Mpg....

[TomoHawk]

I notice a raw fuel smell in the exhaust on my 280Z, and after checking all kinds of things, it ended up being a broken conductor in a spark plug wire!

I replaced that wire and now there's no fuel smell, the engine idles more smoothly, the fuel gauge moves slower, and I'll figure out the MPG later.

thxZ

[cayox]

how can I tell how much mpg im getting in my 280z?

[TomoHawk]

Use the standard method for figuring MPG:

1. fill the tank, and mark down the starting odometer reading

2. drive at least 1/2 tank

3. fill the tank again, and mark down the ending odometer reading

calculate the difference in miles, and divide by the gas to fill the tank

read this: wikiHow page

[sblake01]

Or use the tripmeter. Zero it out when you fill up and then at the next fill up, divide the tripmeter reading by the number of gallons.

[Weasel73240Z]

FYI

After 2 tanks of gas (91 octane), my stock L24 with new ZTherapy SU's is getting an average of 21 MPG. And since I just finally go it on the road after a 7 month restore, my foot is probably a little heavy right now. :devious:

[moritz55]

Well, I filled up for the 2nd time (I use 91 and 92 Octane) and put another 208 miles on my 240z, got 20.6 mpg. Still ran about 50/50 Highway versus City. I pushed it a little more, and hit 100+mph on two occasions and did 5-6 quick starts and accelerations having some fun. Anyway it wasn't too bad. Soon I'll go on a 190 mile road trip with ~20miles city, the rest highway, anxious to see how it goes.

[nahurry]

i fill up with 87 octane and get 24 to 26 mpg. i have a 73 with stock L24 and newly rebuilt su's.

[moritz55]

nahurry , that's great! What's your timing set at if you run 87 octane? Can you also advise what percent on average is City vs Highway miles when you achieve 24-26 mpg?

Many thanks ,

[nahurry]

my timing is 7 degrees B.T.D.C. and i drive mostly highway.

[moritz55]

Many thanks 'nahurry". With my Mallory Unilite Breakerless Distributor my timing at idle is 15-16 degrees BTDC and at 3000 rpm is at ~38 BTDC. I get some pinging with 87 octane when I tried it. Anyway hope I get as good mileage as you when I take my little road trip in a week.

[Sailor Bob]

$1.42.8 a litre this week - soon to go up again. Time for postal workers to deal with oil executives - this is grossly offensive.

[blue 72]

I run 89 octane on my rebuilt P-79/F-54 combo with stock (for now) '72 SU carbs. On the highway with my early 5-speed and 3.9:1 rear end combo I average just a little over 25mpg at around 3700 RPM. I got horrible mileage once when one of my fuel lines on the bottom of the carb developed a pinhole and leaked all over for hundreds of miles. Had to hitchhike on the res to the nearest gas station.