Miles per gallon question....

[earlgrey]

Hello All,

Now that the intrepid Midget is fixed I find myself finding all sort of reasons why it needs to be taken out. 60-70 degree weather and sunshine is pretty much the only excuse I have needed. Needless to say it this is the first time I have really been able to take it out and give it a lot of time on the road.

I am beginning to suspect that my good ole fuel gauge is not particularly reliable. How many miles do you guys average on a tank with the Midget?

I filled it up and have gone about 70 miles and am at half a tank. That seem about right? (of course the odometer might be funky too).

Thanks
Ari

 

[aeronca65t]

In the extreme, you might be able to get close to 40 mpg if you drove, very, very carefully and at modest speeds.
On the other hand, my racer gets about 10 mpg on the track.

For normal street driving, my old 1275 Sprite got 25 to 30 mpg.

So with your 8 gallon fuel tank, I'd re-fill every 150 to 175 miles, just to be on the safe side.

 

[Guest]

My 1500 w/ a DGV got 33 once. I normally get b/w 23-27 with my driving habits.

My gauge is squirrely too, it is empty at 1/4 tank.

 

[JPSmit]

My 1500 w/ a DGV got 33 once. I normally get b/w 23-27 with my driving habits.

My gauge is squirrely too, it is empty at 1/4 tank.

Interesting - mine empties at 1/4 tank too - I thought it might be that I got a new sender and that it wasn't calibrated

 

[JPSmit]

Oh, and what I started to say was, get a small gas can and drive till you run out - easier than walking to the gas station, don't ask me how I know.

 

[Morris]

Hey JP,

I had the same problem with my tank running out at 1/4. The solution was to remove the sender and bend the arm a bit. Here is the procedure I followed.

1) Run the tank out of gas then remove.
2) Remove the sender, and measure resistance between the spade terminal and the mounting plate with the float at it's bottom most position. Record the number.
3) Place the sender back in the tank (don't put the sealing ring back on) and measure resistance again. If it is lower than the reading you got in step 2, pull the sender and bend the float arm up a bit. Measure again. Repeat this process until the float is sitting just above the bottom of the tank in it's bottom most position and the measured resistance is the same as you got in step 2.