why would u not want to know your MPG????

I have a 68 Barracuda, bored, stroked 440 now a 543. It has 11 to1 compression, 4.56 dana 60 behind a 4 speed manual. Full roller motor, aluminum heads, 2 1/4 stepped headers to 3.5 inch dual exhaust. it runs a 1050 CFM dominator carb. I know if i treat it right I get 9 mpg. Why do i want or need to know this?? well 10 gallon fuel cell, filled up with race gas at 6 bucks a gallon (60$) will get me about 60 miles of regular driving, and if i take it easy i may even one day break 100 miles to the tank. LOL, but why wouldn't u know what your car does.

knowing your average MPG and consistently checking it also gives u an idea if there may be a problem starting in your car. So where is the harm in knowing and checking?

 

Yep thumbs up! Especially since you know i want to hand it down to my children.

 

you should beat it up full throttle at least once a week, don't baby it so much. z is mint to be driven. I beat the hell out of mine and it only gets driven once or twice a month and that is to Drift Events. Still car goes out on beast mode without braking anything. Of course i do oil changes before events so i baby it on that but beat the hell out of it lol.

 

This noob speaketh the troof

Plus gas is not exactly cheap

 

Jsut saying... I didn't buy my z with the intention of getting better gas mileage. I just happened to do that... I have challenge my self to drive like a nornal person on my 20mile trip to work... needless to say I still don't make it half way and have not reached the top of 3. :-) but drive how you wish.

Cheers.

 

OPs car needs a German Tune Up...

 

I bought my 2nd Z for the gas mileage. Since I came from an rx8 I figured why not gain 5-10mpg while driving the **** out of it, as well as 60hp and reliability! I'm averaging 17.5 mostly highway/traffic with 4-7.5k shifts between lights and I'm happy with that! I used to get 14-15 shifting at 2500 driving like a grandma!


And as for my old Z, at 123k miles I was still doing top speed runs with no loss of performance.

 

drive the car the way you want to bro, i drive just like you i grandma shift all day, yet on the cold winter nights i go out and let her breath real good, and i get around same gas mileage that you are stating, ive seen 33.5 on highway and 21 in the city. your car will oputlast any of these other guys on here. dont abuse her bro she did nothing wrong to you, shes only doing good for you Z life with good gas mileage woohoo!!

 

Just dont lug your motor.

I will throw some fuel on the fire...I used to perform used oil analysis' regularly (UOAs), for about 4 years straight. My best UOAs were during periods where I was autoxing frequently (driving hard). In the off season, the oil change intervals where I dove like you describe (im a pussycat on the streets) always contained slightly higher trace metals. Maybe its my motor, but I can fathom a correlation with engine speed, oil pressure, and a certain sweet spot where lubrication is optimal and engine wear minimized. Just one mans experience, and theres no way to know without regularly performing UOAs and looking for patterns.

 

I will 100% agree with the "don't lug your motor" statement.

You have additional strain on your engine, and less oil pressure to float your bearings from the opposing metal just 15 thous away.

RPMS Ruins Peoples MotorS... to an extent.

less rpms overall means less life cycle used on an engine. too low and it means more metal to metal contact. BAD!!!!


My personal belief. run synthetic oil. it gets to operating temp quicker than dinosaur oil, thus protecting the vital parts sooner.

 

woops posted a pic on the wrong thread. im gong nuts lol

 

Worst UOAs experienced: M1 Synthetic 10w-30

Best UOAs experienced: Any dino based 5w-30 I chose.

Since I wanted synthetic protection I found Castrol Syntec 5-30 to be my happy medium...good UOAs and hot idle pressure seemed to indicate it to be on the thicker side. But like I said the best and most consistent UOAs I got were with dino oil.

OT I know but since you mentioned it I thought id just chime in.

 

My understanding is you do not want thick oil... here is a great link, lots to read too.
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/motor-oil-101/

 

BITOG, great site, the one that got me into UOAs.

I made my decision based on the UOAs, not on generalities. I used the term thicker very relatively.

And if you read the VQ oil analysis thread, the comments generally support my results...the VQs tend to like dino 5-30.