fuel economy?

[c00nhunterjoe]

what are you guys getting out of your cars? my respectable 383 with a 4 speed and 4.30's and 25-26 inch tires got 11.76 mpg today and 12.24 yesterday.  i measured it with the gps for speed and odometer. the trips were a little over 100 miles round trip each day. i kept it to 45-55 mph turning about 2500 at 45 and 3200 at 55. had about 3 or 4 full gear passes made and a few burnouts as well. i was amazed at my economy with the gear and playing around. what are you guys turning out of your cars?

[Mike DC]

   
That's good but not totally out of that park for the combination.  The 4spd helps. 

The 383 is really a great balance between fun street torque versus gas mileage.  Plenty of smalblock V8s do worse. 

 

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Heres mine



Daytona not that much better....

[Ghoste]

Both of those numbers surprise me somewhat Chris but especially the Daytona.  I realize new cars never hit what the Monroney sticker says but I would have still thought it was better than that.

[PocketThunder]

8 and 12?

Whats that old saying?  The more things change the more they stay the same?

I'm getting 21 mpg in my 69 Charger right now.      

[grdprx]

Mine gets about a beer and a half per foot!!   

That's what I have to give my buddy to help me push it!

[elanmars]

8 and 12?

Whats that old saying?  The more things change the more they stay the same?

I'm getting 21 mpg in my 69 Charger right now.      

how? do share!

[Mike DC]

   

6.1 liters + 4100 pounds = bad mileage.  Half a ton of plastics and computers won't change the basic problem. 

[Ghoste]

I would expect the computers to improve it more than that though.

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

I would expect the computers to improve it more than that though.

Shawn, my Daytona sees 2.5 miles of highway use per day if that much....my commute to work is 7 miles.   Only other trips I use the car for is picking the kids up from school, take to dancing school etc.....all street driven.
If I do highway driving only I can average 22-25 mpg....(got 24 driving down to Carlisle last year)  The MDS system really helps on the higway (cuts down to 4 cyl) but I never get to utilize it to its full potential on the street even though it will activate above 20mph.

All that plus the fact that I cant keep my foot out of it....the Daytona's exhaust note is so sweet its VERY addicting

PS----I didnt buy or build either car for the gas mileage

[Ghoste]

Ahh, that makes more sense then.  For some reason I thought you had a longer highway commute each day

[bull]

These results are probably tainted somewhat due to several factors but I remember once getting 22 mpg in my '70 Charger (383/727) on a 4.5-hour trip behind a flatbed semi. He was in a hurry to get somewhere and we averaged 80-90 mph for a large portion of the time.

[bordin34]

I am probably getting less than 6mpg. I have a 73 400, 670cfm 4bbl, 727, and 2.45 rear gears. All city driving and I don't get on it much.

[mopar_nut_440_6]

I am probably getting less than 6mpg. I have a 73 400, 670cfm 4bbl, 727, and 2.45 rear gears. All city driving and I don't get on it much.

I would be checking your carb setup as that seems extremely bad. I had a 400 on propane in a Dodge pickup with 3.55 gears and was able to get 25 mpg on the highway.

I used to get 16 MPG with my 440-4spd with 3.54 gears whether I drove it in town or on the highway.

[bordin34]

The car runs fine just gets terrible mileage. The only problem on the carb is one jet is cross threaded, the last owner did it.

[Mike DC]

Modern fuel injection will basically add about 3 mpg at best.  That gain + the effects of gearing down with the overdrive tranny is about all you get for modern cars over the old ones. 

The aero drag issue is real, but it only really starts to dent the numbers at 60-70mph.  I think the tire resistance is still higher than the aero until as much as 45-50mph.

----------------------------------------

If I do highway driving only I can average 22-25 mpg....(got 24 driving down to Carlisle last year)  The MDS system really helps on the higway (cuts down to 4 cyl) but I never get to utilize it to its full potential on the street even though it will activate above 20mph.

The MDS setup seems like more of a winner on paper than it has turned out to be in practice. 

I have always wanted to see what one of those setups could do if you had it on a toggle switch or something and you were willing to feel some seat-of-the-pants power loss.  I suspect they may be throwing away a lot of the gains by trying to make it unnoticeable 100% of the time instead of 80-90%. 

 

[Chad L. Magee]

8 and 12?

Whats that old saying?  The more things change the more they stay the same?

I'm getting 21 mpg in my 69 Charger right now.      

Nice, I like the setup you have in it.  That was a good idea to do.  ...

[Charger1970]

I get a solid 10.88 MPG.  I have checked it several times and no matter what I do (electronic ignition, new carb, etc) it still gets 10.88.

PS: 383 4-speed 3:73 gears

[41husk]

I keep thinking my math is wrong, but I get right around 20 mpg in my 68 383/727 and about 3 to 4 mpg ;ess with my 70 Challenger 340/727 even though the challenger is lighter and has the small block.

[Ghoste]

I don't know if the Challneger ragtop is all that much lighter really, maybe a little bit but I bet it isn't much.  If they are the same diameter tires and rearend ratios then it must just come down to those little quirks that exist between cars. 

[b5blue]

Front end alignment and tire size, I'm very close to stock on all that now and can "feel" it roll better. I can't wait to get the new dist. so I can start tweeking things out better, the six pack really helps if you keep your foot out of it...I'm at about 8-9 mpg stop and go or highway (with no vacuum advance hooked up yet)

[694spdRT]

My '68 Charger would get 17-18mpg on the highway back when I had the 383 4bbl/727/2.76 gears running 60-65mph. The cam/intake/rear combo was not matched very well and I am sure it could have done better with a smaller cam. I would run about 1800 rpm at 60mph with 14" 60 series tires.

My dad's Super Bee with a 383 4 speed and 3.23 gears got 13 mpg average during the 2004 Power Tour over a 800 mile stretch. We ran about 65mph at 2500rpm.

I haven't driven the '69 440 4 speed very much but after driving about 100 miles and putting in nearly 15 gallons in I didn't check anymore.

[PocketThunder]

8 and 12?

Whats that old saying?  The more things change the more they stay the same?

I'm getting 21 mpg in my 69 Charger right now.      

how? do share!

          

[Ghoste]

Enjoy it while you can. 

[moparstuart]

8 and 12?

Whats that old saying?  The more things change the more they stay the same?

I'm getting 21 mpg in my 69 Charger right now.      

how? do share!

          

paul you can send me my photography fee  ,