What's the absolute maximum range of your Duster?

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cruiser

cruiser

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Today I ran my Duster out of fuel, then completely filled the tank and filler neck with gas. I was able to put 15.1 gallons in. My tank is a new 16 gallon tank. How many gallons does your completely empty Duster take? There must be an air bubble at the top of the tank that prevents the tank from being completely filled. By the way, completely running my tank dry gives me a range of 227 miles, calculated at 70 mph and 14.7 mpg. How far will your Duster go on a tank of gas. I'm surprised at how little range my car has. What do you think?
 
Who Really Cares? I drive my lil Kia Optima about 500 miles a week on a 16 gal tank with a Frown on my face...
I drive my Barracuda on the weekends gettin 8-10mpg Grinnin' from Ear to Ear!
 
eekvonzipper said:
Who Really Cares? I drive my lil Kia Optima about 500 miles a week on a 16 gal tank with a Frown on my face...
I drive my Barracuda on the weekends gettin 8-10mpg Grinnin' from Ear to Ear!
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I care because this fall I'll take this car on a 2000 mile road trip and I need to know how far I can reliably get on a tank of gas.
 
My fuel pickup is a bit too high off the bottom of the tank.

I have drained the tank with a siphon hose and the most I can get into my 18 gallon tank is 17.5. Tank does have a dented in area on the bottom so I assume that is the difference.

I was testing and ran the tank empty, I added 1 gallon to get to a gas station and only put 15 gallons in. So my pickup must be off the bottom of the tank and when "empty" has 1.5 gallons still in the tank. Next time I have the rear end in the air I will pull the sender and bend the tube down some more.

As for range, all depends on the MPG average, in the city maybe 150 miles on the hwy, 250? (18 gallon tank)

My dad drove for 15 years without a fuel gauge in his/my dart. He just tracked his fillups and miles.
 
AND NOW another annoying story from the old days

You who are old enough remember the gas crunch "of the 70's"

In 73 I came home of leave from San Diego to the N end of Idaho to bury my little brother. While home on leave (this was the 70 440-6 RR with a 340 swapped in) I bought a Marine OMC Johnson/ Evinrude fuel tank and adapted it for external vent. Bought the mounting bracket for the thing and strapped it down in the trunk. Rigged an electric pump into the tank so that the aux tank would pump into the main when the pump was powered

Back in San Diego, for part of the last year in the Navy, I was stuck on Navy Shore Patrol. But I still held the part time job (civilian job) at the NAS Miramar Auto Hobby Shop. The POS shore patrol was 12 on / 12 off for 2-3 days, then 2-3 days off, then SWITCH SHIFTS and work the opposite 12. So every few days I had to drive from downtown San Diego out to NAS Miramar.

THERE WERE SEVERAL TIMES while looking for a station that was open and had fuel, that BOTH PUMPS were back there rattlin suckin' air

Damn stations would leave their signs powered. You'd take a ramp, and go up there and no gas and the station LOCKED.
 
cruiser said:
Today I ran my Duster out of fuel, then completely filled the tank and filler neck with gas. I was able to put 15.1 gallons in. My tank is a new 16 gallon tank. How many gallons does your completely empty Duster take? There must be an air bubble at the top of the tank that prevents the tank from being completely filled. By the way, completely running my tank dry gives me a range of 227 miles, calculated at 70 mph and 14.7 mpg. How far will your Duster go on a tank of gas. I'm surprised at how little range my car has. What do you think?
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Cruiser, I get between 10-12 using non-ethanal 92. I always fill mine it back up at 1/4, ran out of gas too many times by pushing it. Carry a spare jug of fuel for your trip.
 
67Dart273 said:
AND NOW another annoying story from the old days

You who are old enough remember the gas crunch "of the 70's"

In 73 I came home of leave from San Diego to the N end of Idaho to bury my little brother. While home on leave (this was the 70 440-6 RR with a 340 swapped in) I bought a Marine OMC Johnson/ Evinrude fuel tank and adapted it for external vent. Bought the mounting bracket for the thing and strapped it down in the trunk. Rigged an electric pump into the tank so that the aux tank would pump into the main when the pump was powered

Back in San Diego, for part of the last year in the Navy, I was stuck on Navy Shore Patrol. But I still held the part time job (civilian job) at the NAS Miramar Auto Hobby Shop. The POS shore patrol was 12 on / 12 off for 2-3 days, then 2-3 days off, then SWITCH SHIFTS and work the opposite 12. So every few days I had to drive from downtown San Diego out to NAS Miramar.

THERE WERE SEVERAL TIMES while looking for a station that was open and had fuel, that BOTH PUMPS were back there rattlin suckin' air

Damn stations would leave their signs powered. You'd take a ramp, and go up there and no gas and the station LOCKED.
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Boy, do I remember odd and even ration of fuel. Driving up I-95 to get back home from the base only having to wait until the date changed after midnight to buy fuel. Nixon lowering the speed limit to 55 too.
 
cruiser said:
I care because this fall I'll take this car on a 2000 mile road trip and I need to know how far I can reliably get on a tank of gas.
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I think the only way to find out is to take a can of gas along and drive till it quits.
 
Cruiser, I vaguely remember that the manufacturers would put a gas tank on a car that had the capacity of fuel to give a mileage range between 225-250 minimum. The range would be larger for the more fuel efficient engines when compared to the high performance ones.

During the gas crunch we would alter our driving habits to squeeze better gas mileage. There were an abundance of aftermarket vacuum gauges that had a color efficiency indicating face. Using such a gauge would allow a driver to cruise with a light gas pedal. There were other practices that were discussed in previous threads. One particular set of practices was called “hyper miling”.
 
My 75 Duster with a 318, two barrel carb, and three speed manual would get about 18mpg on the highway, but I have no clue what size the tank is anymore. The left fender top mounted turn signal indicator also lights up when you get on the gas pedal too hard. Since it’s right there in the drivers line of sight it’s hard to miss.
 
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In high school I had a 6cyl mustang with High Jackers on it . All the way up. My dad always said I got better gas mileage that way, because I was always going " Down Hill" Something to think about !
 
why does your /6 Duster only get 14.7mpg? Rather than screwing around with the gas tank, I think I'd spend time getting more miles out of the 15.1 gallons...

What gears are in the car? what year automatic? lock-up converter?

I'm building a car for long trips and was surprised to find out the Chrysler changed the 904 gear ratios in the 80s with lower gears in 1st and 2nd meaning you could use higher (numerically lower) rear gears and still have the same effective ratio in 1st gear as an earlier 904. Add an electric lock-up converter for higher speeds activated by a simple switch in the car and you could do better than you are. But even with the early 904 and no lock-up you should be bumping 20 mpg.
 
Tanker said:
My 75 Duster with a 318, two barrel carb, and three speed manual would get about 18mpg on the highway, but I have no clue what size the tank is anymore. The left fender top mounted turn signal indicator also lights up when you get on the gas pedal too hard. Since it’s right there in the drivers line of sight it’s hard to miss.
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You have the fuel pacer option too! An exotic engine vacuum gauge.
 
@cruiser What year is the car and does it have any lightened factory parts? Please tell use the about the engine, trans, rear gear and tire size. Any mods done to the engine/car etc....

What carb is on top?
What ignition system is being used?

There is a lot of ground to cover here and you have given us no clues to go on.
 
The chevy guys always got better mileage than us, mostly because this is how they traveled..

588265d1501219965-what-brand-trailer-t1.jpg
 
Kendog 170 said:
Did they pull it with a Dodge Ram ?
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I did! I had a 64 Ford 1 ton stretched with a car hauling bed. A lot of drag racers were using the Cheby Big Dooleys. But I saw a black Dodge dual wheel pickup that I wanted. Adventurer SE loaded up 400 2-barrel automatic. Traded my Ford for a car hauling trailer plus cash. Fuel mileage was terrible like about 11-12 mpg unloaded at best. Then I was told that the 400 2-barrel was the worst. And for some reason the automatic would upshift way too early keeping the engine bogged down. I played around with some different springs added to the kick down rod to make the trans think I was pressing the gas harder. It wasn't too difficult to get it to act like it was supposed to. No pics of my Dodge though.
20181209_111618.jpg
 
Sounds like you already have your answer. About 200 miles on a tank, or 10 fill ups. You can always fill it up, drive 100 miles then fill it up again and do the old school miles vs gallons used to figure out what mileage you’re getting.
 
Range on my Swinger is around 270 miles. Yes, simple math.
 
I've driven so many A-bodies to work, seems they got between 17 - 24 mpg. Depends what motor combo. Seems I filled up about every 200 miles, didn't really like the "run on fumes" game... LOL. If so, I'm sure I had plenty that would have made it to 350 miles.
 
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