Model Boat Mayhem
Mess Deck: General Section => Other Hobbies and Interests => Topic started by: 2772e on October 08, 2007, 09:28:13 pm
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When i am not messing about with boats i mess around with cars.
My new tonka toy.
1982 Jeep CJ7 AMC 5.8 V8 350 cubic inch
Doing my bit for global warming
Simon
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Simon, sound like you and me both are keeping the governments fuel tax coffers topped up a treat!!
Bet mine dumps more waste heat than yours.. mines a greedy cow..and it's only 4.0 ltrs!
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I'd be interested to know what these two do to the gallon, as big engines aside, I think many of us forget just how much cars have improved over the past few decades. My current car is a 2.2 Saab diesel turbo, and it's two predecessors were 2.0 petrol Audi A4s, all three of these returned over 30mpg even around town, and could approach 40mpg a longer journey, the Saab has just been almost as far as Poland & back, about 2300 miles, and returned 48mpg, it's done 18000 now and is nicely run in. That 2300 includes many hours of autobahn travel, and if you've got a long way to go you can't hang about. In contrast, in the late 60s/early 70s I worked for Lotus, and owned or had as company cars several Elans and Lotus Cortinas, all with the same 1558cc twin-cam. If any of these were driven with even a small amount of enthusiasm, you'd never see 20mpg, and the best I ever got from a Mk II Lotus Cortina was just over 22mpg on a drive from Hethel to Birmingham with one of the company's accountants in the passenger seat, and don't even ask about the rate of consumption of Duckhams 20/50. Of course, these were fast cars in their day, but my three most recent cars were all just as fast, except around the twisty bits of course, and all the Loti weighed something like half what the Saab & Audis do. Cars have come a very long way in the last 30 years.
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try my chrysler voyager for size, it seriously does add to global warming, ok it does seat 7 at a push,
but on a so called spirited drive you cross your fingers and hope to make 20 mpg..... normally you dont get near !
on a normal journey of both town and motorway driving 24 - 26mpg is about the norm... its a thirsty old bus, well its not that old, main dealer serviced and actually it aint a bus, but it feels like one at times....
( should have got the TD version i know !)
when towing a 17ft caravan for a pal down the M40 from brum to west london, about a 100 mile journey i got the figure on the trip computer to show 12 mpg and i did not exceed 65mph ......
comfortable but thirsty
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Only good thing about my Touran is the consumption......
Currently averaging 52MPG overall, on a run down the motorway can average 60MPG,
Saying that my 1987 BX19TD would average 50MPG - much nicer car too
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try my chrysler voyager for size, it seriously does add to global warming, ok it does seat 7 at a push,
but on a so called spirited drive you cross your fingers and hope to make 20 mpg..... normally you dont get near !
..... and people blame 4x4s for being gas guzzlers! My Kia Sorento does in excess of 32mpg solo, and I have managed 28mpg towing my caravan, including half way down France on the Autoroute. Of course, it is a diesel. Downside is the Road Tax is £300 >:(, so I have just got a Citroen C4 as well to save the Kia for towing. The C4 is showing 50mpg on the first 1500 miles - I am expecting that to improve with some longer runs and a few more miles on the clock. Oh, and the emissions on the C4 qualify for the £35 Road Tax bracket :D
Barrie
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I've never been a big fan of diesels, until I tried both petrol and diesel Saabs back to back, and found that I preferred the latter, not as good as current Audi and Mercedes oil burners, but I love the torque characteristics, and of course the economy. My 9/5 has just reached eighteen thousand in two years, and I worked out the other day, that something like 12000 of those miles have been done on the other side of the Channel, many of them in Germany. When I'm there, I always fill up with Aral Super or something similar, it's the equivalent of expensive diesel like BP Ultimate in the UK. My Saab runs more smoothly and returns a few extra mpg on the good stuff, and every German filling station seems to sell it, so why is it so difficult to find these higher priced fuels in the UK? Among other things, these 'super' fuels contain additives like better detergents to keep injectors clean, I've been told that a couple of tanks full every now and then will do your fuel system more good than a £8.00 can of that diesel tune-up stuff, so why is it so hard to find? It might even work out cheaper in the long run.
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Re fuel consumption, My Sheerline has a 4litre straight six single carb engine insalled and its all a 57year old design. This engine was actually designed back in the war and installed in the Austin K2 radio truck. The car weighs in at 2tons and gives around 15mpg on average. It can be got down to single figures if thrashed.
Compare this with my Jaguar XJ6 4.2 litre, an alloy head with L Jetronic fuel injection and five speed manual box, another 2ton car. I actually averaged 22mpg and could scrape 27mpg out of it on a calm driving day.
My more modern Passat is only 1 ton weight and a 2litre petrol engine so the car is 50% smaller in real terms than the other two. This vehicle returns an average of 40mpg when thrashed with a maximum recorded mpg of 49 on a calm day.
The interesting thing is that the VW Passat would leave both the Austin and the Jaguar standing in any kind of performance/ handling competition and reliability is beyond comprehension. The older style vehicles do however conjour up romantic notions of picnics and warm summer days which in reallity is all they are used for now so despite the apparent inefficiencies, the polution factor is not that great since the mileage is so greatly reduced.
The modern motor car is what I now term as a 'sorted bit of kit' in the same way that televisions and radio sets now are. They are indeed a wonder to behold but we do rather take it all for granted.
One day in the distant future, people will look back with great interest on our ability to travel and the options open to us and I feel sure the same freedoms will not exist for them. I believe too they will be somewhat envious.. despite the pollution.
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i love the comment sheeriline re the romantic notions of warm summer days and picnics....! did we have a summer this year ?
but when driving my more modern chrysler my thoughts are more on how far can i go before i have to fill up again.... and damm this voyager with its aerodynamics more akin to a sub post office !
but it does get the whole family around in a fair bit of comfort, and yes pay through the nozzle...... but if we did not have this old 7 seat bus we would need 2 cars in convoy !
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Guy, in a previous post about the Austin Sheerline, I referred to its Stromberg carburreter as 'The Bucket'. You can probably guess why!
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Simon, sound like you and me both are keeping the governments fuel tax coffers topped up a treat!!
Bet mine dumps more waste heat than yours.. mines a greedy cow..and it's only 4.0 ltrs!
thats ok, My old ford fiesta 1.1 did 18 to the gallon !!!!!! seemed to spit more fuel out than it actually burned
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Just worked out the fuel consumption on the Jeep on my way back from Ramsgate and scared myself.
About 11-12 mpg, that was at a steady 65-70, not easy in one of these as they try and throw you out at anything over 50! With only a 10 gallon fuel tank thats not very far at all!
My other Jeep (the wife's) is a Grand Cherokee 2.7 CRD and we get about 27-30 out of that, constant 4WD
We had the Grand voyager before 3.3 straight six, beautiful car and i think we got about 25 mpg, but what a comfortable ride, like sitting in your arm chair, effortless.
My daily driver, New Ford Mondeo with 2,000 miles on the clock is giving 42mpg, reckon i will get nearer 46 when it is run in.
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glad to hear i am not the only voyager driver getting mid twenties mpg !
i used to have an L reg jeep grand cherokee, the 4.6L petrol ' high output' version, needless to say it was also HIGH INPUT !- now that was a gas guzzler... i only kept it for just under a year !
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Guy,
You did well not to buy the diesel, its an old 2.8 turbo diesel built by the Italians, horible engine. Now the new V6 3.0 diesel is another story, used in the Mercs and the new Jeeps and the beutiful 300C. Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.
The new V8 is the Hemi, about 5.7 litres and it shuts off 4 cylinders electronicly around town, its estimated that it should do about 25!
Love those yank tanks
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those yank tanks are also bloody quick, My ford escort, (another gas guzzler at around a quarter of a tank on 34 miles!!!) couldnt keep pace with a Hummer H2!
all I did was go between Stoke and Utoxeter 10 times a week, and I'd have to fill up after 4 days cos the tank was empty, only 17 miles each way!
my current car, a Vauxhall Astra emptied its tank between stoke and llanberis!
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Well you are right about oner thing - a jeep is just a 'thing'
Landrover Defenders rock O0
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as do discos and freelanders!
however if ya want an indestructable one, get a hilux! :)
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I use my 4.0 Jeep to pull a caravan. 17mpg on a fine day with the wind behind !!!
Who said caravaning was a cheap holiday !!!!!
KenP
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I never owned a Jeep but did have a 2.5 litre petrol landrover once. It was a really old un, the one with the lights in the radiator grille. That was the worst vehicle I ever owned as it was damned uncomfortable (it was a workhorse after all) and probably the greediest vehicle on the planet next to a Chieftan tank. The worst figure for fuel was around 12mpg when I caned it. At 55mph, the gearlever was buzzing so hard, it hurt your fingures if you touched it but it would run on the cheapest crappiest fuel out of the pumps. I am sure it would have run on paraffin if I had thrown that down it but I never tried it! Under certain conditions, it would suffer from carb icing as there was no warm air duct to the carb. This manifested itself as a gradual loss of power until it ground to a halt. I used to keep a screwdriver handy and occasionally would get out and chip the ice out of the bellmouth of the carb to get it going again.
Jeeps.......... sheer luxury! I still fancy one but can't justify ownership these days as I don't need it.
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The last thirsty car I owned was Dodge Pheonix Limited Edition 400 Series, this beast had under the hood a large block 392 cube V8 which when driven sedately returned 12 miles to the gallon but if you stuck the boot into it you were lucky to acheive 7 miles to the gallon, but I have to admit it was comfortable and smooth, and cruised well at 150 miles an hour, but when I owned this car fuel was 27 cents a litre not the $133.9 a litre that it is now........... :o :o
Roy
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As my office is now 78 miles from my home, I have decided to do the sensible thing and purchase a new small diesel car. My Citroen C3 can return 74 miles to the gallon and only costs £35 a year to tax. I may even qualify for congestion charge exemption if Ken gets his way. Small diesels have come a long way and the car certainly has no shortage of power on its regular trips up the M11.
Neil
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"I'd rather push a Landrover than drive a Jeep".. I think thats how the saying goes, works for me,ever tried pushing a Landie...Jeep Wrangler owner....Smudge ;D O0
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I used to work at a place that specialised in jeeps, B & H autocraft in doncaster, was great fun when the containers arrived with all the new bits in, the bits you could buy for them was unbeileveable
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Madrob,
Are they still in business? The local supplier to me is very expensive!
With the pound so strong against the doller its easy to ship from across the pond. My parents have a house in Florida and are over there 2-3 months a year so i can have small items delivered there and packed in suitcases on the way home.
I think i am also right in saying there is no excise duty to pay on second hand vehicle parts?
Regards
Simon
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i ordered an electric wing mirror form ebay in the US..... as the wife decided to remove our voyager mirror in a car park..... the item was listed on the UK ebay for anything from £90 to £180 dependent on age/ condition.....
got it in the states for £40... paid no duty on arrival in the UK .......
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The main improvement in engine fuel economy can be found in the use of electronic fuel injection and mapped ignition.
A lot of people are fitting older cars with carbs and clockwork ignition with DIY engine management units, like Megasquirt.
The results are often very illuminating, with much improved economy, performance and drivability. Reliability is another factor, most running problems with old cars could be attributed to ignition or fueling issues, usually the former.
Modern cars are technically accomplished, but in many cases I think they are far too heavy, which offsets a lot of the advances, and the prices levied for servicing these days beggers belief.
Andy
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Guy, can't you build the wife something out of Lego to go shopping in, then you can replace anything she knocks off for now't.
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Priceless phrasing of that post! ;D
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i used to own a 1943 willies jeep best car i ever owned could get 10 people on it and still easily do 30mph accross fields 2.2 ltr side valve. got a 3 ltr diesel hilux now runs sweet on veggie oil O0
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Hi guys...used to own a series one range rover....low compression v8......that was thirrrrrrrrsty...... Up until a little while ago i owned a 1942 dodge wc52 ambulance , (as seen in memphis belle and yanks etc.....no ignition key.......starter button on firewall above throttle pedal.......and an upturned bucket for a carb stuck ontop of a 4.2 litre straight six , side valve......If you tried hard you could get 10 to the gallon :D :D