Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hi All,

I was wondering what MPG you are seeing on average when driving your elan? I have a 2 + 2 (S130) with a 4 speed box on twin dellorto 40's. I am burning what I think is an insane amount of fuel. I have recently had the carbs off to try and solve it. I have cleaned them, replaced the o-rings each side of the thackery washers, checked the float level and checked everything else is ok. I then re-tuned it (to the best of my ability) It now runs a lot better, accelerates smoother etc, BUT, i have not acheived better economy at all!

The only other point to mention is that years back I have the car tuned on a rolling road, and the man who did it replaced the standard jets, but having said that it is still running on the standard air filter etc, so i cant see that making much difference.

Now for the figures, well here in the UK, I fill my tank up with say approx ?50 worth of fuel for a full tank. (difficult to tell when its totally full due to the bad nature of how the tank fills) and on a whole tank of unleaded I can just about get 230 miles. My rough calcualtions equate to about 20-22 MPG on my car! This to me is crazy. Im a fairly average driver and dont thrash it too much, I met a fellow plus two owner the other day who recons he can get 40 MPG out of his!!!!

Finally to answer all queries it is also on electronic ignition. So of anyone can let me know what MPG they get from their car, and how many (roughly) miles out of a tank I would be very interested, plus what they think may be my problem.
Many thanks in advance

Simon

Simon
The 230 miles on your tank is that over 1 day or several weeks?
I get quite a bit of evaporation even with olive oil drizzlers in the breathers.
On a long trip I get what only can be described as pronominal MPG , needle hardly moving, possibly even the 40mpg your friend talks about.
On lots of short trips over a few weeks I get about your 20 to 25mpg?

I suspect your problem may also be evapouration?

Terry

I used to wonder the same thing Terry, but I drive the car the whole time (everyday) so I pretty certain evapouration is not the issue. Its just really thirsty!! The other thing i dont have fitted is a fuel pressure regualtor. i cant see the need, but a garage mentioned that it could be reaching the carbs at too higher pressure.

cheers

Simon

Was 27 mpg no matter what,commuting or being thrashed or a mix of both,now with EFI,37 mpg with more yet to come when I've fine tuned it

John

I get about 20-22 mpg when using it around town. However on a long trip early this year (1,800 miles) I achieved about 31 mpg. with fairly spirited driving on French RN's. This is running on Webbers with an early engine that's had a Vegantune Big Valve conversion.

It doesn't sound as if your fule consumption is much different to mine.

Regards

Andy

I am a fan of keeping records of fuel use and have done so for my +2 for the last 50/60k miles. Average is 28mpg (UK gals) overall, with a high of 39.12 coming back from Belgium with a blown head gasket and keeping to 60mph on all motorways. Lowest mileage was around 22 (some even lower, but involved petrol loss during work). Using excel I keep a moving average of mpg, to even things out. A useful tool for keeping an eye on engine and transmission health. Biggest consumption drop was due to a failing propshaft UJ. My car has a weber head with big valve engine using QED 360 cams & Lumenition. I get around 250-300 per tank full, buthave never gone more than 40 miles once the red light comes on.....

Jeremy

I had a problem with uneven running when hot which I thought was down to running too rich. After getting the correct jets fitted the fuel consumption dropped dramatically - I didn't keep accurate records but I would guess that the consumption halved so it was quite significant.

Paddy

My S130/4 on Dellortos will do 40mpg on gentle long journies and as low as 25mpg (but never lower) round town. But I also agree that a couple of weeks inactivity in the garage (even with cognac corks in the breathers) will cause the car to lose a lot of fuel by evaporation.

Roy

My car would run poor fuel consumption too,i would fill with as much as i could,normaly around 40 pounds worth,id leave Bovington and get to my parents house 66 miles away,leave the car over night.one day i didnt fill up again and ran out around 5 miles from home.So do quick maths and i was getting around 140 miles to 40 ltrs of juice.Thats why im going EFI. To be fair and to justify this,i have a 4 speed and did like to hear the engine sign at high revs,intoxicating...!!! but on a motorway drive and taking it easy if im honest it would do mid to high 20's.

hope that helps,

Paul

Mine is a +2S130 with a type 9 5 speed gearbox, I get around 30 - 35mpg on mixed driving, mostly B roads.

Kevin

I use my +2 as a daily driver.

Daily driving (mainly 80% long journeys) 40 - 45 mpg

Hard/quick driving....about 25 -30mpg.

ALL negated by petrol evaporation while the car is parked

Peter

Peter
Any respray pictures??????

Happy Christmas!

Terry

Terry....

would you believe......it's still not ready.

BUT....it's working out for the best.

My 'resprayer' has just invested in a full Spray Booth, so I expect a perfect job.

The care and attention he has put in to the (many ) repairs has been amazing. So I'm happy.

This cold snap would have been interesting in my +2 (I have a Landrover on loan!)

Joyeux Noel Terry

Peter