Live: V8 MPG (4 Viewers)

[90 Weight]

Thanks for all of your responses guys.

Just wanted to ask... You didn't poison your rig with E85 did you?

Break in and tune go hand in hand. Let it do it's thing and try to run it with different loads and RPM during this break-in period. Hills are good at this point. Once broken in, then it can be re-tuned and I bet the MPGs and power will improve.

I'm not sure- I've been pumping the medium grade everywhere I go?

Edelbrocks love to pour gas in, racers love them. A Quadrajet might be a better carb for you. OH! and where the heck are you?

In Sebastopol, CA at the moment on our way up the coast.

Is this engine even broken in yet, or are you in the midst of that currently?

The engine is still very new- probably right around 1500-2000 miles max.

call your truck a 'she' and you'll see immediate improvement...

on a tech note whats the exhaust look/smell like?

Hmm- I'll have to go double check on that, I know that it isnt puffing black as I am sensitive to that post FI nightmare....I think if anything I have been seeing a small amount of light/white color on warmup. Exhaust does smell but I'll have to double check on the odor later this morning.

Uhhhh...enjoying being in a "he" is the definition of that connotation of queer isn't it?

Is there black smoke? Smell like fuel? How much weight of cargo are we talking? What gearing? Is the tranny downshifting a lot?

Weight of cargo....no idea- atleast 300lbs on the roof, 300 driver/passenger and I would be afraid to take a stab at the cargo weight....75 lbs on for the tire carrier....hmm. Stock gearing. The kickdown isnt really setup right, so for the most part (in the hills aka the most part) I have been kicking it down manually to help keep my foot off the gas.

I got a dump truck that gets 5-6 mpg, you could put the cruiser in the bed. Hmm. Uneven tire pressure in the rear can work the rear diff. pretty hard. Brakes dragging? You might drive awhile and feel all your brake hubs for heat. Wheel bearing? Did you put oil in it or someone else. Wrong oil. New engine can suck some fuel. As a side note, this is a great way to break in an engine. When you take all that stuff out it will haul butt.

I wonder, the brakes could be dragging, or it just could be that its a flying brick, but when I am going down one of those steep PCH hills and pop it into neutral at 65mph, instead of speeding up, you can feel it tug back and slow down....to the point where I would probably stop if I didnt put it back into gear before the bottom...new engine...

hope the additional info helps us get closer to the heart of the issue (aside from it being an FJ40 with a V8 )!

cheers,
eli

 

[cmiller114]

I wonder, the brakes could be dragging, or it just could be that its a flying brick, but when I am going down one of those steep PCH hills and pop it into neutral at 65mph, instead of speeding up, you can feel it tug back and slow down....to the point where I would probably stop if I didnt put it back into gear before the bottom...new engine...
[/QUOTE]

I think you have issues other than a new motor! Something has to be dragging or binding. What kind of ebrake setup do you have?

 

[leftarmtan]

I dont think aerodynamics would cause that bad of mileage.A truck with a tbi 350 towing a land cruiser gets better mileage than that!Must be carburation issue.

 

[camcruiser13]

sounds about right

 

[Vitesse_6]

FWIW, I have a 327SBC W/ POS Holley 2D Projection, NV4500, 3speed T-case, 4.11 and 35" tires.
I managed 15MPG from SLC- the Rubicon and 13MPG from Tahoe- SLC averaging 70-75MPH.
Good luck

 

[90 Weight]

I wonder, the brakes could be dragging, or it just could be that its a flying brick, but when I am going down one of those steep PCH hills and pop it into neutral at 65mph, instead of speeding up, you can feel it tug back and slow down....to the point where I would probably stop if I didnt put it back into gear before the bottom...new engine...

I think you have issues other than a new motor! Something has to be dragging or binding. What kind of ebrake setup do you have?[/QUOTE]

I took the ebrake off before the trip. The metal piece that goes to the drum assembly around the output shaft had been dragging and carving out the shaft so I pulled out the guts of the brake. That said maybe those metal arms have slipped down and are dragging on the output shaft? Could it cause that kind of drag? One of my rear wheel cylinder adjustment deals is frozen as well- but I don't think that could cause drag - when you put it up on the lift the tires have enough drag that then stop themselves (did the whole back them off two clicks from halted) a while back. The brakes have quickly become bad though in the first 1000 miles and now I get clicking at the botttom of the petal when stopping and a loss of stopping power. Fluid is full on one and above min on the other.

Tuning the carb... I'm no carb wizz - driving up through the coast of California towards Ashland oregon and up to Washington. Any of you carb guys live in that path?

 

[FJforty]

Sounds like a full pad inspection is in order. While each hub is off verify that the diff & driveline are free. I can't imagine you going anywhere like this.

 

[cmiller114]

Eli, I just read over your entire build thread....congratulations and nice job! You stuck with it and worked through the set backs like a champ....hat's off to you.
One system you didn't say much about is your brakes. Looks like a stock '78 disk front/drum rear setup...correct? You did mention a "used booster and MC" are you sure it's correct for the disk/drums?
1000 miles and you're losing brakes!!! and you're headed into the CA, OR mountains! A tune up won't kill you, bad MPG won't kill you, a loaded FJ40 in the mountains with bad brakes WILL kill you. Please get them checked out. I'm sure/hope there are cruiser guys in north CA that can help if needed.

 

[90 Weight]

Eli, I just read over your entire build thread....congratulations and nice job! You stuck with it and worked through the set backs like a champ....hat's off to you.
One system you didn't say much about is your brakes. Looks like a stock '78 disk front/drum rear setup...correct? You did mention a "used booster and MC" are you sure it's correct for the disk/drums?
1000 miles and you're losing brakes!!! and you're headed into the CA, OR mountains! A tune up won't kill you, bad MPG won't kill you, a loaded FJ40 in the mountains with bad brakes WILL kill you. Please get them checked out. I'm sure/hope there are cruiser guys in north CA that can help if needed.

Thanks! I'm always thrilled and surprised when people take the time to go back and start from the begging of this lengthy buildup.

Yes, I wonder, should I post up just here in the 40 section that we are hoping to find someone on the forum who might be able to help diagnose and potentially remedy these (brakes/carb tuning) issues along our intended path, or should I post that somewhere else? We will be in the armstrong woods today and then cutting across through healsberg, calistoga and ultimately up the 5 towards ashland (through redding etc)...

what do you think?

 

[cmiller114]

You are not far from Mudrak's place....I'd go see him, great reputation and knows cruisers.

 

[petescoffee]

Gary Kardum- Mudrak Custom Cruisers is in Sonoma - 707-996-5272 If you are in Healdsburg you are 30 minutes, if that, from Gary. Call him. If he can't get you in, he can refer you to someone else in the area.

Sounds like a brake issue to me. Did you put your rear drum brake adjuster in backwards (is that possible) and the brakes tighten as you go forward. Front Wheel Bearings to tight? Put your hand on your hub after you have driven for a while.

Here is a link to some other shops.

http://tlca.org/tlca/businesses.shtml

 

[Elbert]

it brakes were dragging either service or parking brake...would you not have a nice smell to go with it? And potentially some smoke.

 

[petescoffee]

Did you figure it out?

 

[Brian in Oregon]

Going over the mountain passes, with three people in a loaded FJ40 with 3 people and a loaded jeep trailer, with the top and doors on, I'm getting about 10 mpg. This is with a stock 350, Quadrajet, 4.10 gears, a '79 Toyota 4-speed, and 33x12.50 tires.

Mileage with a 670 Holley Truck Avenger was about 8 mpg at best, empty.

You might want to try a Quadrajet or possibly an Autolight 2100 2-bbl. Both of these are good off-road carbs. The Quadrajet will lug down almost as good as a six. It has less power than a Holley, but the V8 more than makes up for power over a six.

As for cargo on the roof, my wife's 2004 RAV4 gets about 28 mpg on the highway. A rooftop cargo carrier cuts that by 5 mpg. Simple aerodynamics.

 

[90 Weight]

allright- sorry its taken me so long to update- have been driving and without internet/much time.

I checked the brakes for excessive heat...just feel to be about the temperature you would expect a chunk of metal on a hot day to feel....but does not feel like anything in there is getting to warm...

I think it may be running a bit too rich- more and more (elevation change?) I can smell the exhaust...a gas rich smell. No color though.

I'm now in Ashland Oregon, will be here for the evening and then moving on to Medford and Applegate area for tomorrow evening.

Bumped into Curtis, "CJF" here on the forum and he has invited me to come take a look and work on the rig at his place, so we are waiting till tomorrow and hoping that some guys in the area with specific knowledge in tuning carbs/diagnosing the brakes etc may have time to swing by.... if thats you, please send me a pm if you think you might have time to help...

thanks-

ill try to keep this a bit more updated as we progress.

 

[90 Weight]

oh, and I should also make note the past two tanks have improved- ~15ish gallons and ~150 miles.... so the past two tanks have been between 8-10 mpg by my estimation. For both of those tanks, I made sure to keep the RPM's pegged right around 2,500 ~ 55-60mph (via gps) I still think it isnt right that when we come down one of those 7% mountain grades, where they have signs up warning trucks etc, if I start at the top of the hill at 60mph, and let off the gas at any point in the slope, given enough time (maybe 30-45 seconds) without touching the brakes, the rig would slow to a 1st gear pace.... I dont hear any dragging or strange noises during that time, and if I put it into neutral, I coast as expeceted, which i would assume rules out brakes dragging.... when I leave it in drive and coast it feels as though you were in too low of a gear for the speed and it just gradually pulls you down to the right one (and proceeds to shift down to 2nd and 1st gear until you are creeping along)....

 

[90 Weight]

Mileage with a 670 Holley Truck Avenger was about 8 mpg at best, empty.

Its a new edelbrock...not sure if that makes a difference...

 

[GarageRat]

Here's the deal with Edelbrock/AFB compared to a Quadrajet. Carter originally made the Q-Jet for GM before GM had its Rochester division take over production to save costs. When that happened the AFB was designed and made, it is very similar to a Q-Jet in design and operation using a combination of metering rods and jets. I own both carbs and personally have never noticed a difference when tuned for the motor they're on as far as milage, I've had both a tuned Q-Jet and tuned AFB on my Ram Air III I'm now putting in my '63 and the milage was the exact same at about 13 mpg in the Trans Am it was originally in. The key here is that they were rejetted and re-rodded for the motor's needs, if you don't do this with any carb be it Holley, Q-Jet, AFB, etc, you're leaving potential on the table since they're just a general tune for any motor out of the box. I had a friend give up on his Edelbrock because he didn't want to be bothered with trying to work with the carb and bought a Holley Truck Avenger that has also had issues running pig rich as the factory spec is very conservative to avoid a lean condition for 90% of motors it would be put on.

As an interesting side note the Carters were made by Weber for at least a little while as my AFB Performance Series has Weber castings.

 

[KRC73]

I managed to get 16mpg out of my 73 driving from Atlanta to Chattanooga between 55-65 mph. Its got a sbc bored out to 355, edelbrock performer intake, edelbrock 1406 carb, mild cam. I'm also running a 4 inch lift and 33x10.5 km2's. It's also a 3 speed, with 4.11's

 

[90 Weight]

I managed to get 16mpg out of my 73 driving from Atlanta to Chattanooga between 55-65 mph. Its got a sbc bored out to 355, edelbrock performer intake, edelbrock 1406 carb, mild cam. I'm also running a 4 inch lift and 33x10.5 km2's. It's also a 3 speed, with 4.11's

So sans the windsail I have uptop, and the weight in the back, we have a very very similar setup.