New here

[bhazard]

Yup, thats about it. Ive got an 88 Tbird turbo coupe thats my first and only car (besides my project) and my Gf's car is a 92 Dodge shadow turbo.

The tbird Ive had for about two and a half years, almost 168,000 on the ticker. Ive had it since 141,000. Hoping to get it to at least 200,000. Its currently got a leak between the exhaust mani and the turbo, so the turbo isnt really doing much good right now, hope to get that fixed when it warms up as a 3600lb loaded car is kinda pudgy to drive when powered by a low compression 4 cylinder. Otherwise its pretty much just a stock 5 speed. Replaced the stock airbox with a cone filter. Exhaust is a 3 inch downpipe with dual 2.5 inch dynomax superturbos. Im probably gonna replace the duals with a single 3 inch though, the exhaust shop I used didnt do a very good job. The only time I ran the car through the 1/4 mile I did a 15.4 at 92.2 mph. Im pretty sure its capable of a 14 second pass. Ive also managed 36 mpg on a highway trip. It hates the winter though. Barely can manage a 20mpg average when its cold. Paid $300 for the car.

The shadow we just got recently, last october I think. Had 80,200 on it then. Pushing 85,000 now. It was a non-runner and needed only an ECU to run. Scored it for $200. Its also pretty much stock, automatic as well. Ive also replaced the airbox with a cone filter on this car. I think this car will be capable of mid-high 15's in the 1/4. It got us 30 mpg on a trip to WV in february doing 60-70 on the highway. It only got us 14 mpg driving around town down there though due to unfamiliarity with the terrain, and driving habits. Not too bad on the highway for a 3 speed auto with no overdrive. It was turning over 3000 rpms at 70 mph. It also has a bent strut from the previous owner. The passenger side front wheel is cambered out pretty well. This will be fixed soon and the car will get aligned. Wondering how much this will help economy.

I run Walmart Supertech full synthetic in both cars, 5w30 or 10w30. I think the shadow has a bit of a sludge problem though. It dirtys the oil a little too fast. I think Im going to run seafoam in the oil before the next change.

My driving habits are generally pretty okay, but of course, having two turbo cars to drive, I get boost happy sometimes. Lately Ive had to force myself to be easy though with these prices. I think when I started driving gas was in the $2.20 range. That was bad then, and now Im paying anywhere from $3.10 to $3.40, plus .10 or .20 for premium. Ive been reading and thinking about how to rig my car up to run E85, but its only 30 cents cheaper than regular gas here.

Anyway Im looking forward to trying out some of you guys' driving habits and getting a log going. As I stated before, Ive gotten 36mpg out of my tbird on a fairly short highway trip. About 30-35 miles total. That was just using "regular" conservative driving habits, nothing we would consider hypermiling.

[bhazard]

Heres some pics of the cars. Click for full size.

[SVOboy]

Welcome to the site! What kinda fuel mileage goal do you have?

[bhazard]

Ohhhh, anything really. Just see what I can do. We have only been able to manage 25 mpg average in the shadow, except on the WV trip. So maybe 30 mpg in the shadow? The mpg In my tbird's profile is from a recent 60 mile drive. If I could get a consistent 35 mpg out of it that would be awesome.

I was discussing E85 on another forum and I said something about how its only 30 cents cheaper than gas here, and probably not worth it, and a guy made a point when he said its 105 octane and 50 cents cheaper than 91-93 octane premium. With the higher octane you can run more advanced timing and higher boost, which should in turn increase mileage. Might be worth trying.

I couldnt help but notice the "SVO" in your name. Are you familiar with Turbo fords?

[SVOboy]

Straight veggie oil, Lots of people ask though.

[bhazard]

It actually took me a minute to realize what you meant by that. Referring to diesels?

[SVOboy]

Yeap.

[bhazard]

Well got the Shadow filled up and got a reading for it. Not too great but understandable under the circumstances. Next fillup for it should tell us something better.

[DifferentPointofView]

welcome.

I run Walmart Supertech full synthetic in both cars, 5w30 or 10w30.

Are you sure that's a good idea? My (used to be) step dad who is a mechanic had my mom get off Supertech immediately when she told him what she was using. Why? sludge. He said of the car engines he's pulled apart in 20 years of doing it, Cars running pennzoil are one of the worst, even though it is a well known brand. He said that Supertech is even worse than that by far, and said that if you're going to go with a similar alternative to pennzoil if your using penzoil is valvoline, because the engines ran on that were a lot cleaner. He also added that supertech might be real cheap and sound ok, but the money saved from not having to have your engine rebuilt because it's running so bad from all the sludge will make up for it. I run Mobil 1 though. A lot more expensive, but it doesn't go under that whole Wal-mart Fall-Apart deal.

Nice rides btw. You got some nice pickin's for $300 and $200. I wish I had your eyes and luck.

[SVOboy]

Yeah, it is true at least about pennzoil, dunno too much about supertech though. Might be worth an oil analysis.