Thread: Motor Transplant

fuel economy is a bad question, as I have no way of calculating it, the speedo is in miles per hour, and bears no resemblance to what is really happening, so I haven't tried to work it out.
not having a large tank also makes thinking about fuel use important, but I carry spare fuel anyway.
running lt225/75r16 road tyres, as they came cheap on a set of widies, but these are really too small in diameter, making the car too close to the ground with clearance issues, but no tyre noise and good comfortable ride considering the rest of the suspension needs a restoration, sagged springs etc. will fix that once I get it all back to a station wagon and know the real ride height.

Originally Posted by harry

fuel economy is a bad question, as I have no way of calculating it, the speedo is in miles per hour, and bears no resemblance to what is really happening, so I haven't tried to work it out.
not having a large tank also makes thinking about fuel use important, but I carry spare fuel anyway.
running lt225/75r16 road tyres, as they came cheap on a set of widies, but these are really too small in diameter, making the car too close to the ground with clearance issues, but no tyre noise and good comfortable ride considering the rest of the suspension needs a restoration, sagged springs etc. will fix that once I get it all back to a station wagon and know the real ride height.

With those tyres (approx 700mm dia) and the 3.54's if you multiply your odometer reading by 1.3 it will give you a close idea of distance travelled.
I have 3.54's in my series 3 and have similar profile tyres.


Cheers, Mick.

Originally Posted by harry

fuel economy is a bad question, as I have no way of calculating it, the speedo is in miles per hour, and bears no resemblance to what is really happening, so I haven't tried to work it out.
not having a large tank also makes thinking about fuel use important, but I carry spare fuel anyway.
running lt225/75r16 road tyres, as they came cheap on a set of widies, but these are really too small in diameter, making the car too close to the ground with clearance issues, but no tyre noise and good comfortable ride considering the rest of the suspension needs a restoration, sagged springs etc. will fix that once I get it all back to a station wagon and know the real ride height.

I found an easy way work out fuel consumption, all you need is a "smart" phone with GPS software on it, this will tell you the distance travelled. So all you need to do is fill the tank and start the GPS software, go for a drive and note the distance travelled and then go back and fill up and note the amount of fuel used and distance travelled. I used this on a few old cars with dubious odometer readings.

Originally Posted by Seriestwo

I found an easy way work out fuel consumption, all you need is a "smart" phone with GPS software on it, this will tell you the distance travelled. So all you need to do is fill the tank and start the GPS software, go for a drive and note the distance travelled and then go back and fill up and note the amount of fuel used and distance travelled. I used this on a few old cars with dubious odometer readings.

sign posts between towns have been doing this for years

Very good points already bought up.

My experience is with a Holden 186 in a LWB, standard diffs, on 32" and 31" tyres. 32" tyres are way better IMO, much more relaxed driving. The old 186 will pull the car along with the traffic at the lights and if I want I can ever put a scare in some cars if I thrash a bit. 4x4ing though, the 186 leave a lot to be desired, not enough bottom end torque and my engine gets hot quick if the air flow is reduced for too long.

I'm currently building up a SWB with standard diffs, ashcroft high speed transfer and a 200tdi. Google 200tdi engine swaps over in england, they quote 30-40mpg which is like 10 L/100kms i think - sounds a little too good to be true really but I'm hoping I can get close to that.

Our series 2a was fitted with r16 7.0 road tyres because we couldnt purchase 7.5's in time for our trip from Melb to Perth.

Our series 2a is all original, has a fairely o/d fitted, and has a rebuilt engine, new carb etc.

Our highway consumption was 200 to 220 miles per 11 gallon tank, twin tanks kept full, vehicle also had 4 22 litre jerry cans, two 100 kilo humans and 3 sut cases.

The catch was we traveled at 50 mph.

Standard highway consumption here in Perth at 65 MPH is about 140 miles per 11 gallon tank

Originally Posted by debruiser

Very good points already bought up.

My experience is with a Holden 186 in a LWB, standard diffs, on 32" and 31" tyres. 32" tyres are way better IMO, much more relaxed driving. The old 186 will pull the car along with the traffic at the lights and if I want I can ever put a scare in some cars if I thrash a bit. 4x4ing though, the 186 leave a lot to be desired, not enough bottom end torque and my engine gets hot quick if the air flow is reduced for too long.

I'm currently building up a SWB with standard diffs, ashcroft high speed transfer and a 200tdi. Google 200tdi engine swaps over in england, they quote 30-40mpg which is like 10 L/100kms i think - sounds a little too good to be true really but I'm hoping I can get close to that.

I had a 186 in my IIA and turfed it for a 2.25D. Best thing I ever did.

That sort of consumption sounds reasonable for a 200Tdi if the vehicle and gearing (and the way it's driven) is right. I have a 200Tdi Defender which gets consumption figures similar to that. Just under 30mpg usually (my 2.25D IIA gets 30mpg rain, hail or shine) - and on one particular run she came in just under 39mpg. I must have been holding my mouth right that day.