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95 miles on 1.9 gallons

RickB

Yoda
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I have continued to tweak my Datsun 210 trying to get the best mileage possible.
Today my wife drove it to Centralia and back, on the way down she "forgot" there was a 5th gear and only got 31 mpg.
That was 55 miles of 'before' and 95 miles of 'after' my latest work on it.
So, she drove in 5th gear on the way back and filled up before leaving Centralia and then again when she arrived in Snoqualmie.
When she got home she couldn't get it to take more than 1.9 gallons even though she tried.

That's 50 MPG highway!! Who needs a friggin Prius?
 
:D I like it Rick. My dad bought a 1976 B210 and when I was broke I could get near 50 and it was just a 4 speed. I know that a 5 speed should give 50. I could get close to that with the 1275 and my gearing but I have never taken it on a long trip since I did all the work. Its not going to get much over 40 here in the mountains but on flat land I am sure it would get around 50 at 60mph.
 
It's got the small round port econo head and the hitachi downdraft carb.
 
Thanks, you are really making me wishy washy on the 210 motor verus 1275 in my wives Bugeye.

I pretty sure the 210 motor I have for rebuild is the A15 eco motor. Where did you get the intake/carb set up?

I having a hard time getting "my groove on", when it comes to modifying the 210.

The stock carb/intake I understand will not fit under the bonnet of Bugeye.
 
Tom, my A15 is running the H89 head and a single hs6 SU. Regularly gets over 40mpg when I can keep my foot out of it. more often 34mpg cause I can't!

I agree with Rick...why all the hybrids when we could get great gas mileage by just building the right vehicle and fitting the right engine!!
 
A15 and 5 speed in my Midget only gets 25 - 28 mpg
It has the hi performance head and a pair of Brit HIF4's.
It's a fun car to drive, but not real economical...

The one in the Datsun is an A14 with the econo head and the little downdraft carb, it was spec'd at 48mpg in 1980 and I've been trying to see if it could indeed do that.
Success!
 
If I remember correctly, Rick, you have the h72 head on your midget. I have one of the small round port heads which, I believe, were the economy head before the h95 head.

Tom, I would happily pay big $$$ for another h89 if you know where to find one!!!

Kurt.
 
I agree with Rick...why all the hybrids when we could get great gas mileage by just building the right vehicle and fitting the right engine!!

<political opinions snipped - we're all friends here>
I'm just glad to be recycling an old used car and getting great fuel economy.
There are cars in the world that get 100+ MPG. When you are spending $10+ a gallon you really need economical cars.
 
"Tom, I would happily pay big $$$ for another h89 if you know where to find one!!!"

What's the value of the H89? Maybe I should be looking for these along with the 5 speed trans.
 
Kurt, I always look when I encounter an A series but no further luck yet.

Rick, the H89 is an oval post head with a smallish combustion chamber (as opposed to the larger H72). It's a desired part but I don't know what the market would be. Consider it #2 to the large-port GX head. It was not a US market part but came here on top of low-mileage import replacement engines. I just got lucky at the self-serve yard one day.
The parts I have so far are an A15 engine, H89 head, GX dual carb intake and a pair of HIF44s. Still a long ways away from being able to rebuild it all.
 
The H89 head was mainly Japan Domestic Market [JDM] while we were getting smog head's that didn't get great fuel mileage. The H89 has good ports for good flow and the Westlake designed combustion chamber which is more efficient on fuel but, I believe, makes more NOX.
The Westlake combustion chamber is the same design on most British cars. Sort of a heart shape. The h95 head has the good combustion chamber but really shrouded ports.
 
The shrouded ports in the H95 is for mixture swirl. The H95 is the 50MPG head.

I'm not gonna use it.

But I am gonna use the pistons that are mates for the H95. They have an offset dish of smaller diameter than the mating pistons for the H89 head. I figger it will give me a larger squish zone against the flat part of the head. I CC'd the dish and they compare well to the dish in the H89 mates and so I just have to trim deck height to get the CR around 9.5:1 (once I get things machined and mocked up). Then some port and bowl work on the heads, stock valve size. Some sort of regrind cam profile, headers, HIF44s. I dunno what it will put out but it will be a happy little mill.

Here is a pix of the chambers nomad mentioned.
GX-H89-04.jpg
 
Tom did you take into account the head gasket and the pistons not coming clear to the top of the bore? My calculations showed no need to shave the head to get 9.5 to 1 cr. I did the same thing as you as to pistons for the same reason. I f I could have gotten new pistons with the same dish I think I would have bored it for a bit more displacement.

Kurt
 
Tom did you take into account the head gasket and the pistons not coming clear to the top of the bore? My calculations showed no need to shave the head to get 9.5 to 1 cr. I did the same thing as you as to pistons for the same reason. I f I could have gotten new pistons with the same dish I think I would have bored it for a bit more displacement.

Kurt

Kurt, I have done a basic calc and my numbers are written down in a folder that is not with me. My plan gets me close. But of course the final determination of how much to take off the head and the deck will be gained after initial R&R of the block & crank, rods. The usual. I will be posting a build thread when I finally get to do this.
 
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