new member-vintage ecomodder - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

CharlieBucket · 10-09-2008, 01:03 PM

hi-my name is Charlie and i am a car guy. i used to like fast cars that made tons of noise and burn high-octane fuel. well i'm 27 now and i still love cars but i tend to focus on reliablilty {fast cars break just as fast!} and fuel enonomy. well my newest car is a 1977 Datsun B210 "plus" {means 5-speed}.
it is kinda like the prius of the seventies. here is an old ad to help you see what i mean.

so lets just say i am not getting 50 mpg! i think testing was different in those days. i am only getting somewhere between 20-30 but i am still figuring out how carbs work and i am always adjusting it, which drasticly changes the mpg ratios. i am interesting in learning all your techniques as well as maybe talking to some folks with older cars about things to check out and maybe replace. i hope you guys don't mind pictures because i love posting them. here is my car and it's 1.4 liter a14 engine.

this post is getting quite large, but i have a lot to ask you guys. i also have a 1998 Nissan Frontier pick-up, 4cyl, 5speed. i supplement income by delivering pizza sometimes 2-3 nights a week. i use the pick-up, and i get dreadful milage. i'm talking like 12-13 miles a gallon. now pizza delivery is horrible for economy with stops and starts and since your always rushing, but would you guys say thats normal? the turck is rated at 22mpg city i believe, so i thought i'd get close to that. thanks, i look foward to searching all your post and learning everything i can.

Funny · 10-09-2008, 01:30 PM

Nice car, man. I'm a fan of the old styling on cars, they just looked "cooler" back then, in my opinion. Does your car have a catalytic converter? you could be damaging it with the adjustments to the carb, try and find a mechanic that has an exhaust gas analyzer, that way you can balance the emissions.

If you want to increase your economy, you may want to try to locate an electric fan for the radiator, they are much more efficient than their belt-driven kin. Also, you may wish to increase the size of the air filter, she looks a bit too small, I may be wrong.

Also, when you are driving the Pizza delivery truck, try some engine off coasting if you can, that will bring you up to the EPA amount, even with the starts and stops.

Good luck and welcome to ecomodder!

p.s. Check out this thread, it has a very similar car to yours

Daox · 10-09-2008, 01:30 PM

Welcome to the site. The car looks like its in great shape considering the age! BTW, we love pictures here. Post all you want.

As for the truck, thats seems awfully low mileage. I'd definitly look at the 100+ hypermiling tips. They'll give you driving techniques to learn to drive more efficiently. This is normally where you will see your largest gains in fuel economy.

CharlieBucket · 10-09-2008, 03:48 PM

wow you guys alreay had a chat about b210's. some of the comments where off compared to my experiance with the car. concerning some things ya'll pointed out, i already have an electric fan, so that is covered. i have a cat convertor, is it helping my mpg or not? i am going to replace the whole exhaust system and wasn't sure about getting a new convertor. my first thought is to throw on a larger pipe with with a flowmaster style muffler, but i don't want to lose milage. seems to me better flow equals better milage. true?

Funny · 10-09-2008, 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CharlieBucket

wow you guys alreay had a chat about b210's. some of the comments where off compared to my experiance with the car. concerning some things ya'll pointed out, i already have an electric fan, so that is covered. i have a cat convertor, is it helping my mpg or not? i am going to replace the whole exhaust system and wasn't sure about getting a new convertor. my first thought is to throw on a larger pipe with with a flowmaster style muffler, but i don't want to lose milage. seems to me better flow equals better milage. true?

Good to know about the fan, try to make sure to switch to all synthetic oils, if the tires are still in good shape, pump them to the maximum, and in general follow the 100 tips and tricks on the home page.

About the pipes, better flow is not necessarily bigger pipes, you need to find optimum sized pipes for the flow that your car is going to produce. To big, and the car is gutless at low speed, to small and the car overheats and bogs and sometimes chokes itself out There are some complicated formulas that I can find for you to accurately calculate the ID of the pipe you need.

Frank Lee · 10-09-2008, 11:56 PM

"There are some complicated formulas that I can find for you to accurately calculate the ID of the pipe you need."

Didn't the factory do that already?

cfg83 · 10-10-2008, 01:13 AM

CharlieBucket -

Welcome to EM! I inherited my sister's Datsun B210 Honeybee back in the 1980's. It looked egg-zactly like this :

I was a churlish oaf back then. Ran her into the ground. I didn't deserve that car!

CarloSW2

Funny · 10-10-2008, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

"There are some complicated formulas that I can find for you to accurately calculate the ID of the pipe you need."

Didn't the factory do that already?

Within the constraints of cost they did, Frank, but if one was to spend money on a slightly better exhaust than stock, you would see improved performance and economy, depending on the economy modifications made to the car.

Joe_Bloe · 10-10-2008, 11:23 AM

Charlie, that is a beautiful car. Have you considered converting her to Megasquirt EFI?

Andyman · 10-10-2008, 01:02 PM

I borrowed one of those from a friend about 1982. I think it had a five speed transmission. It got about 35 MPG on the highway.

Be sure to check the ignition timing, including centrifugal and vacuum advance mechanisms.