I set a new gas mileage record!

[Backwoods_Bob]

So I've been thinking that gas prices were gonna hit all time highs, and I'd been meaning to do something about that for some time now because my daily commute is about 90 miles.

So, early this year I found an old '89 Ford Festiva on Craigslist for 450 bucks. It ran, and even came with a set of studded snow tires mounted on rims, in addition to the radials it was wearing.

Well, I gave it a good tune up, and threw a timing belt in. About 100 bucks worth of parts.

A month or two later I put new rear shocks in, for about another 100 bucks.

One of the first mods I did was to remove the rear seat and throw it away. ;D
No way actual full grown humans can fit back there, and with it removed it has great cargo capacity.

Recently I drove it on a 2,400 mile trip.
I'd removed the front passenger seat, and installed a little wooden deck in it's place.
This way I had a level surface and was able to unroll my sleeping bag in the car and strech out to sleep.
Under the deck was stored my tools and a reserve supply of food and water.

Well, on the way back I filler 'er up in Chugwater, and ran up rt. 25 to Sheridan, a distance of almost 300 miles, before stopping to refill the tank.

On this leg of the trip I'd run at 55 to 60 mph and I'd gotten 53.099 mpg!! :D

My average mileage for the whole trip was 46.35 mpg, which is about what I always get on the highway. Note that I almost never go over 65 mph, and regularly cruse more like 55 mph.

My day to day mileage runs in the lower 40's usually.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o320/etdbob/P1010505.jpg

So, what is everyone else doing to beat the high cost of gas these days?

Anyone else putting old subcompacts back on the road?

[walls0stone]

that car was a steal becouse they are selling junkers to the scrap yards for 650-700 bucks right now, just for the scrap.

[Backwoods_Bob]

I don't know about it's scrap value, it weighs maybe 1,700 pounds soaking wet. :P
It was a good deal though.
They wanted 800 for it, and nobody responded to the add. The seller lowerd it to 500, and I gave him 450 cash.
At the time I saw several others selling about the 800 range, all in pretty good shape.

It didn't even need the new timing belt I put in it. I just figured I'd better replace it because I didn't know how old the one in it was.

My wife said " So you got eight mounted tires for 450 and they threw in the car for free?" ;D

Thing is, it's a Festiva, so it had no resale value at all.
I looked around a bit before I got this car. I looked at old Hondas, but they were all pimped out.
I wanted an old Toyota Tercel, but couldn't find one at any price.
I looked at an old VW pickup, but they wanted 1,000 bucks for it and I actually had to walk back from my test drive! :o
I looked at a few old Metros, but they all needed an engine rebuild.
Seems the Metro engines are not good for much more than 125,000 miles.

So I researcehd the Festiva. They were well built by Kia, and have a very good Mazda drivetrain good for a solid 240,000 miles. They are not something you want to get into an accident in ( :o ) but are simple, easy to work on reliable cars.
A good back and forth to work car.
I was driving a Kia Sportage 4x4 daily. It's rated at 18 to 24 mpg. I get at least 25 mpg in it, and my record with hypermilling is 33 mpg in that car but this festiva is so economical to drive that it has already paid for itself.

Mine is getting close to 200,000 miles. I do drive allot. I figure I can squeese 40 or 50 thousand miles out of this rig before it's ready for the scrap pile. More if I bother to rebuild the engine and front end.

I reckon I'd be nice to have it last two more years. Then I can see what new inexpensive subcompacts are on the market.

[walls0stone]

people are stealing'n cad'converteres out of parked cars for 350..it's the stuff that's in the car. you can't find a pile of scrap in this town any longer becouse scrap is out of sight. yea you cleaned up man.

[Backwoods_Bob]

Funny you should mention stealing cad converters!
Some theif hit our shop, and got the converters out of three of our old service vans.
The vans are old Ford Aerostars which don't run anymore. We keep 'em around for parts for our last running aerostar, and because nobody around here knows how to get rid of old junk. ;)

The theif has a battery powerd saws-all and was very good at his trade. We chased him off, but he was already done.

I had no idea old cad converters were worth so much.

If scrap rigs are worth so much I should get rid of these vans laying around, and a junk F-150 I have at home.

[walls0stone]

are you crazy? yo ucan make a grand an hour in some towns with a sawzaw a look out and a little gutts.

just hit 3 or 4 cads for the stuff in them. Also, hunting cabins, the plumbing in them is worth more. I know of some people who had a cabin with line, 5 inches under the sod.. so they pulled all that up, and the alumin' off the cabin..and left the guns.

just gather up junk and save it...somone will come along.

You ask what I'm doing to out do gas prices...nothing I raise my own cost of doing business, and it's done nothing to harm my work.