones with their results). As far as increasing your spark plug gap, one of Ron's YouTube videos talks about that, if the discussions here aren't enough for you.

So I just googled what your vehicle is, and from what I can tell, it's a small (by north american standards) pickup truck. Is it too much of a supposition on my part that the 2000i you mentioned in your first post pertains to the engine, a 2000cc (2.0litre) 4 cylinder, possibly with an intercooled turbo? What you haven't yet shared with us is whether it's a manual or auto transmission, carburetor or Fuel injected, whether the throttle body is cable driven or a drive by wire model...tell us more so we can help you better. Also - does South Africa use ethanol in their gasoline? If so, what percentage(s)? Things may be QUITE different between up here on this side of the Atlantic and down there on yours.

Do you have a code reader?