With 225/75 16 tires you are doing 2333 RPM @ 60 MPH.
But you probably have 16.5 wheels right?
Yep, I think they are 235/16.5 but let me go take a quick look to verify.
Nope 235/16. The extra width may be from a previous owner going wide. I replaced at the same size that were mounted when I bought her. If narrower will increase mileage, then she gets that later this year.
2333 rpm @ 60, huh? lower than I thought. Must be road and rear end noise that's making me think she's working harder than that. I'm glad to find out she's not laboring as hard as I thought.
Got any idea what red-line is for the 351? I'm figuring 4500-4800 tops. She'll never get close to that long as I own her, but she occasionally needs a kick in the pants on a steep grade.
Cool, thanks. That one will go on a google sheet I keep with misc. info I might need later.
I think my speedo might be off by about 3mph. That's pretty much inside normal tolerance, right? My Pontiac seems to be the same 3mph off, so it may be some standard I didn't know about.
This has nothing to do with anything, just something that I noticed during the summer, when I was keeping an eye on my speed using my GPS.
Cool, thanks. That one will go on a google sheet I keep with misc. info I might need later.
I think my speedo might be off by about 3mph. That's pretty much inside normal tolerance, right? My Pontiac seems to be the same 3mph off, so it may be some standard I didn't know about.
This has nothing to do with anything, just something that I noticed during the summer, when I was keeping an eye on my speed using my GPS.
Different size tires and even same tires from different manufacturers will give you some differences.
215 to 235 is probably, around, off the top of my head, 4 % maybe?
Might be almost 9.5%, but I could be using the wrong math. Either way it's significant. I'm going back to 215s soon as I get a few more miles out of these. Wider rubber isn't going to make her handle any better than the tank she is.
This is all very interesting, I don't see it affecting my mpgs drastically, but it's probably noticeable. Don't have my consumption numbers at hand, but the diff between say 14 and 15 is, I think about 9%, so @ oh, say an average of 2.50 a gal. last summer, at 500 gal. is (tap, tap, tap)....only about a hundred fifty bucks. Not a lot. But not anything to sneeze at.
I need to go through my books from last year to get the real numbers, but that's probably a low-end estimate. I'm sure I went through more than 500 gallons between March and November.
All new E350's come with 225/75 16 or 245/75 16 tires. If it was me I'd put on 245/75 16 LTX M/S2's. Michelin calls it a "Fuel Efficient" tire. Yuo will find great handling and will probably save the cost of the tires in fuel.
So you say the wider tire is more fuel efficient? I thought it would be the other way around. That would mean that all those previous consumption estimates mean nada.
Well, it works for me. I don't mind paying for something that pays for itself, although handling isn't really an issue. She does wallow like a pig in mud and x-winds can be a real thrill sometimes, but I think playing with the springs and the swaybar might be the answer to that. That was going to be a discussion with one of my customers in Philly, who just happens to own a shop that does that kind of work.
A dam underneath front bumper, as close to road as practical (that means 4" or so), to block air entering chassis underneath.
A hard rubber reinforced with fabric one will bend rather than be damaged by dings.
An air deflector to direct air from top / side to rear to fill in the vacuum created in van rear.
Wheel covers to make things as "flat" as possible on the side of wheels.
All the above done right is worth maybe a few percent at highway speeds only.
Good ideas. The wing. You mean a rooftop mount or a hood mount? Oh wait, you're talking about something like they used to put on the back of station wagons back in the 60s and 70s, right? Makes a lot of sense.
I am thinking about having the access panels recessed, when I get the body work done before repainting, but that's a year away. Make everything flush, if for no other reason than I like the look better. Adding a dam, and maybe flaring the fenders at that time would be no problem.
Yeah, one thing is I do a fair amount of city driving when I'm working somewhere. I'm usually in a given city for a week to ten days, then on to the next town. I try to keep the city/hwy consumption numbers separate, but I figure the city mileage is around 10-11, maybe as low as 8-9. My consumtpion in the city is def going down next year, because last year was a learning process, and I plan on keeping her parked more, and maybe using public trans around the city. I work in big cities mostly, so it's not really a hassle. All those two mile drives add up, so I need to cut them down.
No, only time she leaves pavement is in a gravel parking lot. I don't even like doing that. I'll look at the boat tail idea, but I have a feeling it's going to add unwanted length. I have to stay small because I drive and park in Northeastern cities. At 19' I am filling up every inch of a Philly or DC parking space now.
Tach is listed for a summer project, more so I don't over-work her than anything else. I've got a pretty light foot, so it's not a big problem. I drive like a grandma, even in my passenger car. Drives my wife nuts, but she likes motorcycles so go figure.
Edit: I have seen that Geo page before and I think it's a great idea, but like I said, length of the vehicle is an issue. Thanks though.
Well, if nothing else, I really need to finish organizing all my data from the past summer, so I can get a grip on just how much fuel I consume and also because I have to have the dollar numbers ready for tax season.
A lot of this looks really promising though, even if it's only a break-even proposition. I know there's a fair amount of waste going on, some of it because of sheer laziness on my part, but I think I can do some things that will be worthwhile in the long run. I plan on trying to coax this girl to at least 120K miles and maybe more before she needs a new heart and legs, so I'm definitely in it with her for the next few years.
I really appreciate all the input. I hope I can return the favor sometime. But I need to get to bed since I have a ton of household things I have to get done tomorrow.
Thanks and have a good night. I'll be back around during the day tomorrow.
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