18.9 MPG - New personal long trip MPG record!

[MR.T]

Just back from a trip to Sacramento, Reno, and Death Valley. 2076 paved road miles and 109.9 gallons = 18.9 MPG average! Plenty of mountain passes, one was over 8000 FT. Worst section was 16.8 MPG. The best run was 540 miles straight on I-5 -- 20.5 MPG.

The off-road miles were excluded, filling up in Death Valley, before and after, at $4.33 per gallon! The off road MPG was only 6.3, and more then half of that was actually paved en-route miles. First gear in low-range has a way of sucking fuel without going far. It was a great trip!

In case anyone is curious, there's no special mods. Just good injectors and IP timing, top quality tires, synthetic lubes everywhere, and driving slower then I want to... especially at higher elevations (no smoke is a good thing ).

 

[icanfixall]

What was this trip for... Just site seeing or hunting... Glad nothing broke along the trip but... You have plenty of site emebers all along the route you took...

 

[HankHill]

nice man, your lucky my trucks got new ip and injectors and I only get 13.4mpg

 

[MR.T]

What was this trip for... Just site seeing or hunting... Glad nothing broke along the trip but... You have plenty of site emebers all along the route you took...

Maybe next time we can meet some of you! I think we're going again next spring, haven't set a date.

The Sacramento part was visiting relatives. DV (Death Valley) was exploring, plus some good food and swimming at Furnace Creek ranch. We also went this May, and decided to go again. Actually, it's the 25th anniversary with the wife, not the exact date, but close enough for us. You see we broke down in DV 25 years ago, a busted spindle on a Dana 44.

It wasn't even an off-road adventure. To make a long story short, we were on the paved, curvy road going downhill from Scotty's castle. No AC, windows down, and she says that something is burning. I initially figured it was just her imagination but pulled over anyway. Got out and the right front wheel had about 5 degrees of extra camber plus the brake drum was smoking -- Jacked it up with a hydraulic jack, and as soon as some load was off the tire it fell over with the brake drum and half the spindle attached. One more curve and I would have be driving a three wheeler down some ravine.

Anyway, she calls AAA and actually talks them into adding some extra towing coverage -- it's summer and the only tow is at Baker (had to be well over 100 miles each way). That call saved us a small fortune (and I'll be a member for life with gratitude). Ended up fixing it in a motel parking lot at Baker a few days later, then moved to Oregon a few months later. So, 25 years later we decided to finish the trip...

 

[MR.T]

nice man, your lucky my trucks got new ip and injectors and I only get 13.4mpg

Thanks, it was optimum conditions, long highway driving. 'Wasn't doing 70+ like I used to, just pacing the slower trucks in the right lane (57-60 MPH).

 

[Dave7.3]

Thanks, it was optimum conditions, long highway driving. 'Wasn't doing 70+ like I used to, just pacing the slower trucks in the right lane (57-60 MPH).

Congratulations on finally finishing your trip after all these years.

I also wanted to add, right in that 57-60 MPH range seems to be where these trucks thrive for mileage. My 91' when it was N/A was flirting with 20mpg most of the summer with that nice and easy pace.

 

[rhkcommander]

no smoke?

I envy the mpg but not how much it cost there.. 4+$? I was in cali around a year ago on my way to vegas and busing it there and the prices were high 3's..

ps where ya at in ore? I've heard a few in salem and portland areas. I'm in N.Salem

 

[Dieselcrawler]

for a while with my old 83 f250(the one in my avatar) i was getting 24.5-25 mpg on the highway. 6.9 na, np435 trans,np205 tcase, 1 ton rear with 3.55 gears and 35 inch tires. had single tank and made it from lima ohio to sellersville pa with one fuel stop. 9.5 hr drive at 70-75 mph.

yes my speedo was correct, i changed the little gears around till it was withing 1mph.

 

[BrandonMag]

Good story. I visited Death Valley for the first time earlier this year. I didn't get a chance to make it up to Scotty's castle, though. There was too much road construction on Scotty's Castle Road. Is it as nice as the brochures make it sound?

 

[MR.T]

no smoke?

I envy the mpg but not how much it cost there.. 4+$? I was in cali around a year ago on my way to vegas and busing it there and the prices were high 3's..

ps where ya at in ore? I've heard a few in salem and portland areas. I'm in N.Salem

I'm about 20 miles from Oregon city. Fuel is about $1 per gallon higher inside DV (low volume and high transport costs). Fuel elsewhere was about the same prices as Oregon.

On the smoke, I'm referring to the dark continous exhaust smoke that happens when there isn't enough oxygen to burn all the fuel, so efficiency goes way down. This IP has the standard calibration, but at high altitude (no turbo) the exhaust will start getting dark at maybe 3/4 throttle for example -- Cruise control will apply full throttle uphill if speed drops low enough, so I'll keep cruise off and keep an eye on the exhaust in the mirror. Actually, checking the exhaust is one of the co-pilots jobs .

 

[zacky6661]

i think my n/a gets around 19 ish. i drive everywhere and it only takes like 40 bucks to fill it at 3.20 ish per gallon. and i go through that in about a week and a half, c6 tran, 3.73 with 33s, dont do much highway driving cause of the semi-low gearing though. motor starts sweatin' pretty hard if i go to pass someone.

never smokes either, pukes out a little bit at a cold start, but even from a dead stop getting on her, never so much as a haze comes out. dont really know the condition of my ip or injectors, but i plan on rebuilding the top end of the motor when tax returns come, including new ip/injectors.

any advice before i do that?

 

[MR.T]

Good story. I visited Death Valley for the first time earlier this year. I didn't get a chance to make it up to Scotty's castle, though. There was too much road construction on Scotty's Castle Road. Is it as nice as the brochures make it sound?

Thanks. The tour of Scotty's Castle is every bit as good as the brochures say. I was also there in late May, as well as last week. Road construction was going on, but we came in that little winding road from the North-East and toured the Castle before finding out about the construction delays on the road South of Scotty's.

Something else to see is the Amagosa Opera House in Death Valley Junction. It's not actually in the valley (despite the name), it's South-East of Furnace Creek. I used to go out there 30 years ago and see the show, sometimes there was only a few people in the audience. Marta is really getting up in age, and did a "sitting-down" show in May, and there was a younger dancer that did the main performance. The desert has a lot of colorful people.

 

[95Bronco]

I've been considering swapping my Bronco's gasser engine for an IDI, but I'm not sure if it would be worth it from a MPG standpoint.

 

[MR.T]

i think my n/a gets around 19 ish. i drive everywhere and it only takes like 40 bucks to fill it at 3.20 ish per gallon. and i go through that in about a week and a half, c6 tran, 3.73 with 33s, dont do much highway driving cause of the semi-low gearing though. motor starts sweatin' pretty hard if i go to pass someone.

never smokes either, pukes out a little bit at a cold start, but even from a dead stop getting on her, never so much as a haze comes out. dont really know the condition of my ip or injectors, but i plan on rebuilding the top end of the motor when tax returns come, including new ip/injectors.

any advice before i do that?

If it was me, I would be hesitant about replacing the IP or injectors on a machine running that well.

BTW- I lived in Arlington for a bit (1987), used to drive 60 miles to The Dalles to go shopping.

 

[Full Monte]

Just back from a trip to Sacramento, Reno, and Death Valley. 2076 paved road miles and 109.9 gallons = 18.9 MPG average! Plenty of mountain passes, one was over 8000 FT. Worst section was 16.8 MPG. The best run was 540 miles straight on I-5 -- 20.5 MPG.

The off-road miles were excluded, filling up in Death Valley, before and after, at $4.33 per gallon! The off road MPG was only 6.3, and more then half of that was actually paved en-route miles. First gear in low-range has a way of sucking fuel without going far. It was a great trip!

In case anyone is curious, there's no special mods. Just good injectors and IP timing, top quality tires, synthetic lubes everywhere, and driving slower then I want to... especially at higher elevations (no smoke is a good thing ).

Well, if you get towed all over the country, anybody can get great mileage!