Gas Mileage?

[Jeep Turd]

Well I know its sort of a lame question, but what is a good range to shoot for. Right now I am building a 79 Cherokee Chief that I plan to take everywhere. It has a Amc 401, th350, building a 205 with Klune V, 44 front, 14 rear, 4.10s and 37's. I am hoping to get 12-14 miles to the gallon and I just want to know if this is too low for extended trips. Let me know what you think.

[Elwenil]

Gas mileage is specific to your uses. It's way to easy to simply say "as much as you can get". What you need to do is figure out how much fuel you can carry and what your range between stops would need to be. Then you shoot for a MPG figure but you will generally end up piling on more fuel as it's very hard to add on more mileage.

[TachedOutOffRoad]

I think you are being too optimistic :( My fuel injected, V6, manual tranny, exoed 4Runner only got 16mpgs running 35-65mphs with 37"s and 4.88s. That was being easy on it because my clutch was slipping too :)

Yours is bigger in every area :laughing: A roof rack and/or camping trailer will knock it down a little too. The only auto/ gas burner V8 combo Ive ever had, got 1.5 MPGs better running 60-65 than at 70-75 too.

It seems that driving (not towing with a diesel!) your rig and camping out is the only way to make this sport affordable right now. The way I see it, I can spend another $200 (870 miles:evil:) in fuel since I didnt stay in a hotel or go out to eat :D

[Filthy McChevy]

Do you plan on having at least 30 to 40 gallons of fuel capacity? I would.

[MajorPayne]

Mine gets 0 gas mileage....but thats because its a diesel :P

But seriously, one of the reasons I love my diesel scouts is because they get nearly 25mpg on the highway...with my 33 gal tank and a few jerry cans, that can be nearly a 1000 mile range

[VerticalTRX]

Just to give you a point of reference, I get 13mpg in my '79 F-150. Setup as follows: 4800lbs full of fuel and gear, mild 351w (~300hp/400lb-ft), Q-jet, NP435, 205, D44, 9", geared 4.10, Q78-15 (35.5" tall) TSL's at 30psi on the street.

My next motor build is going to be a really tight built full roller 351w so I can run 5w20 synthetic and squeak every bit of efficiency I can out of it. With all synthetic in the drive train I'm shooting for 17mpg.

[p14175]

I think your Wagoneer is a good candidate for a diesel repower.

Check out http://www.4btswaps.com/forum/index.php

[czechsix]

I think maybe you're looking at it the wrong way - try looking at the kind of trips you plan to do, and then figure out how much fuel capacity you need to do them. I get about 15 mpg in my suburban w/cummins, not too good but not too bad either, at least not for a heavy truck like it is. 40 gal tank, 5 MFC cans, and I'm trying to fit in another 20 gal or so saddle.

[halbritt]

I think your Wagoneer is a good candidate for a diesel repower.

Check out http://www.4btswaps.com/forum/index.php

x2. I get almost 20mpg in my 3/4 ton Dodge with a Cummins 6bt 12-valve. I've heard of 25+ for half-ton rigs with the 4bt.

[Jeep Turd]

Thanks for the input. Going to stick with the 401 til it gives out. With my old chevy pickup up I carried about 40 gals and could go about 350-400 miles. I just wanted to see where everyone else was at. Thanks again

[roscoFJ73]

Mine gets 0 gas mileage....but thats because its a diesel :P

But seriously, one of the reasons I love my diesel scouts is because they get nearly 25mpg on the highway...with my 33 gal tank and a few jerry cans, that can be nearly a 1000 mile range

Wow ,are they the ones with the Nissan Patrol diesel?

I got a couple of landcruiser diesels. I have a camper on the LWB and all up it weighs 3 tons.
Last weekend I got 15.2 MPG (US gals)

[The Adam Blaster]

I got a couple of landcruiser diesels. I have a camper on the LWB and all up it weighs 3 tons.
Last weekend I got 15.2 MPG (US gals)

I'm looking into the JDM Cruisers here in Canada, and is it realistic to expect over 20 mpg out of the 4.2 litre diesels in them?

[Little Red Zuk]

Heck, my 79 Cherokee Cheif with 360, 2-bbl, 31's all stock got 10-21 on a good day with the Q-trac. I don't know how'd you'd get 14 with a 401.

[uglyscout]

Wow ,are they the ones with the Nissan Patrol diesel?

I got a couple of landcruiser diesels. I have a camper on the LWB and all up it weighs 3 tons.
Last weekend I got 15.2 MPG (US gals)

The Diesels in the Scouts are Nissan 3.3 liter (Same as the Patrols of the same era as I understand), SD33's to be exact. Both turbo and NA were offered depending on the year.

His quoted mileage is high going by all the Diesel scout owners I know -- but not unatainable. 20 mpg is a good goal -- many get worse than 20....

[halbritt]

A diesel is the way to go for an expedition vehicle. I get 15-20MPG in my 3/4 ton Dodge with 35s.

[WILLD420]

I get 15 empty in my Dodge 4x4 on 35's Loaded with my 5th wheel it gets 8-10. My Ford with a 6.9 n/a gets about 15-17 empty, 12 pulling a flatbed trailer at 70 mph. If I'm wheeling hard they both average 10-12 mpg. Just cruising back roads, I've gotten as much as 19 in the Ford, Dodge stays around 14.

[gtrguy731]

If you really want to improve your gas mileage why wouldn't you go after products that can help you do that???? Like that things that let you r engine breath better or a EFI conversion, since you are going to stick with that engine. I believe that there was an article in Peterson's several months back about a EFI conversion of that same engine and they might have thrown some mileage numbers out there. But I understand if you don't want to throw anymore money into that engine as well. In that case, have you thought about running dual fuel tanks since you are in the building stages - now would be a good time to do any major modification to your fuel system?