Just filled up yesterday.

[regularman]

Filled up with 4.3 gallons and went 142 miles. That is around 33 mpg, a big change from 43 last time. That is what I get for doing a lot of hot rodding and trying to run 80 on the interstate, plus I had the carb off a couple times putting a spacer in between the carb and manifold (weber) and did several fuel pump tests and all this wasted some gas. Oh, well. I got mostly a full tank and no more driving until lake of the Ozarks. I will check it again there. If we go on some long drives and not in these mountains, I might be able to get a good highway mileage reading.

 

[10musketeer]

Man, I have a 1275 and a Weber and I can only seem to get about 18 mpg! Must be leaking some out!

 

[RickB]

Kim has done some tuning on his Weber, maybe he will fill us in with some specs?

 

[recordsj]

that info would be good for comparison.
Kim,
What car, year & size of engine do you have?
What type of Weber do you have?
Can you provide the jet sizes you are using?
Any special modifications to the engine do you have?
Any other modifications to the car exhaust?
What type and brand and model of fuel pump do you have?

 

[Guest]

..plus I had the carb off a couple times putting a spacer in between the carb and manifold

Spacer? Curiosity strikes me. Please tell me more.

 

[regularman]

Ok, whew. From the beginning. This is an ongoing 10 year project that I started after I drove the midget and decided he was a keeper. OK, first. I have had a lot of experience with the A series motor in the Mini. The mini and a spridget are not that far apart in weight and a mini would get 40mpg. OK, I have also had lots of experience with the small fords like Pinto and MustangII and the ranger with the 2.3 and holley 5200 carb. The Holley 5200 is to the weber dgv what the Midget is to the sprite. They are the same. The weber carb is probably the most versitile carb ever made. Fits everything from a 750 up to a 2300 cc engine with the right jetting. They make kits for volkswagen bugs and mazeratis and ferraris and about every 4 cylinder carbed engine made. There is a reason, better idling, less to fool with and better performace. people are still putting them on things today. Just spoke to a guy on a Subaru message board last week and he did the weber swap and got more power and better MPG.

 

[regularman]

I have almost no experience with SU carbs except for an old mercedes I used to have and the minis always had the one SU and they worked and I never touched them. When ever you have more than one carb, its easy to get issues with them working against each other. I have worked with several motorcycles and this is usually the case unless you keep up with them and keep thme in tune.

 

[regularman]

I have the 1275 in a 1971 midget and the weber DGV. My main jet was a 140 but that was way too high, took to 135 too high, 130 not quite there and then 127. The 127 is a guess as I did not have that jet and I soldered up another jet and drilled it out to a size just smaller than the 130 and the 127 is the next smallest. When I first got the car. First thing I noticed was that it was too rich. I could start is and cut the choke off and it would till run. It almost needed no choke and even with this set up, I got 30 back and forth to work and 37 on the highway on a trip to roanoke, va from here.

 

[regularman]

It was too rich and too low geared for good MPG. I am a child of the 70s and I remember gas prices tripling when I was a kid and I hated it and never got over it. Now we are there again it would seem. Anyways, I went down in my jet size and went from a 3.90 to a 3.55 rear gear and also installed a datsun 5 speed. I am still in the testing stages of the project. I have an electronic replacement for the SU fuel pump, though I don't think that would make any difference as the float controls the fuel flow in the end. The reason for the spacer was that the carb seems to be percolating or vapor locking at times in a long pull and the engine starves. The phenolic spacer was for insulation. It is about 3/8 inch and the air filter housing just rubs the hood now with a ram flow filter. Also I found a leak in the upper radiator hose that might have been helping cause my problem with the carb.

 

[regularman]

Sorry to drag this out. OK, a 1.3 engine should get around 40 in a small car. My wife's festiva will attest to that. It gets 40 mpg average, not just highway and weighs about the same as a spridget but is higher geared. That last run I got 43 MPg and I climbed to mount pisgah a local mountain on the blue ridge parkway and did some in town driving as well, but lots of 60 mph on the interstate in between. This run I said what the heck and kept putting it to the floor leaving stop lights and I saw how fast it would go on the interstate for a few miles.

 

[Silverghost]

Kim, you must have gotten one whopper of a deja-vu with current events!

 

[regularman]

Kim, you must have gotten one whopper of a deja-vu with current events!

Eh, I had better things to spend my money on than fuel when it was a buck a gallon. Now its just that everyone is catching on because of the price. There is a reason I saved my little motorbike that gets 75+ mpg. I bought it when I was 19 and kept it for just such occasions as this.

 

[Guest]

Sold my 250 Yamaha scooter last summer. Awesome MPG and cruised decent at 60. It was a great machine on the roads of Oahu and Guam. When I got here I rebuilt the thing, took it out for three rides and decided to sell it. Potholes and tiny tires don't go over to well- I was afraid I would get eaten by one. Between the potholes and the SUV suburbia madness, the thing was a death machine.

 

[regularman]

Sold my 250 Yamaha scooter last summer. Awesome MPG and cruised decent at 60. It was a great machine on the roads of Oahu and Guam. When I got here I rebuilt the thing, took it out for three rides and decided to sell it. Potholes and tiny tires don't go over to well- I was afraid I would get eaten by one. Between the potholes and the SUV suburbia madness, the thing was a death machine.

yes, that is one thing people don't understand about scooters is the small tires. The old "moped" style with big wheels was not so bad. The bigger the tire the easier it is on bumps, expecially the front tire. Mine is just a small motorcycle, but has a 17" front wheel and rides pretty comfy.

 

[regularman]

A picture of it. My lunch is laying on the seat and my drink beside the rear wheel. Just watching traffic go by on the parkway. You see some interesting vehicles up there, but there is a strange lack of British cars except for later model Jags, Minis, and Land Rovers.

 

[Baz]

Kim, don't forget to bring your helmet....

 

[regularman]

Kim, don't forget to bring your helmet....

Is it going to get that bad?

 

[Trevor Jessie]

oooh, glad you reminded me. I doubt I will "compete", but it might be fun to putter through the course and help out.

 

[regularman]

Oh, that is what you are on about. OK, full face helmet is what I have. I got a medium head. I could check out some of my junk open face helmets and see If i have one that is presentable. My tires are too tall for that stuff but we will see.

 

[Trevor Jessie]

C'mon Kim, I've never done autocross but I'm going to putter through (I don't want to break anything).