Gas consumption

John,  Sound like you are close to right on.  If you are out for a drive and putting 200 miles on in one sitting, a fuel up is a welcome sight.  Safe driving...

Stephen

John, it sounds to me, based on your speed/revs, that you have (like me) a 4:12 ring and pinion?

I think it's great for back-roads but not so much for interstates...

Yup, 25 mpg is pretty typical.  I have an '06 Beck with a 1915 and ~46k miles and I usually get around that.

Will, Pretty sure the ring gear is 3.88 I'd have to look it up though to be certain.

I think I'm going to look for a couple gallon jerry can for the trunk, you know, for luck.

This chart can help you determine R&P -

http://johnmaherracing.com/cal...ar-ratio-calculator/

I've got a 2026cc mild stroker with Webers that was configured to run cool and not necessarily blow the doors off of anything. So, in theory, my mileage should be about the same as yours.

On typical twisty and hilly country roads, where there's a lot of shifting, I average 20-23 mpg. On a highway where I can stay in top gear for long stretches, though, the mileage jumps up to 26-7 mpg. Generally, your results will depend a lot on where and how you drive.

In slow speed stop and go, where I need to dice it up with traffic from stoplight to stoplight, I'm usually down to 20 mpg.

If you have a .89 top gear and 'average' sized tires - 185/60, say - you should be doing around 60 mph at 3000 rpm with a 4.12 r&p and around 64 mph with a 3.88. Measure your speed with a gps, though, as many of our Chinese repop speedos can be off quite a bit. The one in my VS is high by about 10 per cent at highway speeds.

@WOLFGANG that chart is awesome.  Guess I had the little speedie up a lot faster than what I thought I was going.  I have the 3.88 in mine, and had it up to 4,000RPMs yesterday on the downward slope of the bay bridge.  I figured I was doing around 70-75mph.....oooops.  I'll make sure to keep it in check!

What size gas tank does Intermeccanica use?

I'll have to double check with a GPS but the chart set for 165 86 15 and a 3.88 rear end seems almost spot on with indicated mph & rpm. As far as I know, my tach and speedo are real VDO's (speedo is in Km/H not M/H).

hbkmat posted:

What size gas tank does Intermeccanica use?

Depends on your build and your options.

John Nickerson posted:

I took my new Beck Speedster on a 200 mile jaunt today. About 50% 2-lane blacktop & 50% Interstate, mostly kept the speed between 50 & 60 mph (2500-3000 rpm). The engine is a 10 YO CB Performance 1915cc job.

I got about 25 mpg on this trip. The tank is only about 9 gal so 200 miles between fill ups seems to be prudent. Is my mileage typical or am I some how over doing it?

Thanks,

John

You'r doing just fine ,John.  Your smiles will outdo the MPG anyway. We slide down to Wells, Me every Sept for  a four day thing. It would be nice to see you there. We stay at the Ner'Beach Motel mid Sept. being it doing it there for a long  time.  

I'm a daily driver. That's what I'm getting with traffic and freeway. It's a fill up once a week. About 4-5 gallons. 

David,

Thanks for the smile and the invite. Looks like I'm Ne'r there, at least Ne'r than you are. It sounds like fun, I have no idea what I'll be doing in Sep or if my Speedster will still be on the road or put up 'till Spring.... What goes on in Wells in the fall?

John

John Nickerson posted:

David,

Thanks for the smile and the invite. Looks like I'm Ne'r there, at least Ne'r than you are. It sounds like fun, I have no idea what I'll be doing in Sep or if my Speedster will still be on the road or put up 'till Spring.... What goes on in Wells in the fall?

John

Nothing special goes on....we just like to get to the ocean there once a year. Been doing if for a long time. Get out near Bush's place in Kennebunk on a boat, cruise the beach roads in the Speedster between Portland and Kittery and eat lobster. Wells is a nice eight hour drive from our home and we can get there mostly on secondary roads which is my preference. The drive down thru Lake Champlain is a nice one.  

That seems typical - I have a 1915cc with kadrons and average about 24-27 mpg. 

Yeah, I've got a 2,110 and get about 26 on a trip.

25 is good in my books. I need to change my gearing, with the 2.0 inline 4, I have way more torque than before and I pretty much hardly ever touch 1st gear anyway. I get about 37mpg at the moment with short 1300 tranny gearing. 

I'm getting new tires today.  Going from 185/60 to 165/80 and it'll be interesting to see how that changes my mileage, if it does.

300 mi +/- trip up to and around Starved Rock, IL a week and a half ago. I've got a new program in the Black Box, and averaged 28 mpg on 93 octane. I drove 85- 90 mph the whole way there and back, which was 2/3 of the total. This is about average with the 45s. With 40s and a similar tune, I get 30 mpg. Almost everybody jets pretty rich because it's just easier, but (as usual), I'm trying something a bit different.

Right now, at least- it seems to be working. I've still got a little flat spot just off cruise that could probably be filled with a fatter accelerator pump adjustment or jet, but I'd rather try to play with float height or air-correction jets (something I know very little about), or possibly even emulsion tubes. I hate just throwing gas at a problem.

Honestly, I'm not sure I'll ever be done tinkering, but I sure do enjoy the process.

Lane Anderson posted:

I'm getting new tires today.  Going from 185/60 to 165/80 and it'll be interesting to see how that changes my mileage, if it does.

Why are you going down in width, Lane? What you may notice with the taller, narrower tires is it's not quite as sure-footed as it was.

Several reasons.  First, the selection of tires in the original size has narrowed considerably in 11 years (particularly the last couple), with most of the higher quality ones pretty much going away.  I was able to get Vredestien Sprint Classics in the 165/80 size, which is more period correct and which will correct my speedometer error.  Second, this isn't my high-speed around corners car anyway.  For that I use the BMW.  For how I use the Speedster this should be fine.

@Lane Anderson how wide are your wheels?

I have Vredestien 175/70 which are just slightly smaller diameter than 165/80.

Crap.  Maybe that's what I should have gone with.  Carey told me that the 165/80 was their standard size and the 185/60 was the widest that would fit due to the frame design, etc.