Got a new 914!, Post 2011 Evil Tranny Clinic update: Options

[Root_Werks]

Well, first tank of fuel didn't really yield anything to write home about.

284 miles (Real miles, not Porsche's optimistic assement of speedometer readings)

11 gallons of fuel

25.8 or 26 mpg.

Eh, it's an average with very mixed driving, test driving, sporty driving, some freeway, some light foot, some heavy foot.

26mpg is a far cry from what I'm shooting for though. Time to source an LM1 and tune by the AFM numbers.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

Second tank, mostly in-town driving, actually, very, very little HWY miles. Only yielded 21.1 mpg.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)
I did richen up the dynamic by 4 teeth, more low-end, but fuel economy suffered. Dang, just no having the cake and eating to.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)
Geoff, if you're around this weekend, let me know. I can swing by, set using the LM1 and then drive a couple of tanks, see what the mpg average is.

Runs really good, sold on L-Jet for sure.

[Root_Werks]

Well, first tank of fuel didn't really yield anything to write home about.

284 miles (Real miles, not Porsche's optimistic assement of speedometer readings)

11 gallons of fuel

25.8 or 26 mpg.

Eh, it's an average with very mixed driving, test driving, sporty driving, some freeway, some light foot, some heavy foot.

26mpg is a far cry from what I'm shooting for though. Time to source an LM1 and tune by the AFM numbers.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

Second tank, mostly in-town driving, actually, very, very little HWY miles. Only yielded 21.1 mpg.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)
I did richen up the dynamic by 4 teeth, more low-end, but fuel economy suffered. Dang, just no having the cake and eating to.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)
Geoff, if you're around this weekend, let me know. I can swing by, set using the LM1 and then drive a couple of tanks, see what the mpg average is.

Runs really good, sold on L-Jet for sure.

3rd tank I set the dynamic back to just a couple teeth from stock 1.8. Still runs out perfect, maybe slightly cold=blooded for about 2-3 minutes, but that could be other FI parts causing it.

Yielded 26.8 mpg this tank.

I'm going to swap out for the stock dizzy this week. I'm still running the Bosch '022' (A real one) and love the advance curve, but wondering if the retard/advance vac lines will help with fuel economy?

If not, I'll just swap it back out.

With my day to day driving being 90% in-town, I think If I can bust into the 30's for MPG, I'd be doing really well.

Does that mean I'd make 40mpg even on an all freeway trip? Probably not. But I bet the 914 might touch upper 30's on a freeway trip?

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

[Andyrew]

30MPG on in town driving would be pretty substantial!

As a comparison I pretty much get 30mpg on my CRX SI in town. Lots of heavy footing there. I also have done 44mpg on the highway, and still looking to better than number..

Granted Honda is different from VW, Im cruising at 70 at 2500 in 5th.

[Cupomeat]

You'll get there. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cheer.gif)

I get 36mpg hwy on my 75 with a 1911 and L-Jet.

Great thread and it taught me stuff on the L-jet that I didn't know, nor could get from the Bosch book.

[Root_Werks]

You'll get there. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cheer.gif)

I get 36mpg hwy on my 75 with a 1911 and L-Jet.

Great thread and it taught me stuff on the L-jet that I didn't know, nor could get from the Bosch book.

Cool!

My next step will be an "H" 5th I think. I have more than enough torque to pull it. I know it won't help with the in-town driving, but on local club events it'll yield some good numbers.

A couple of things I will do to increase the MPG will be:

Alignment, I know I need one and should have done this long ago.
Ignition, try the stock dist, maybe even migrate to stock CD box and TDC plugs?
Finalize engine state of tune, LM1, set the AFM

After that, I think the fuel economy is about as good as it'll get unless I crack the case open, start changing the cam, P/C's etc.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

[Cupomeat]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)
I went to a Mallory Optical distributor just to keep things stable and reliable WITH the vacuum canister on it.

Also, the alignment is CRITICAL. I was getting 4 mpg less highway before I got my front alignment done.

AND, don't get the widest tires you can fit on your rims. Stick with a mid size tire (185-195 section width) and you'll reap the MPG benefits.

Good luck!

[Andyrew]

On all my cars I have my fun tires, then my run around tires.. Which are typically rock hard skinny's.. If I plan on driving over 200 miles i'll swap em out. I see a 3mpg difference on my Audi between my 18's and my 15's, and about 2mpg on my honda.

[messix]

JEEZZ!

just go get a prius!!!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/slap.gif)

these cars are s'posed to be fun to drive and as a side beni they get pretty good fuel economy!!!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/first.gif)

the thing is ..... Dan can NOT just get a car and drive it.... he's got to constantly be "tim the tool man tayloring" it until he gets bored with it, then sells it for another project thats needs much more work than he got rid of!!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/screwy.gif)


he's got an angel of a wife!!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/pray.gif)

[Root_Werks]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/happy11.gif)

Monster Squareback is keeping my hands off the 914 for now.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/happy11.gif)

I keep eye-balling 924's in the local area......roof sections. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

[IronHillRestorations]

Skinny tires slightly over inflated will help net a fraction more MPG.

[Root_Werks]

Skinny tires slightly over inflated will help net a fraction more MPG.

Running 185/65/15's @ 35psig cold.

[Root_Werks]

Well, first tank of fuel didn't really yield anything to write home about.

284 miles (Real miles, not Porsche's optimistic assement of speedometer readings)

11 gallons of fuel

25.8 or 26 mpg.

Eh, it's an average with very mixed driving, test driving, sporty driving, some freeway, some light foot, some heavy foot.

26mpg is a far cry from what I'm shooting for though. Time to source an LM1 and tune by the AFM numbers.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

Second tank, mostly in-town driving, actually, very, very little HWY miles. Only yielded 21.1 mpg.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)
I did richen up the dynamic by 4 teeth, more low-end, but fuel economy suffered. Dang, just no having the cake and eating to.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)
Geoff, if you're around this weekend, let me know. I can swing by, set using the LM1 and then drive a couple of tanks, see what the mpg average is.

Runs really good, sold on L-Jet for sure.

3rd tank I set the dynamic back to just a couple teeth from stock 1.8. Still runs out perfect, maybe slightly cold=blooded for about 2-3 minutes, but that could be other FI parts causing it.

Yielded 26.8 mpg this tank.

I'm going to swap out for the stock dizzy this week. I'm still running the Bosch '022' (A real one) and love the advance curve, but wondering if the retard/advance vac lines will help with fuel economy?

If not, I'll just swap it back out.

With my day to day driving being 90% in-town, I think If I can bust into the 30's for MPG, I'd be doing really well.

Does that mean I'd make 40mpg even on an all freeway trip? Probably not. But I bet the 914 might touch upper 30's on a freeway trip?

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

4th tank yielded 28mpg with part of that coming from a weekend 914 drive up Mt Baker. I think I would have done better with just 'normal' driving. Plus about 1/2 way through the tank I switched to the stock 1.8 dist with pertronix. The FI really likes this set-up even better than the 022 I was running.

I just filled the tank yesterday, it's taking much longer to burn through a tank of fuel now. I wen't 330 actual miles on my last tank. It's nice to have an easy 300+ mile range. I'm shooting for 400, but I honestly don't think I'll make it unless it's all on a long easy freeway trip.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

[DRPHIL914]

Well, first tank of fuel didn't really yield anything to write home about.

284 miles (Real miles, not Porsche's optimistic assement of speedometer readings)

11 gallons of fuel

25.8 or 26 mpg.

Eh, it's an average with very mixed driving, test driving, sporty driving, some freeway, some light foot, some heavy foot.

26mpg is a far cry from what I'm shooting for though. Time to source an LM1 and tune by the AFM numbers.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

Second tank, mostly in-town driving, actually, very, very little HWY miles. Only yielded 21.1 mpg.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)
I did richen up the dynamic by 4 teeth, more low-end, but fuel economy suffered. Dang, just no having the cake and eating to.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)
Geoff, if you're around this weekend, let me know. I can swing by, set using the LM1 and then drive a couple of tanks, see what the mpg average is.

Runs really good, sold on L-Jet for sure.

3rd tank I set the dynamic back to just a couple teeth from stock 1.8. Still runs out perfect, maybe slightly cold=blooded for about 2-3 minutes, but that could be other FI parts causing it.

Yielded 26.8 mpg this tank.

I'm going to swap out for the stock dizzy this week. I'm still running the Bosch '022' (A real one) and love the advance curve, but wondering if the retard/advance vac lines will help with fuel economy?

If not, I'll just swap it back out.

With my day to day driving being 90% in-town, I think If I can bust into the 30's for MPG, I'd be doing really well.

Does that mean I'd make 40mpg even on an all freeway trip? Probably not. But I bet the 914 might touch upper 30's on a freeway trip?

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

4th tank yielded 28mpg with part of that coming from a weekend 914 drive up Mt Baker. I think I would have done better with just 'normal' driving. Plus about 1/2 way through the tank I switched to the stock 1.8 dist with pertronix. The FI really likes this set-up even better than the 022 I was running.

I just filled the tank yesterday, it's taking much longer to burn through a tank of fuel now. I wen't 330 actual miles on my last tank. It's nice to have an easy 300+ mile range. I'm shooting for 400, but I honestly don't think I'll make it unless it's all on a long easy freeway trip.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

interesting thread- not trying to hijack your thread,--- but also looking for some advice on this subject. since i am 1 year into my 75 914 2.0 d-jet, just finished a trip to Florida- first road trip, Got 31mpg going down - running 75-78mph, but on way back at 70mph, got 34! . Pretty happy with that, next tank in town to work was 26mpg.
Now, i have a fast idle that is hurting it and a couple other issue, but new tires(195), new injection, but wondering with d-jet how i can improve it- also just put in new sshe with triad exhaust, and this has helped as well.
(and i have not taken it in to have the valves etc checked).
any other suggestions?
What is the best mpg anyone has had out there?

phil

[Root_Werks]

Don't forget to adjust for Porsche's or maybe VDO's inaccuracy of the speedo.

I've never been in a 914 that was less than 5% off, most are 10-15% off actual speed.

Mine is 8% off with my 185/65/15's. So I always subtract that off the total miles traveled when calculating mpg figures.

Otherwise I would have already touched the 40mpg mark! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

I plan on sending my speedo in and having it re-calibrated with my current tires.

Annoying to see 70mph when you're only going roughly 60mph. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

"Look, look! We're going 100mph!" (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

[KELTY360]

JEEZZ!

just go get a prius!!!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/slap.gif)

Or maybe a Metro (IMG:style_emoticons/default/slap.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/bootyshake.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/stirthepot.gif)

[Bleyseng]

Well, first tank of fuel didn't really yield anything to write home about.

284 miles (Real miles, not Porsche's optimistic assement of speedometer readings)

11 gallons of fuel

25.8 or 26 mpg.

Eh, it's an average with very mixed driving, test driving, sporty driving, some freeway, some light foot, some heavy foot.

26mpg is a far cry from what I'm shooting for though. Time to source an LM1 and tune by the AFM numbers.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

Second tank, mostly in-town driving, actually, very, very little HWY miles. Only yielded 21.1 mpg.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)
I did richen up the dynamic by 4 teeth, more low-end, but fuel economy suffered. Dang, just no having the cake and eating to.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)
Geoff, if you're around this weekend, let me know. I can swing by, set using the LM1 and then drive a couple of tanks, see what the mpg average is.

Runs really good, sold on L-Jet for sure.

3rd tank I set the dynamic back to just a couple teeth from stock 1.8. Still runs out perfect, maybe slightly cold=blooded for about 2-3 minutes, but that could be other FI parts causing it.

Yielded 26.8 mpg this tank.

I'm going to swap out for the stock dizzy this week. I'm still running the Bosch '022' (A real one) and love the advance curve, but wondering if the retard/advance vac lines will help with fuel economy?

If not, I'll just swap it back out.

With my day to day driving being 90% in-town, I think If I can bust into the 30's for MPG, I'd be doing really well.

Does that mean I'd make 40mpg even on an all freeway trip? Probably not. But I bet the 914 might touch upper 30's on a freeway trip?

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

4th tank yielded 28mpg with part of that coming from a weekend 914 drive up Mt Baker. I think I would have done better with just 'normal' driving. Plus about 1/2 way through the tank I switched to the stock 1.8 dist with pertronix. The FI really likes this set-up even better than the 022 I was running.

I just filled the tank yesterday, it's taking much longer to burn through a tank of fuel now. I wen't 330 actual miles on my last tank. It's nice to have an easy 300+ mile range. I'm shooting for 400, but I honestly don't think I'll make it unless it's all on a long easy freeway trip.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

interesting thread- not trying to hijack your thread,--- but also looking for some advice on this subject. since i am 1 year into my 75 914 2.0 d-jet, just finished a trip to Florida- first road trip, Got 31mpg going down - running 75-78mph, but on way back at 70mph, got 34! . Pretty happy with that, next tank in town to work was 26mpg.
Now, i have a fast idle that is hurting it and a couple other issue, but new tires(195), new injection, but wondering with d-jet how i can improve it- also just put in new sshe with triad exhaust, and this has helped as well.
(and i have not taken it in to have the valves etc checked).
any other suggestions?
What is the best mpg anyone has had out there?

phil

Best corrected mpg I have got is 33 going to Portland Ore..At mostly 75-100mph I have gotten 30mpg going to Yakima..
I run the 75-76 ECU so when you life off the petal the fuel is shut off til 1800 rpms...that helps a lot.
I don't run hard tire with high psi either..
Dan, sorry to miss you but I'll be back in 5-6months. You could contact Blair if you want to borrow the LM1 setup. Good to see you put in the correct dizzy with optical ignition as that does help. Put in the TDC's to improve spark too.

[Root_Werks]

26.0 1st tank initial FI fire-up
21.1 2nd tank turned it up (richened the AFM), more power, mpg suffered
26.8 3rd tank turned AFM back still running 022
27.8 4th tank installed stock vac 1.8 FI dist

5th Tank since FI conversion was 27.25mpg (no changes, just drove it)

So it seems I've hit the peak of what's possible unless I really start changing up the internals, adding an "H" 5th or just simply do more freeway driving. These are essentially in-town miles.

I'm getting an easy 330 real miles out of each tank of fuel and that's not even running it dry. THAT makes me happy. Cost of just about any other mods won't yield any payback. So this is pretty much it for this project.

Driving it daily for months and plan on continuing to drive it daily.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

[Bleyseng]

Thats damn good for in city driving, Dan. A nice long freeway trip to see what the mpg would be interesting.

[messix]

better than many new 2L powered cars.

and much better than a 15mpg six conversion! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif)

i think you need another car to turn into a six so you can have one that puts the silly smile on your face when you romp on it (IMG:style_emoticons/default/happy11.gif) 1

[Root_Werks]

So when you gonna swing by and check out the progress on the Monster SB Troy?

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/poke.gif)

Very happy with my 914 right now. A lot of work has really turned it into a great driver.

Yesterday I was heading home, it was cold and raining. No leaks, windows nice and clear and I was comfy inside listening to tunes. That's when you know you've done at least some things right. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)