Fuel Economy, or lack thereof

[Jim Stoltz]

Filled the Allegro up in preparation for my next trip this coming weekend.

It looks like I went 165 miles between "fills", and it took 40 gallons. So about 4 MPG. I did run the generator quite a bit - a bit over 5 hours and it sucks down about a gallon an hour. I also question my last "fill" because I know that when it's full it pukes gas out the top of the tank where it meets the filler tube. The gas station attendant (can't pump my own gas in NJ) insisted it was full but there was no leaks. Tonight it puked fuel out like it should have when it was full.

So, I'm standing by my 5 MPG estimate. And I'm not gentle with the thing. I have my foot in the 4 barrels quite a bit. 

The fun part was all of 3 of the gas station attendants (Indian immigrants in this case) took a tour of the thing. The one guy said it was bigger than his flat in India. He was blown away at the fact that I owned the thing and drove it around (he had asked how much it cost me to rent it). So it's big, old and ugly to some, but a palace to others. I feel lucky to have the luxury of owning it...for now. Until whatever breaks next :)

[jeff york]

I DID AN EXTENSIVE rebuild of my 454 including custom grind cam, bored .60 over, balanced and blueprinted to way beyond factory tolerances. I have a 456 to 1 rear end and a 3 speed TH 400 trans. I went from about 6 mpg to 12 mpg. But, I also baby it or take my time getting it up to highway speed and target my RPMs to 2500 to no more than 3000 with an occasional slip. Also, my motorhome is an airstream which is all aluminum which is even lighter then fiberglass. I know, I race a composite fiberglass kevlar and carbon fiber racing plane. They are heavier then alum. An airstream is also more slippery. Its not simply a square block going down the road. As far as the comments about additives adding lots of extra life to your engine, the real advances that allow twice and three times the mileage life to an engine has nothing to do with oil or lubrication. Its all about proper A/F air fuel ratios , metering of fuel. Its the over rich and over lean caused by fixed A/F of a carb and the changing altitude and atmospheric conditions. An over rich mixture causes fuel washing of the cylinders and carbon contamination of the oil system. Over lean conditions cause excessive heat causing of internals stressing the life of an engine. Any run of the mill oil today will give you all you need for lubrication. Get yourself a EFI injection system if you want your engine to last forever.

[Jim Stoltz]

That's a big bump in fuel economy! I might have to try that. At the rate I use mine, I'll be dead from natural causes before mine sees 100k miles.

[Rich Thomas]

Big,old, ugly hey, aint that the American dream? 

[Russell E Johnson]

On advice from Mike and Heather Brancich I now add 1 quart of ATF and 1 cup of Lucas fuel treatment for every 20 gallons of gas and our mileage went from 5.1 to 6.9 MPG.  granted the fuel savings do not cover the cost of the ATF & Lucas, but with the increase in MPGs I figure there is less wear on the engine and it will last a lot longer.  So if I can go from 100,000 miles and need to rebuild to 300,000 before needing to rebuild I will be money ahead in the long run.

[Jim Stoltz]

I did a compression check end of last season when I suspected blow-by. All cylinders are good. The thing runs really strong for what it is - it's a pleasure to drive from a power perspective. Handling - not so much.

[Jim Stoltz]

It is a rolling home. At NASCAR this past weekend a couple friends of friends were hanging out inside and just couldn't believe that all that rolls down the road. They asked what it was like, and I said it's like driving your living room down the road. Because it is. 

[Jimco_W001]

Jim, please do an engine compression check.If the engine has a problem than no amount of tuning or parts will help with MPG.

[Lakota Wolf]

Its a ROLLING HOME. 4 mpg is better then NO mpg and sitting around getting old. So we invest in a *palace and grab the Bull by the horns and go out and enjoy each day as we get em.