think I'll mount one of these in the rear of the festy

[loknlode]

http://greenville.craigslist.org/pts/3075594626.html

fill up every 3-4 months or about 4000 miles!! anyone want to try a east to west coast run w/o stopping?

[kellen302]

how much would your fuel consumption eat it though 6lbs x 115 = 690lbs in gas alone, if I really wanted to I would figure out what your real range would be considering how the load would get lighter, but I'm on Summer break so NO. lol

[Powerstiva]

Haha good plan!

[Nerd Racing]

how much would your fuel consumption eat it though 6lbs x 115 = 690lbs in gas alone, if I really wanted to I would figure out what your real range would be considering how the load would get lighter, but I'm on Summer break so NO. lol

ooooh that would be a fun differential equation!

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

It costs fuel to haul extra fuel. I recall once being on a 12-hour (LAX-FRA) flight where we had to do a last-minute go-around because of wildlife on the runway, and the front office crew announced that "we burned a gallon to haul every 'reserve' gallon we're now using."

[Darlo]

ooooh that would be a fun differential equation!

Could estimate without a differential, but that would not be nearly as much fun! :p

[htchbck]

I' like to mount one of those on my car hauler for those long trips out of town picking up new toys!

[chrisofna]

I'm pretty sure car companies actually design the fuel capacity of the car to be most efficient with a full load of people in the car, right? So technically if you added 300 pounds of fuel it should be as efficient as possible, right?

[Safety Guy]

I measured around 3100 miles from San Francisco, CA to Boston, MA.

Let's divide 40 mpg into that distance = 77.5 gallons of gas. But let's use 80 gallons for safety. Eighty times six pounds each gallon = 480 pounds. Assuming we'll install a tank in the rear of the car, we'd need upgraded rear springs. This could be the only tank, so it'll be mounted low and partly in place of the original tank, which we won't use. We'll also probably have a co-driver and some gear, so add 200 plus gear weight of around 100 pounds.

480 (fuel)
400 (2 people)
100 (gear)

980 pounds total

The gross vehicle weight is listed in the door as being 2645 pounds. However, we would upgrade the springs front and rear, and do the Aspire brake swap. The resulting mods should handle the increased weight, which is expected to be around 2800 pounds. The engine could be a slightly massaged B3 (maybe 70 hp) or a nicely built and broken in B6. As the fuel is used up, things will improve, too, and the average speeds can be increased slightly. Most of the time our speed will be around 55 mph.

Instead of advanced math (which I can't do), I'll break this up into four trip sections:

Full capacity: let's figure an average of 30 mpg for the first 800 miles:

26.5 gallons used (I've rounded off a bit for simplicity), losing about 150 pounds.

Next 800 miles, we might average 35 mpg:

20.3 gallons used, and losing around 120 pounds. Our car, which started the trip at 2800 pounds, now weighs about 2530 pounds. We've used 47 gallons and have 33 left.

Next 800 mile leg should let us average about 40 mpg:

20 gallons used, losing another 120 pounds for a new car weight of about 2410.

Last leg of 700 miles, how about an average of 45 mpg:

15.5 gallons used. But we only had 13 left. Hmmm.

Might be a problem. With either the fuel or my math.

I still think it's possible. Especially if we lowered our average speed to maybe 50. Ha!

Karl

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

So what's it costing you, per gallon, as evidenced by decreased fuel efficiency for the first 3000 miles, to haul the 2-3 gallons for the last 100 miles all the way across the country?

Don't forget that you're not only hauling it horizontally, but vertically over the Sierra Nevadas and the Rockies, both of which have passes up around 8,000 feet or so.

[Damkid]

I miss having a decent driving range in my festiva lol

[Movin]

I miss having a decent driving range in my festiva lol

LOL YOU need to figure out how to mount that tank on your
front bumper..it might improve times

[Nerd Racing]

^^ just don't hit anything!

[loknlode]

I thought I'd keep the original tank, remove the rear seat and put the big tank as far back as possible, make the suspention mods necessary, put a portapotty behind the drivers seat, put food and water whereever possible and go. take turns sleeping in the pass seat. the only hard part would be switching driver/pass.
keep the rear windows open to "vent",lol. I couldn't do it - needs to be done by 2 young skinny people.
if you could average 60mph then 50-55 hours is do-able.

[TominMO]

Keeper of Skeeter, figure this out for us! What would be the range of a typical Festiva 1.3 liter 5-speed. Assume 50 MPG @ 60 MPH w/driver only, @ 170 lbs.

Karl, you would want the B3 not the B6, for fuel-economy reasons. Granted you might be in 1st gear going over the Rockies, esp. if on I-70 in CO. A few years ago, I pulled a one-ton trailer w/my Subaru Loyale (which was also filled to the brim) and had to drop down to 1st around Vail, CO. But we should bear in mind that by this point in the trip, some of the Festy's gas would be used up.