How Much Does An MB Really Cost?

[CrazyDan]

Typical troll tactic, use an untruth to cause division.

 

[butre]

haha u mad I rekt u in other post


rofl @ 10 miles a gallon...and btw I easy get 100 miles a gallon, you just don't know how to build...n00b

you tried, I can give you that much.

 

[CrazyDan]

I'm at about $730 on my build but some parts are used so its a bit cheaper than if I got all new parts. If I purchased all new I'd be a little over $900.

 

[Steve Best]

(I know this is an old off-topic thread, but...)

Seriously, this sport does not have to be expensive.
One of my bikes started as a $50 Kijiji used engine kit and a $20 yardsale bike.
It's still running a year after.

Now realistically, like any other obsession, we tend to dump money into it.
"Oh, I need some spares", a coil, a carb, a cylinder kit.
Then I start buying the hotrod parts...

If you really want to run cheap and reliable, you can.
A quality kit, installed carefully on a reliable bike can run long and well.
Wanna race or run hard and fast? Forget all of the above.
Happy with 25-30mph? Look after your stuff? You'll go far.

You can get 100mpg with a motorized bike, although mine did not give quite that as delivered. Leaning out the needle and main jet and keeping the speeds to 20-25mph will give great mileage. Don't over tighten the chain (and I recommend regular BMX chain too, less weight, less drag) and keep everything aligned and lightly lubed. If you pedal with the engine off much you will know if things are rolling free and triple your miles on fuel too.

 

[KCvale]

I don't have a personal MB these days, I couldn't ride it, but I had well over $1K into the bikes I liked and of course sold pretty soon.

If you want to build a decent, reliable MB, you can do it for ~$650 if all the new parts are new.

I am talking with a new customer that wants me to build him the 'best build I have ever built' and has a $4,000 budget.

I think this will be a nice 'closing down' and 'final build' for me ;-}

 

[Rusty_S85]

the 4.10 rear end pretty much completely defeats overdrive. couple that with the fact that it's got a comp xer281hr cam, all the extra drag from the spool, and has 350,000 miles on it I'm lucky I'm getting double digits. that's city mileage anyway, combined is more like 12.

it's not hard to get 18 mpg with a 2.50 rear end, especially when you weigh half a ton less and don't have the aerodynamics of a truck.

keep in mind with your 2.75:1 rear end in the f150 you're spinning 2500 rpm to my 3750 rpm at the same speed.

Bulls**t. Assuming you have a 4L60E transmission which is the most common automatic overdrive GM transmission behind LS platform engines that transmission has a 0.696:1 overdrive which means your 4.10 rear end is running in over drive like a 2.85:1 ratio which means your truck has very similar gearing to my '82 F150 which is way less aerodynamic than yours, also has a 302 engine making 100 HP from the factory during emission era with a 2V carb turning a huge heavy C6 transmission that sucks up a good 40 HP to spin going back to a 9" rear end sucking up another 15 HP to spin that then throw on top of it I have 3" taller tires than stock which makes my 2.75:1 more like a 2.65:1. Power to weight ratio my truck also is lighter than yours but it is a flat front end and I am still getting 12 mpg city out of it with a carb.

I also know the gear ratios because I was looking at running a AOD in my Ford truck to up my gear ratio and found out its deep overdrive like the 4L60E would require me to run a 4.10:1 - 4.33:1 axle ratio with my tire to put my final drive back to a stock 2.75:1 with my taller tires.

My '78 Mercury, its a brick nose front end as well and weighs in at 5,000 lbs which I bet is with in 500 lbs of your truck with a 145 HP 351W spinning a FMX transmission with the same power robbing 9" rear end. Still with a carb I'm getting a good 18 mpg city out of it with the A/C on.

In the end your truck should get way better gas mileage than it is and a little bit of math that I didn't bother to dive into, if you are running taller tires than stock that effectively raises your gear ratio so your overdrive instead of being 2.85:1 final is probably more like a 2.50:1 to 2.60:1 after taking into consideration the tire size change.

So in the end I call bulls**t. My advice to you is don't try to bulls**t a hotrodder that works on cars and trucks for a living. Especially one that does hotrod transplants of LS engines 4L60e`s and Coyote engines.

 

[Rusty_S85]

(I know this is an old off-topic thread, but...)

Seriously, this sport does not have to be expensive.
One of my bikes started as a $50 Kijiji used engine kit and a $20 yardsale bike.
It's still running a year after.

Now realistically, like any other obsession, we tend to dump money into it.
"Oh, I need some spares", a coil, a carb, a cylinder kit.
Then I start buying the hotrod parts...

If you really want to run cheap and reliable, you can.
A quality kit, installed carefully on a reliable bike can run long and well.
Wanna race or run hard and fast? Forget all of the above.
Happy with 25-30mph? Look after your stuff? You'll go far.

You can get 100mpg with a motorized bike, although mine did not give quite that as delivered. Leaning out the needle and main jet and keeping the speeds to 20-25mph will give great mileage. Don't over tighten the chain (and I recommend regular BMX chain too, less weight, less drag) and keep everything aligned and lightly lubed. If you pedal with the engine off much you will know if things are rolling free and triple your miles on fuel too.

Yep, mine is a project that I am trying to over engineer to eliminate problems from using cheaper parts. With that in mind I am going with a hotrod engine but considering the .6 Gallon fuel tank I am contemplating running a rear rack on my retro build with a fuel tank built into it as well as an auxiliary to get a bit more range. Mine is a toy to play around with but I also want it to get good enough mileage that I am not constantly mixing up and pouring gas in just to enjoy it.

 

[Steve Best]

I gotta agree with this. I ran 4:11 gears in several trucks with straight 1:1 transmissions. Not so bad with 30-34" tall tires, even on the highway. I had one car with a 2.45:1 ratio rear and it was not fuel mileage miracle either.

Hey Rusty, another Ford addict here. I ran a 351C in a 74 Maverick for many years with a toploader and 3.50 8" rear. It could break 20mpg if you could keep your foot out of it.

 

[Rusty_S85]

I gotta agree with this. I ran 4:11 gears in several trucks with straight 1:1 transmissions. Not so bad with 30-34" tall tires, even on the highway. I had one car with a 2.45:1 ratio rear and it was not fuel mileage miracle either.

Hey Rusty, another Ford addict here. I ran a 351C in a 74 Maverick for many years with a toploader and 3.50 8" rear. It could break 20mpg if you could keep your foot out of it.

Nice. I am seriously thinking of building up a stroker 351W for my '78 when I get around to restoring her. Think it would be fitting to have a street build stroker and considering there is a guy right now making hemi heads for the old 289-302-351w engines I might be buying those for my truck or my mercury depending on price and on what size valves/port volume they are offered in. High rpm is fine with larger valves and ports but I hate to change my gearing as I like how they cruise. Much rather just build the engine to make more power in said rpm range to boost fuel economy by improving power to weight ratio.

I think for my mercury big reason she gets 18 city when she was running is cause she still has the functional load sensor on the inner fender which is a primitive map sensor. It senses engine vacuum and advances the ignition timing more than the duraspark II module does to improve fuel economy for no to low load situations. I know it functions cause at idle with no vacuum hooked up engine baseline is set at 14* BTDC, with dist vacuum its pushing 20* BTDC timing and with this load sensor on at idle it shoots up to almost 40* BTDC at idle.

 

[butre]

Bulls**t. Assuming you have a 4L60E transmission which is the most common automatic overdrive GM transmission behind LS platform engines that transmission has a 0.696:1 overdrive which means your 4.10 rear end is running in over drive like a 2.85:1 ratio which means your truck has very similar gearing to my '82 F150 which is way less aerodynamic than yours, also has a 302 engine making 100 HP from the factory during emission era with a 2V carb turning a huge heavy C6 transmission that sucks up a good 40 HP to spin going back to a 9" rear end sucking up another 15 HP to spin that then throw on top of it I have 3" taller tires than stock which makes my 2.75:1 more like a 2.65:1. Power to weight ratio my truck also is lighter than yours but it is a flat front end and I am still getting 12 mpg city out of it with a carb.

I also know the gear ratios because I was looking at running a AOD in my Ford truck to up my gear ratio and found out its deep overdrive like the 4L60E would require me to run a 4.10:1 - 4.33:1 axle ratio with my tire to put my final drive back to a stock 2.75:1 with my taller tires.

My '78 Mercury, its a brick nose front end as well and weighs in at 5,000 lbs which I bet is with in 500 lbs of your truck with a 145 HP 351W spinning a FMX transmission with the same power robbing 9" rear end. Still with a carb I'm getting a good 18 mpg city out of it with the A/C on.

In the end your truck should get way better gas mileage than it is and a little bit of math that I didn't bother to dive into, if you are running taller tires than stock that effectively raises your gear ratio so your overdrive instead of being 2.85:1 final is probably more like a 2.50:1 to 2.60:1 after taking into consideration the tire size change.

So in the end I call bulls**t. My advice to you is don't try to bulls**t a hotrodder that works on cars and trucks for a living. Especially one that does hotrod transplants of LS engines 4L60e`s and Coyote engines.

a new 2005 silverado in my trim only gets 13 city and 16 highway, with the cam and 350k miles without a rebuild it does 10 city and 13-14 highway. there's more to 33 inch rubber than just size, they're not just 33 inch street tires. I live in a swamp and have rubber to match, and with that soft knobby rubber comes increased rolling resistance, and it sitting higher causes aerodynamic problems.
I still get 15 highway if I really baby it, but what fun is that? I don't throw a bunch of speed parts at a motor to putt around at 55.