NEW Official Thread for posting daily FE updates

[rvanengen]

Originally Posted by Fourthbean

Rvanengen, that sounds like a very reasonable goal. I can attest to a tune up being a very good idea, though a tune up on my car is completely different than yours.

After looking around for good gas mileage cars I had decided on a Mercedes 190, but with a d at the end (for diesel). Problem is they are quite difficult to find for a good price in decent condition. I have since decided not to buy a vehicle right now.

My brother seems to be getting a decent improvement by coasting in neutral with the engine on in his civic.


Keep it up and keep us updated!

Fourthbean

Been reading about your adventures with the old Chevy...bravo! Personally, I would keep it for fun driving, and if you can find a 190d (or even an e) with a 5 speed...you will have fun too! If I could ask much of anything with my car, it would be for a tilt steering wheel. I am 6'1" and if I want to take my wallet out while driving, it involves some good contortions. The car parks VERY easily and turns on a dime! Only vehicle I had that turned almost as well was my old 96 Bronco.

Otherwise, I had thought about a newer 300D, 300SD, 350SDL...but just couldn't find one in my price range that wasn't going to eat me alive in deferred maintenance. I am still thinking of looking for a good oil burner still, and now have the room to do some good BD production.

I will get that tune-up finished soon...just keeping my eye out for a well priced cap and rotor set...hard to find for less than $50!

[XFi]

Putting some good miles on my car this week! Just filled up and turned a 44.5 MPG Tank. This was basically half rural highway and half city (not around town, but Philadelphia CITY Traffic...yuck). I expected a little more with the VX Rims, LRR Tires at 45psi, Lowering Springs and a good bit of engine off coasting. Not too bad, but still want to be into the 50's.

Tommorow I am driving up close to the NY border. This should be another 300plus round trip day. Waiting to see what mostly all highway brings...

[MnFocus]

43.3 - Scangauge is too much fun ! It really does tell you much about your driving and the road . If the lil Red Focus can be a consistant mid 40's combined car I'm gonna be very pleased . The tank current was reading 52.3 all freeway driving - can't wait to see what it will do after a 'full break in' .

[Fourthbean]

Yep, that's the thing that scares me about getting a Mercedes from the early 80's. What the maintenance cost would be. I'm sure they are reliable cars, but things do wear out. As I have found with my car.

I pulled 27 this tank, did more city driving with a loaded down car. Also when I took it in for an alignment they took my tire pressure down from a "dangerous" 44 to 32.

Anybody have a good idea of what size electric fan I should get for my car if I chose to do so? I would want to go to a junkyard to get one as I don't want to spend much. I can wire it myself as long as the temp sensor was still in tact.

I like driving this car. One thing I have noticed is that no one on the road seems to get mad or agitated at me for driving slow. My brother got someone mad the first day he tried to do some coasting in his 96 Civic. I have been EOC'ing down to 15 below the speed limit on the highway without a single "finger" . Unless I am missing them all.

[JanGeo]

We in Scion Life have a few guys that are trying for a 500 mile tank in the xB and some have automatics that are really doing great even compared to my standard with Synlube. Some of the guys are pushing the tank capacity to 12 gallons on a regular basis - it's a 11.9 gallon tank!! So I just gave them the news tonight that I am at about 290 miles on this tank at the half full mark which is about what some of the other lead footed guys get on a full tank. Anyway the half a tank mark is 6 gallons burned so it is a good run so far considering I am getting about 20 miles more than usual at this point. I think the tank average on the SG is 45mpg I think right now. Did 51.0mpg going home the long way and 51.8mpg coming back today.

[DrivenByNothing]

Fourthbean, do you have a shot of your engine bay to give me an idea of the space you have for the e-fan? I'm familiar with a lot of stock e-fans because I'm a junkyard geek.

I drove around town quite a bit today. The gas prices keep going up and I keep doing more to drive economically. Quite a bit of EOC'ing in town. The only times I feel comfortable doing it is when coming to an intersection where my lane is stopped and traveling down bridges (the closest thing we have to hills in FL). Engine braking seems like it may be helping, too. I'm not seeing any drastic improvements.

I think it'd be a good idea to make sure your motor and trans mounts are in good shape if you're gonna be EOC'ing. I've gotta do something about mine.

[psyshack]

turned in a 49.99 mpg tank today.

[rvanengen]

Originally Posted by Fourthbean

Yep, that's the thing that scares me about getting a Mercedes from the early 80's. What the maintenance cost would be. I'm sure they are reliable cars, but things do wear out. As I have found with my car.

I pulled 27 this tank, did more city driving with a loaded down car. Also when I took it in for an alignment they took my tire pressure down from a "dangerous" 44 to 32.

Anybody have a good idea of what size electric fan I should get for my car if I chose to do so? I would want to go to a junkyard to get one as I don't want to spend much. I can wire it myself as long as the temp sensor was still in tact.

I like driving this car. One thing I have noticed is that no one on the road seems to get mad or agitated at me for driving slow. My brother got someone mad the first day he tried to do some coasting in his 96 Civic. I have been EOC'ing down to 15 below the speed limit on the highway without a single "finger" . Unless I am missing them all.

I had an 82 240d about a year ago, and had to get rid of it...too much work needed to be done to make it worth keeping. That is the challenge...finding an older car that is not going to kill you with repairs.

I would guess on the fan that you could look for just about anything with a v-8 to handle the cooling for your car.

If I could only figure out how to rig an engine kill/start button for my car, I might be willing to try some EOC...for now, I just pop it in neutral and coast when traffic permits. Certainly, people driving "newer" cars are almost EXPECTED to be driving fast...giving older cars a pass. I did notice that people were very patient when I was in the 240d...which was good...it topped out at 74mph.

Keep it up, and don't let that old car go too soon, you will miss it!

[Fourthbean]

Here is a picture of the engine bay.



Oh wait, it might help to have the engine in there .

I don't seem to have a picture with the engine in, I will get one for you.

[Fourthbean]

Alright, took a few pictures. Here you go.