Driving hot rods with $4 a gallon prices--I love it, when I can do it

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dodge freak

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So I took my car out 2 days in a row today, first time in a while. Got $20 of fuel and hey the 93 stuff was "only" $3.999 so I got a full 5.001 gallons of fuel--yea I got 50 miles worth or more.

Car runs great smooth and powerful, 340 engine, 3,000 stall and 3.91 gears, not too loud either but when pressed has a deep thrust sound. Walked past a few sport cars--it really needs more cam and then it might fly passing some of them...but most times its putting around town.

Seen a Smart car or the like.. sitting up front in the left turn lane, windows all open--nice day. I make my right turn on red after stopping and go past him, my 79 Magnum hood seems as long as that car, I just left it in first and got halfway on it after my hood cleared the other car, chirp 2nd and stayed on it till about 60 ...burning up as much fuel in a 1/8 of a mile then that car would burn the whole mile, ha ha

Its almost more fun now here, fewer cops and a bit less traffic with these high fuel prices. And a good running old car is so rare now..cause it costs so much to first make and then keep running but if you got it I find it pretty awesome out there ..i know some places have speed/red light cameras, tougher reckless driving laws--40--50 mph over is automatic reckless even if you past not one other car and had full control of the car. But Michigan is still pretty cool--so far, now if we could just get some more jobs, ha ha ha
 
tell me about it, the /6 is ok on fuel right now and i can put in regular, but when i drop in my 440 (hopefully some time this summer) i dont wanna even think about the gas guage. but it is still a ball to drive around, even with its little problems like stalling out at lights (im workin on it alright)

i love the looks i get from the poor sob's stuck in a smart car (no offense meant) when i drive by with the pipe out the side and a cherry bomb muffler, they stare at the orange with envy, so now i say orange with envy lol.

love just cruisin.
 
No kidding! I buy gas just across the border at 1.09/litre so I can get a bit of a break.Saves me about .24 cents/litre vs buying here in BC,so maybe $5.00/gal?

I wish I could ride around in a muscle car!! It would be very inspiring for me..
 
I buy 118 at the local refinery at a price that is approaching $70 for a 5 gallon can...... I then mix one gallon of the 118 octane with 5 gallons of 91 pump fuel. My engine drinks gas at about 4 miles per gallon on the city streets. It will approach 10mpg if I stay in the slow lane on the freeway.
 
regular is about 4 bucks here. The 318 with bolt ons and a 3.23 rear is only getting 10mpg. something is messed up clearly. but it makes driving the car no fun at all. too much money!
 
I'm not sure all those Smart car owners like us. To some of them we are ruining the earth. Burning fuel up so fast is a sin.

Yeah 10 mpg might be pushing it, depends on how you drive.

I forgot all about stalling when I got rid of my holley/demon carbs and went Carter but i went dual Carter, gives me the best of both worlds, smoother steady idle and still great high rpm power.

I leave the exhaust heat open on the intake manifold, heck fuel is so costly its a help having the engine warming up faster and expect for mid 80's and hotter its OK, in fact 70 degrees and under I think a heated intake is better...I know one wide open blast in even 75 degree temps the carbs cool right off, cool to the touch..and in 50 degree temps they get ice cold.

Air moves so fast at wot it doesn't pick up that much heat in the intake. Yeah if i lived in Texas it be different but here in Michigan I tried it both ways, heated intakes are the best, IMO
 
Oh man come on guys! Hot rods are measured in smiles per gallon! You wont see any prius drivers grinning like a maniac..
 
Smart cars are a ripoff. The new Mustang GT has 400+ hp and gets the same mileage.

I don't know what mine gets for mileage, but I'm sure its terrible. Warmup is the worst part, 4.11s probably don't help. Probably why mine is mostly a quarter mile at a time.

You'll all be pleased to know that my 95 F250 4wd diesel gets 15 mpg, when towing my dart to the track. haha.
 
dodge freak said:
I'm not sure all those Smart car owners like us. To some of them we are ruining the earth. Burning fuel up so fast is a sin.

Yeah 10 mpg might be pushing it, depends on how you drive.

I forgot all about stalling when I got rid of my holley/demon carbs and went Carter but i went dual Carter, gives me the best of both worlds, smoother steady idle and still great high rpm power.

I leave the exhaust heat open on the intake manifold, heck fuel is so costly its a help having the engine warming up faster and expect for mid 80's and hotter its OK, in fact 70 degrees and under I think a heated intake is better...I know one wide open blast in even 75 degree temps the carbs cool right off, cool to the touch..and in 50 degree temps they get ice cold.

Air moves so fast at wot it doesn't pick up that much heat in the intake. Yeah if i lived in Texas it be different but here in Michigan I tried it both ways, heated intakes are the best, IMO
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i'll have to try that when its 114 out lol
 
I never ever gets even 100 up here, once like every 20 years.

Drove it again today, that is 3 days in a row now.

Heck these newer sport cars suck once a few years old, seen an expensive 2009 car, sounded great, could it move, not really and we got a 2nd and ever 3rd chance--the 3rd time I just left it down till it was hopeless..oh these newer cars can't take high speed bumps either.

I priced them quickly out on ebay, 2009, 30,000 miles, $90,000 plus was the asking price..heck that is crazy, I'm sure that car is much more of a chick magnet than my car, ha ha but seriously I be sick if I owned that car...I'm not saying names, just it did weight 4,300 lbs, that is heavy and half the problem, plus its been around a few years.............but my car is over 30 years old, with 45 year old technology--dual carters--expect for the MSD E curve dist and 7al box and HVC coil...its this smog fuel also, carbs you can tune, FI you are screwed unless you live by a high end custom shop--and have deep pockets.

Oh, by the way, my gas is all gone now, I need to buy some more, yuk
 
LXguy said:
Smart cars are a ripoff. The new Mustang GT has 400+ hp and gets the same mileage.

I don't know what mine gets for mileage, but I'm sure its terrible. Warmup is the worst part, 4.11s probably don't help. Probably why mine is mostly a quarter mile at a time.

You'll all be pleased to know that my 95 F250 4wd diesel gets 15 mpg, when towing my dart to the track. haha.
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Heck you could make it street and have low 12's, its a real blast out there. I got 3.91's and at times wished i had 4.11.........4.56 are drag gears, you are holding it back at the track but the engine does have more stroke..the 360's, so maybe don't push it.
 
Filled a 5 gallon can with Sunoco 110 yesterday, cast $6.75 a gallon. Pricey but the 12.5 to 1 motor makes me SMILE!!!
440cu.in. 4500 stall, 456 gears
 
i dont give a **** what it cost will still drive the duster
when its done well $20.00 a gallon would hurt
 
i just yanked the slant out of my duster and put a 400 and viper six speed. i had a local guy with a slant 6 dart laugh at me and mock me, tlaking about oh gas is nearing 5 bucka a gallon and you go and put this big v8 in. guess you wont be driving it too much.
well, the slant had the super six, recurved distributor and a good 2.5" exhaust. i only managed to get 18 mpg a few times with only highway driving. usually would come out somewhere between 14 and 16, and i think the speedo was reading faster so i think it was actually worse. i felt that it was in good tune, it ran really good.
now with the 400, i took it on a 3,000 mile road trip 2 weeks after getting it together and i got 18- 19 mpg on the highway tank after tank. the carb is far from perfect and my alignment was so bad it killed a set of good tires in those 3000 miles. i think there is a little more left, how much i dont know. i have been driving the **** out of it. if its nice out i drive it. i have a liberty and a hemi ram 2500, so out of the 3, as an added bonus its also the best thing i own on fuel. my dart used to get 8 mpg on the highway, i think it was worse on the highway that around town. i cant really imagine driving it so much right now.
if you want to continue driving your cars, start saving your pennies for od and/or efi. forget the next speed mod, actually id put those 2 things way ahead of a lot of other upgrades. if you cant afford to drive it, how is going to be any fun?
 
I averaged $1.40 ltr crossing Canada this summer times 3.8 =$5.32 a US gallon , that was for 94 octane where I could get it and 91/92 where I couldn't , covered 10,000+ kms or 6000 miles and got 20 litres per hour , didn't matter what speed , on the prairies I cruised 140/150 kmph and in Onterrible I had to back off to 100 kmph . The looks on peoples faces and the thumbs up as you blow by em and the pure joy off open roads and plenty off pedal left makes it priceless , I don't care if gas costs 10 bucks a gallon next year I'll be hammer down on the highway headed somewhere for my vacation , nobody in 2 years of making this trip has ever said a negative thing or given me a dirty look and every fuel stop brings another story from a smiling face that used to have or cruise with someone who had one .
 
Currently in the Bay Area, CA its about $4.55 a gallon for regular. My hot street 318 gets about 8 miles a gallon, maybe less. Mainly because I don't drive it easy. I'm hard on the pedal, it's just so damn fun, and sounds really good under load, going through the RPM's. :) I enjoy it very much, and find myself running out of places to drive after I circle the city once or twice..LOL

But I do only put about 30-40 bucks in at a time..I try to drive it 3 times a week...for whatever reason, go to the grocery store, the hardware store. get a bite to eat...or jsut drive late at night if im bored...
 
mopardude318 said:
er reason, go to the grocery store, the hardware store. get a bite to eat...jsut drive late at night if im bored...
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X2 man I miss driving my dart. Late night nothing to do just hop in the old dodge n cruise town for a while! Car hasn't run rly in bout 3 months god knows what's wrong but can't drive it for now
 
It had been over 10 years since I drove a Mopar V8. I bought my Dakota w/4.7 about a year and half ago and it reminded me of what I had been missing. Since the Dak got totaled I decided I would buy me another old V8 Mopar. Now, driving my bone stock 318 Duster, it just brings a smile to my face! I will drive it regardless of what mpg it gets as I love driving it.
 
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