MPG Contest, Who wants to play?? Options

[HAM Inc]

I think it's a sweet combo. It's not brutish as far as HP goes, but it will make a 125 no sweat and get good MPG.

Jake is a business man and, ofcourse, he needs to protect his secrets. Maybe if there is enough interest in the combo he'll develop it into a kit offering. But be forewarned, IIRC he said it would cost more to produce in terms of dollars/hp than any other kit he offers due to its labor intensive nature.

When we started this development a couple of years ago I had hoped it would gain some traction with the public. It quickly became obvious, however, that I would go hungry waiting on interest in MPG to exceed interest in raw, brutish HP. And since even the 180+hp 2270's get 25mpg or so (if driven and tuned properly) it seemed likely to me that the 2016 mpg engine idea was destined to die on the vine. Maybe now that will change. We'll see.

[r_towle]

I will update this thread later tonight to include all the new contestants.

Rich

[racunniff]

I will update this thread later tonight to include all the new contestants.

Rich

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon_bump.gif)

Any updates? I confess to selfish motives - I'm trying to create an accurate comparison of the costs of my electric to a typical gas-powered 914.

My own update: Since I began tracking at the beginning of June, I've driven 111.4 miles and used 54.9 kWh to recharge, at a net average Wh / mi of 493. Given that my cost per kWh is 7.5 cents, and that the average cost of gasoline is $4.00 / gallon, that nets out to the equivalent of 108.3 MPG.

http://volt914.com

[SGB]

This thread needs two spinoffs-
Rich's re-gearing / cooling tests
and
High MPG Raby/Hoffman motor.

Then this one can stay on topic and we don't lose this good stuff.

Somebodies out there gotta hep this ol' man, though, cause Ah kaint dew it.
Len?
Rich?
Mods?
Jesus?

Maybe we will find out...

[black73]

Is this thing on?.....


My stock 73 1.7 Djet is getting 26.841982416556445965922352758111 mpg. Looks like I'm in first place. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif)

I recently replaced the fuel pump and filter and changed spark plugs, so I was expecting a little better than that.

90% of the miles were at about 80 mph. 3500 rpm in 5th gear on 195/60 15 Michelins. Not exactly a mpg run, but I wanted a real world figure. I used Google maps to track my exact route to calculate the miles traveled.

[Rusty]

Carbed 1.7.

Average 28.1 MPG during 1010 miles... measured by Mapquest route, not by odometer.

[Elliot Cannon]

THOMAS had a 1.7 with single throat carbs and got over 40 mpg. He's working on a new engine for a daily driver that should be about as good.

My car is 3.2 with 275/17 wheels. I get 23mpg with the windows up and roof on. I get 20 with the roof off and windows down. That's at about 80 mph.

[toon1]

I'm not playing(probly should) but I just recently got 30 MPG.

1.7L with MS/ford EDIS to control timing.
195/60/15's

Things where not very well in tune with the last tank of fuel and I still got 30MPG

I am getting ever so close to having the fueling in good tune. My accel enrich #'s are getting smaller ( which means it's injecting less fuel) and the VE table is staying the same.

I can run around town with an AFR about 14.0:1 with no issues. But on the HWY I have to run about 13.5-13.8 or it will get hot.

with the tune getting better, I might be able to get 32MPG. I will also have larger dia. tires soon, that will also help.

35 MPG is the goal


P.S. I still want to build a stroker engine!

[SGB]

On my trip from Huntsville to Charlotte I was getting something over 30 mpg at a constant 78 mph by GPS, 90 by speedo (roughly 31.5 mpg by my mental calcs after a few 10 gallon buys and knowing approx miles from H'ville to Atlanta, Atlanta to Charlotte, then to Knoxville and to Huntsville again). I'll try to locate my en-route mileage notes, correct for tire size, and publish the result. I expect the average to go down from stop/ go stuff in Charlotte, and the autocross too, but I still think a 30 mpg average will be achieved.

[Joe Owensby]

When my '73 1.7 was fairly new, it routinely got 40 corrrected mpg. Car was stock FI This type of mpg was for long trips on roads that were all fairly level interstate, driving at about a smooth 75 mph. This was in 1974 during the gas crunch. I used to routinely drive from west of Charlotte, NC to Philadelphia on one tank of gas, and still had 2 gallons in the tank upon arrival. I was working in Philly at the time, and this kind of milage was great during the gas crunch of 73/74when some areas closed the gas stations on Sundays. I could fill up in my hometown on Saturday in NC, cruise back up I 85 and I 95 on Sunday, and not have any of the traffic normally associated with the NE folks coming back home from the beaches, FLa, etc. For quite a while, I would have the stretch of I 95 almost to myself and a few police cars. Quite a difference from when the gas stations were open before the gas crunch, when that stretch of interstate was a nightmare with traffic. That was back when the average car maybe got around 12 mpg. It was also the time when gas prices jumped from about 25 cents/gal to almost a dollar. I recently rebuilt it with carbs, and only get about 28. Need to do some more tuning, but I plan to put in a modern FI system. JoeO

[Al Meredith]

I drove my 1976 912E to Charlotte for the PCA event and got 28 MPG with a 2056 and 40MM webers. For those of you with 912Es , I did correct for the spedo correction and I have 205/50s. Speco reads 12% high.

[racunniff]

Well, it's Labor Day, the end of our little contest. I kept track of my electricity usage all summer, as promised. I drove 498 miles. And I used 244.3 kilowatt-hours of electricity. At 7.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, I spent $18.32 on electricity. This means the average cost per mile over the summer was 3.7 cents. At $4.00 per gallon gas, this is the equivalent of 109 miles per gallon.

If you're interested, you can see all the gory details at my blog.

[SGB]

Well....

How do you hold a gallon of electricity anyway?

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

So now you need your own photo voltaic recharge station.

[r_towle]

I consider the consumables as part of your math...
Battery life is what...3 years on an electric conversion???
(That is if you actually drive the car....500 miles in 90 days...hmmm)

Anyways...I think that the battery value should be factored in...you will need to replace them.

Rich

[racunniff]

I consider the consumables as part of your math...
Battery life is what...3 years on an electric conversion???
(That is if you actually drive the car....500 miles in 90 days...hmmm)

Anyways...I think that the battery value should be factored in...you will need to replace them.

Rich

Yes, in other calculations I've included battery replacement cost. I expect these batteries to last 5 years (I rarely discharge them more than 20%). They cost $1600. The amortized cost over 3 months is therefore $80 (much more than the cost of the electricity). Including electricity, the total cost of the three months was $98.32. This gets it to 19.7 cents per mile. Which is just over 20 mpg equivalent at $4.00 per gallon.

One thing I need to look into is whether I can actually get *money* for the batteries when they are at the end of their life. They still have probably 600-800 pounds of lead in them...

[Dr. Roger]

my buddy clifford swears he got a combined highway/city ~15% better MPG taking his tire pressures to max. no tuning.

just thinking out loud.


i'm in category VI, "Worst gas mileage". (IMG:style_emoticons/default/chair.gif)

[racunniff]

...This gets it to 19.7 cents per mile. Which is just over 20 mpg equivalent at $4.00 per gallon.

One thing to note - if we are going to include consumables and maintenance, the current federal allowable cost per mile is 58.5 cents. This is high because it includes expected depreciation of the vehicle. FWIW.

[Root_Werks]

I drove my 1976 912E to Charlotte for the PCA event and got 28 MPG with a 2056 and 40MM webers. For those of you with 912Es , I did correct for the spedo correction and I have 205/50s. Speco reads 12% high.

A cool thing about 912E's is the size of the tank. I think still 16 gallons! The factory touted a 600 mile range I believe. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)