Fuel economy idea... (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Oct 14, 2006
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Southest Portland
Recently, I thought I had to sell my beloved 60. As it turns out, life changed and I get to keep it (hell yeah!). Sometime in the future, I'm going to see about a trip to Canada to buy an '83 or older Diesel rig, and drive it home to Oregon.

Meanwhile, my FJ is sucking down the juice like a drunken prom date. In the name of increasing fuel mileage and power, I'm kicking around the notion of removing all the engine periphrials.

I'm thinking of losing the AC compressor, smog pump, fan and power steering. The latter two I'll replace with an electric unit, and an 55 series manual steering box (unless anyone has a better idea...)

So, what do ya'll think?

Good idea, bad idea? Will I save some fuel? How much?
 
my best guess is you won't notice the difference in gas mileage.;)

you will probably see more of an increase by giving it a proper tune up.
 
I'm with Acadia...It's a tractor engine..pulling a 4K# box down the road. there's just no improvement to get
with the stock engine. Oh Yeah you can spend thou$ands of dollars and re-gear, de-smog, header up, free flow exhaust...yada yada..some folks are claiming 15mpg daily driving that's the best I've every read about..there is very quickly a diminishing return on money spent trying to up the MPG..Better off leaving it alone and spending that money on the fuel...IMHO anyway..
 
Without the smog pump, how would you get it thru DEQ? Unless you know someone that lives in the sticks...I have had more than one rig that "resided" at an address other than my own.
 
If you mostly do around town driving, you'll probably get ~10 mpg. No way around it. Stopping and starting that heavy truck with an older engine - best to switch to a bike or the bus.

If you mostly do highway driving, you can get to ~16mpg with a good tune up, and if you keep your speed in check. I get 13 mpg @ 70 and 16 @55.
 
x2 on a good tune up. Works wonders.
 
You didn't say what kind of mileage your getting now and what kind of driving you do. These would help so can either make suggestions that apply to you or let you know if they think that's all your ever going to get.

On your first thought, I don't see losing that stuff making any significant improvement to your mileage.
 
Or, you could get a spoiler on the roof for more downforce... Also, you could get a sticker that says, "Eco-friendly vehicle" and that would get you at least 4-5 more MPG.

Go to Wiki and read about "law of conservation of energy", once you think you understand it, read the article again...
 
my mpg's got better with the desmog, but if you don't live in an area that can do that then you are stuck.

i get 17 on the highway and 13 in the city.

She is not the best on gas, but I love her! :):bounce::steer:
 
If you are willing to spend a bit, why not just drop in an H55F? The overdrive will save some fuel. A tune up will save some fuel. A light right foot will save some fuel (the law says that increasing speed greatly increases resistance).

I used to get 16.5 OR BETTER MPG with my stock 60, 31" tires, tuned and running an H55F - when driven at or below 70 mph. That is with all the smog gear intact. If you do a correct desmog, and have Jim C rebuild the barb, I am pretty sure you could approach 18 MPG. Just a thought.
 
If you're gana spend $1500 bucks on a tranny, why not buy a 1989 civic and get 40 mpg. Not knocking that H55F, just saying you can increase your gas milliage a hell of a lot more for the same money.
 
Well, let's face it, a small Honda just isn't the same as our 60s huh?

I haven't done it yet to my 60 but on my Fiat, I took off everything that was built driven - minus the alternator. I put on an electric fan, and plummed in an Electric Water pump. In the city, I didn't see much difference (other than my starting power - which may have led to a decrease in city MPG...).

On the highway however, there was new life in the Fiat! I gained 4-5 mpg *EASY* and the amount of power at the seat of the pants was wonderful. My peak power range was increased greatly. Taking off all the belt driven devices make a huge difference. I took off smog - water pump - cooling fan.

I came away from that project thinking that it's extremely difficult - maybe impossible - to really affect city mileage. However, highway miles are a number that can vary greatly. Every accessory makes a difference.

To the naysayers - going uphill, turn on your AC. Notice a difference in power? Now turn it off - you just got your power back right? By taking off the the other belt driven items you ARE doing the exact thing as turning off the AC. You WILL gain power and a decreased resistance to the engine. This translates to better use of the gas, which means more gas in your tank!!

If your are doing this I would highly recommend a good, complete tuneup at the end of all the work.

Jon
 
I average 55 MPG, the key is to drive my 100 MPG moped at least as much as I drive the cruiser.
 
We all want to get the best fuel economy we can, but if you
look at it from a dollars and cents issue, it rarely works out.

If gas is really killing you, 2x on a beater honda.

As D'animal says, " It's a crew cab tractor"...
 
Might as well forget about better mpg's out of a cruiser....even desmogged. And electric power steering is a joke in a cruiser..... requires to many amps
 
Well, I bike it all over PDX right now, and rock my '87 Corolla to and from work (26 mile commute)... Oh, and I passed DEQ without a smog pump, though I had my (old) truck leaned out so far it was hardly running. My current rig passed with flying colors.

I think the H55F is a step in the right direction. Where can I get one?
 
Try HHO injection

I just installed one of the Magdrive Hydrogen generators into my 82 fj60 with 250K on the odo and running rough. It was getting about 10 mpg in my 10 mile to work commute. This is cranking up in sub-freezing conditions, letting warm up for 10 minutes then drive the five miles to work. Now with the generator pumping, I'm getting 13-14 in the same conditions. The power is definately improved and there is no unburned gas smell from the exhaust. I find myself using a taller gear to climb hills that I used to have to down shift on.
One of the other advantages to the system is that it cleans up your emissions to almost nill. the kit was $500 delivered with the extra pressurized pump which I recommend. It took me all day to install it the first time, now I could install it in a couple of hours.
Contact me for more info on saving mpg, I'm shooting for 20mpg highway when I finish a few more mods.
 

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