Hey Fellas,
This is my first 911. I bought with a lot of mods.
Paxton S/C (8-9 psi max), Sport Exhaust, double H custom gated shifter, ??? closer gears, I don't know all the ratios. I haven't logged through them to see. I am pretty sure I am running a 7:31 ring/pin with 28:23 5th. I love the acceleration playing on the street but I also commute 60 miles interstate one way daily. Averaging about 660 miles a week. I need better fuel mileage since I am not getting but 16-17. I was looking at a 29:21 or 29:22 to drop the Rev's and saves some gas. I an usually able to run 90 at 4300 rpm all the way down the interstate. Can anyone give some definitive ways of improving the mileage? I do not know what I have to do to lean it out but I am a little hesitant until I get more familiar with the effects of the paxton charger.

 

Hmmm...

I read article last night that said 16 mpg was the milieage for the 911 SC in 1980, so don't expect to much improvement changing gears.

 

Slow down and make sure you have a little more air in your tires than required. I get in the twenties doing this on long trips.

Also, make sure you have a tuned up car (Plugs, wires, cap, rotor and air filter).

Noel

 

I would grab a cheap Honda Accord/Prelude and keep the Porsche in the garage for the daily commute. The money you save in gas milage and less wear on the expensive to replace Porsche parts will buy a lot of Honda. I know this isn't what you are looking for but it is the best suggestion I can offer.

Regards,

CN
"SUV by day, 911 by night (and weekends)".

 

I'll go with the fresh tune-up (including filters), higher tire pressure and slow down folled by making sure that the timing is dead on and that your valves are properly adjusted. Porsches like everything to be in spec. Also, for some reason, the fuel mileage drops exponentially with pedal pressure so the stop light grand prixs can do a lot of damage as well!

 

Thanks guys, I hope to look at a tune-up pretty soon. I might have to tough it out until the weather warms up. I do get a pretty high idle (2000) once I come off the interstate or been running at a good rpm for a few minutes. It will drop down if I leave it in gear for a bit before stopping and then clutche it before it stalls. I wonder if my cold start valve might be acting up a little. Sometimes it is hard to start, (no gas) if it has set in the parking lot for a couple of hours. Never have this problem first thing morning. It always fires right up.

thanks again, any more comments would be welcomed.

 

This past summer I took my brother's '83 SC on a small road trip. I averaged 32 miles per gallon. I babied the car a bit and didn't jump on it too much, but it was about 95% highway traveling anyway.

His car is in excellent tune, bone stock 3.0, freshly rebuilt 915 tranny. The car does have Turbo flares, Turbo rear spoiler and correct front rubber spoiler.

I never figured that car would get such good gas mileage.

I agree with CN. Get a cheap Honda and save on the wear and tear on the expensive Porsche.

Jay
90 964

 

Let me get this straight...buy a Porsche 911, perhaps the ultimate road car, to "grab a cheap Honda Accord/Prelude and keep the Porsche in the garage for the daily commute." Excuse me if I seem a little shocked!!!

 

I made my comment thinking that in the long run, it might be cheaper (regular maintenance, fuel, insurance, wear & tear and depreciation) to run an inexpensive Honda (or something similar) for the drive to work since this gentleman may put on over 34,000 miles per year on the 911.

In the end, it's his money, his 911 and his right to drive it as much as he wants.

 

I enjoy driving my 911 to the tune of 12000 km per year all weekends & evenings (no winters). Leaving it in the parking lot to get door dings or burning up the clutch in a traffic jam is not enjoyment. I respect my Porsche enough to put it away until I can really drive her. Just another angle. I would also like to mention that having a few days out of the Porsche makes the next ride as exhilerating as the first time I drove it.

 

It's such a uniquely north american perspective to have the Porsche as a second car, fueled by space and tax structures. In Europe people just drive them, period.

As to the original question - I'm sorry, but what did you expect? An older high performance car WITH a blower on it and you're expecting decent gas mileage?
Certainly you should make sure it's in top tune. My guess is that for the cost of changing gearsets you can buy A LOT of gas. A 911 can be a number of things, but a cheap commuter car is not one of them.

Stef

 

I'm with Stefang on this. You can't expect you 911 to a daily driver. A car like that with a SC (has the compression been turned down?), is not going to do a lot of milage without lots of money thrown at it. The Accord idea sounds like the best one.

 

OT - James where did you get that avatar?

Stef

 

I agree. If a person could just walk down the block to the Porsche dealer and pick up another mint condition '83 SC or a '89 3.2 any day of the week, then drive the wheels off of the car and who would care. But, nice 911's are hard to find and they are getting rarer by the day. That might be some of the reason's we here in the states use these cars as second cars and not as daily drivers.

I know my commute to work consists of too many idiots cutting me off, too many dump trucks lobbing rocks and way too much road construction to subject my 911 to that type of abuse.

If you subject a Honda to that stuff and it gets totalled, there really isn't much loss because you can snap up another one in a few days (sometimes hours) if you are really rushed. Finding a nice used 911 to replace your pride and joy 911 that just got T-boned by some idiot can take months...

 

Stefang - A very nice guy on the 944 forum has his own site with pics, I asked him if I couold steal one, and he said "that's what they're for" - so I stole it.

I wondered if I would be kicked of Rennlist for my Anarchists view to Avatars? As well as making everyones forum view take ages to load because my avatar is HUGE!