With petrol destined to hit over $1/litre here are some tips I found to use less juice. It might come in handy if you are a tight-arse ricer like meh.

If you are a v8 lovin HSV freak... disregard this post.

http://drive.fairfax.com.au/content-new/news/features/2004/05/24/FFX43D3HLUD.html

To get this thread started I'd like to say that I think the fuel excise should be scrapped.

Also the article is pretty much all nos*** obvious stuff.

i got an idea to save fuel...

walk...

or ride your bike...

This indepth article suggests that!

Definately some obvious stuff there. Clearly flat stick the entire time is going to burn fuel, but only buying fuel when its at its very cheapest is pointless. You'll save dick all, and really the amount of f***ing about isn't worth it.

I wonder if they could make a car/engine that runs mostly on ethanol... then we could just 'grow' fuel ... and save the sugar cane industry.

Methanol-based vehicles already exist and have done so for a long time, particularly in countries like Brazil.

People would still buy the sugar cane from South America because it is cheaper...think things through for a few seconds dood.

Methanol is used cause its safer, in F1 and speedway and things like that. Its a pretty s*** fuel though.

^^ Industry protection, subsidy, tariffs! These are things govt's do to protect industries from cheap imports!

You think for a few secs dooder

rolleyes

your points dont even make sense in reference to your original post

sigh :(

last edited by verticalseafoodtaco at 21:36:13 27/May/04

verticalseafoodtaco, so what, what do you think scrapping the excise will do???? Considering something like 50% of the price of fuel is taxes, where do you think that money is going to magically appear from????

The sugar industry in Australia is screwed, no two ways about that now - but there is no way that imported sugar cane would be able to supply a methanol fuel industry - it would end up being too expensive compared to locally growing and refining.

last edited by sikgem at 21:36:35 27/May/04

whatever hunter

install a fuelstar system, this is a catalystic convertor which is installed on your fuel line, it will:

-allow leaded vehicles to run on unleaded fuel.
-Achieves Fuel savings 8-15%.
-Improves power by 3-4%.
-Lowers emissions.
-Helps the motor to run cleaner.


http://www.hicloneqld.com/fuelstar.htm

one of my friends has one on his 1965 HD Holden and he swears by it.

Are you that ignorant??? Money doesn't grow on trees and as much as I dislike liberals and their money bags ways, it would be f***ing dumb to say "oh nos maen just take the tax off fuel". f*** me dead, that's on par with Pauline's "print more money" idea.

I was talking about scrapping the fuel excise; fuel subsidy deal in queensland.

We should just pay the same as the other states.

Keep your steering wheel still. The more you weave on the road the further you have to travel and the more petrol is used.

Talkin about driving straight from Israel.

my mate use to work at a BP fuel station and apparently they don't make that much money on fuel from each car. Of course they make money because of the volume that they sell.

The government makes more money from it than they do. this is what i was told anyway.

MAY 26 is NO PETROL WEDNESDAY. Join the one day nationwide boycott and
help give the message that we strongly oppose the current and on going
increase in the price of PETROL. Buy FUEL today, Thursday or any other day
but not Wednesday. Pass this on to family and friends. Thanks for your
help! More below...

"IT HAS BEEN CALCULATED THAT IF EVERYONE IN AUSTRALIA DID NOT PURCHASE A
DROP OF PETROL FOR ONE DAY AND ALL AT THE SAME TIME, THE OIL COMPANIES
WOULD CHOKE ON THEIR STOCKPILES. AT THE SAME TIME IT WOULD HIT THE ENTIRE
INDUSTRY WITH A NET LOSS OF OVER 4.6 BILLION DOLLARS WHICH AFFECTS THE
BOTTOM LINES OF THE OIL COMPANIES.

THEREFORE MAY 26TH HAS BEEN FORMALLY DECLARED "STICK IT UP THEIR A*SE DAY
AND THE PEOPLE OF THIS NATION SHOULD NOT BUY A SINGLE DROP OF PETROL THAT
DAY. THE ONLY WAY THIS CAN BE DONE IS IF YOU FORWARD THIS E-MAIL TO AS
MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN AND AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN TO GET THE WORD OUT.
WAITING ON THIS ADMINSTRATION TO STEP IN AND CONTROL THE PRICES IS NOT
GOING TO HAPPEN. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE REDUCTION AND CONTROL IN PRICES THAT
THE ARAB NATIONS PROMISED TWO WEEKS AGO?

REMEMBER ONE THING, NOT ONLY IS THE PRICE OF PETROL GOING UP BUT AT THE
SAME TIME AIRLINES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES, TRUCKING COMPANIES ARE
FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES WHICH EFFECTS PRICES ON EVERYTHING THAT IS
SHIPPED. THINGS LIKE FOOD, CLOTHING, BUILDING MATERIALS, MEDICAL SUPPLIES
ETC. WHO PAYS IN THE END? WE DO! WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. IF THEY DON'T
GET THE MESSAGE AFTER ONE DAY, WE WILL DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN.

SO DO YOUR PART AND SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO EVERYONE YOU
KNOW. MARK YOUR CALENDARS AND MAKE MAY 26TH A DAY THAT THE CITIZENS OF
AUSTRALIA SAY "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.


At least it's showing them we have power too

got this in an email and is on a few popular car forums..

As someone said, 50% of the cost of fuel is tax.

In europe its something like 70%.

47% i think
37% is that fuel excises
and 10% for gst

Are you that ignorant??? Money doesn't grow on trees and as much as I dislike liberals and their money bags ways, it would be f***ing dumb to say "oh no maen just remove the poor tax and replace it with the gst". f*** me dead, that's on par with Pauline's "print more money" idea.

Fuel + Tobacco + Alchohol: Some of the most heavily taxed items, and items that lots of people use. Funny how the same people that support a progressive tax system also support a regressive tax system for goods they have proclaimed 'evil'.

what a f***ing tightarse article - i wonder if he has any opinions on anything else for saving money

I will not buy petrol on the 26th :D

i would be willing to pay 10x that amount to douse you in overpriced fuel before flicking the butt of my overpriced cigarette into your screaming face

would be willing to pay 10x that amount to douse you in overpriced fuel before flicking the butt of my overpriced cigarette into your screaming face

meh, I've seen lit matches go out in pools of petrol..

Fuel prices sucks. Trying to study and paying about $80 a fortnight in fuel just sucks ass. Now I wish I had just bought a small car that runs off fuel vapors.

If you don't like the price of fuel why not convert to autogas, even with the governments planed taxes it's still cheaper.

When I went the US in 2001 I bought a pack of marlboro red 20's for $1.80 and filled my ford windstar which was a guzzler up (75L Tank) for $28. US dollars of course.

It was insanely cheap.

hence the reason they are in iraq right now

Due to the soaring prices of petrol, a friend of mine has made a drastic decision to sell his Skyline GTS-T featured below:

http://img34.photobucket.com/albums/v104/zeezee/My car and friends/buy.jpg

Going cheap as 20k...Quickly before the petrol prices go down again !!

Guess the number plate and its yours !!



last edited by Booyah at 02:31:55 28/May/04

I filled up yesterday at the Shell at Oxley, 86.9c :D seems to always be cheap there :)

have fuel prices gone up yet?
i havent noticed;

im still paying approximately the same i always do (just over 90 c a litre for bp premium)

was a bit of a shock jumping from a mirage (500ks to a 50 litre tank)
to the skyline (350 ks to 60 litre tank)
but we just fill up mid week at selected bp stations and its not so bad

1. Car Pool.

2. Buy a Moped or Motorbike.

3. Public transport.

4. Buy a more economical car.

5. LPG or Natural Gas Australia has bucket loads.

Falicy, electric cars are better for the environment not neccesarily true if the electricity is fossil fuel based then they are nearly as bad as the carbon emmission of the fossil fuel require to make the electricity are nearly the same as petrol.

i approve of the fuel tax, if there wasnt any, everyone would be driving v8/v6 fuel guzzlers.

Oil prices are gonna stay up, and get worse.

doesnt affect me much though, <3 Motorcycle

If higher oil prices will get rid of the some of the 4x4s and ricers, good.

We've decided that our next car will be the Hybrid car, we were looking at the Honda one and the Toyota one. The Honda is cheaper than the Toyota, but according to RACQ, the Toyota is slighty more fuel efficient.

Apparently the Peugeot diesel (can't remember the model but the new one) is pretty good in terms of fuel efficiency too.

I catch public transport to work but the girlfriend has to drive to work due to the hassels with the public transport. But for $20 (even with current prices) generally we get half the tank for the little Hyundai Excel. It's pretty cheap to run so I hope the Hybrid car will be even cheaper! :)

http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/thomson81/pics/bike.jpg

last edited by spidz at 10:37:32 28/May/04

size the image link FFS

http://www.mountaindragon.com/html/images.htm#size


last edited by GumbyNoTalent at 10:42:45 28/May/04

s*** hey I edited within 30 seconds and someone already has their rags.

Edit: lol a ninja edit as well - beaten at my own game.

last edited by spidz at 10:43:22 28/May/04

You noobed out, not my fault you lack speed skillz.

EDIT:My ninja edit skilz are slowing with old age. :)

last edited by GumbyNoTalent at 10:44:46 28/May/04

http://members.optushome.com.au/j.neilson/car/GSR40TSi-black-back.jpg
40 something cc
can go up to 50km/h
crusing speed 38km/h


im going to get one as i lost my licence and its a cheap way to get around.

I'm capped :/

I've been surfing around and the peuguot diesel cars are very economical up to 5litre/100k. With diesel engines you get awesome mileage with a reduced perfomance ...but not by much anyways.
Also Hyundai Getz and Toyata Echo's are very economical as well and considerably cheaper than a Toyota Prius which only saves only 1-2 litres per 100k compared with the much cheaper hatchbacks. Although the Prius is more enviromently friendly with 80% less emissions compared with an equivelant standard vehicle as it also recycles kinetic energy such as braking!

anyway teh links:

http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_1441/article.html

http://www.mynrma.com.au/member_centre/media_centre/media_release.asp?mediaid=16

^Check out the Daewoo Matiz 0.8litre figures!?

I try to use the wife's Barina for most little run-around tasks now. That thing can still be filled from bone dry to full with about $20 worth of fuel :)

I try to use the wife's Barina for most little run-around tasks now. That thing can still be filled from bone dry to full with about $20 worth of fuel :)

20 dollars worth of fuel for the fuel tank to be full?

wtf, that means that its about a 25 litre tank, how old is the damn car.

my sisters barina is a 99 model and its tank is about 45 litres.

. Slow down. If speed cameras do not catch you, your wallet will. In most cars, travelling at 90kmh on the open road uses 25 percent less fuel than driving at 110kmh.

Ahahahaha. In other news, Driving at 0kmh uses 100% less fuel than driving at 300kmh.

shotty you f***wit. the wind resistance generated ramps up dramatically after 90 kp/h, so therefor he's correct, driving 90kph is much much more fuel economical than 100+ kph

also, 75% of what you pay for fuel is tax. that is a fact. was chatting to my stepmother about it who's a chemist for the BP refinery

40 something cc
can go up to 50km/h
crusing speed 38km/h

im going to get one as i lost my licence and its a cheap way to get around.

Shame you'll be needing a license to use that particular one...

No license you're limited to 200w or 26kms an hour... They must be speed limited from the factory...

yeah, but wouldn't you just need a learners for that boxhead? like a moped?

well if he "lost" his license then i doubt he'll be getting another one anytime soon :p

To be honest i'm not sure, i know 200w is the limit for license, i'd imagine you'd need to be fully licensed for a start otherwise thats a pretty big loophole in the system right there :p

That articles pretty s*** house not only is alot of it down right obvious or stuff that only a moron would do...

do not rest feet on the brakes or the clutch. This causes unnecessary wear and uses more fuel.

but also some if it is just plain wrong, like turning off your engine...good idea except you do more engine wear turning your engine back on which will cost you more in the long rung and aircon use is about 2% and pretty much negligible on the freeway because it reduces wind resistance having the windows up.

I'd like to say that I think the fuel excise should be scrapped.

Keep preaching the same tired old mantra taco...

Shame you'll be needing a license to use that particular one...

No license you're limited to 200w or 26kms an hour... They must be speed limited from the factory...

true. where did u hear that? ive been to the department of transport and to my local police station asking about this because i was worried that i would get booked for it or something. 50cc or or under you dont need a licence. I called up and asked about one and the dude said it has a restrictor (sp) but you can take it off easily with a screwdriver when you want.

edit: and i know the dp site dosent cover this very well, thats why i went to dp & the police

last edited by DigitaL at 19:43:15 28/May/04

slightly off topic
read this and slash your wrists.
http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/ulp1.html
did someone say carcinogen?

sif roadie

http://users.bigpond.net.au/josh/bike.jpg

I thought it was 50cc and under and you could use a car license, more than that and you need a motorbike license.

Im going for my P's this friday (the 4th), then I will hoon around in my 91 VN which is currently on LPG... :)

Choose your new car wisely. Avoiding vehicles with power-consuming options such as air-conditioning, power windows and automatic transmission reduces petrol consumption. In hot climates such as Australia, choose a light-coloured exterior and interior -- it will reflect light and heat so you don't need to use the air-conditioning as much.

Sorry its s*** like that, that absolutly puts me off arcticles like that. I mean how the f*** does electric windows use your fuel? Sure aircon does cause it runs of your belt but i mean power windows? Wtf are they on.

What other way would your drive anyways? 120km/h through surburbia? Anyone that does that doesnt care about fuel costs.

man only 90cents a litre, down here it was $1.10 tonight when i got some fuel!!

man only 90cents a litre, down here it was $1.10 tonight when i got some fuel!!

Are you s***tin me man ?? I mean... ARE YOU s***TIN ME ??? I thought they couldnt go past 99.9 cause there's just not enough digits for it to hit 1.00... 1.10 is merely insane. Could you imagine the people that have to fill with Optimuim petrol ? wtf ...

last edited by Booyah at 00:26:27 29/May/04

LPG

NSW might have won the Origin, but your still getting screwed in the fuel stakes! HA HA! Sucks to be j00!!!

Shotty you f***wit. the wind resistance generated ramps up dramatically after 90 kp/h, so therefor he's correct, driving 90kph is much much more fuel economical than 100+ kph

Wow, he's also correct in that driving at 0kmh is much more fuel efficent than driving at 10kmh.

Are there any roads in australia where the speed limit is 90?

His point still stands, obviously, driving faster will use more fuel dis-proportionately because of air resistance, but the difference between 100 and 110 is negligible and it probably makes up for itself anyway given the time you save.

last edited by Shotty at 16:30:59 29/May/04

Are there any roads in australia where the speed limit is 90?

yes, Moreton Bay road @ Capalaba being the one i most frequently drive.

Same with the gateway motorway north of the bridge.

His point still stands, obviously, driving faster will use more fuel dis-proportionately because of air resistance, but the difference between 100 and 110 is negligible and it probably makes up for itself anyway given the time you save.

Its probably more than your realise. Air resistance quadruples with each doubling of speed, also the engine is going faster and that makes a difference too. I think i read somewhere its like 20% more fuel efficient to drive at 100km/h than 110.

Western Freeway also

Wow, he's also correct in that driving at 0kmh is much more fuel efficent than driving at 10kmh.

What.... the.... f***....

I hope to god that was a typo and that was supposed to be INCORRECT or you were being sarcastic.

0kph is the worst possible thing for fuel economy, your burning fuel and getting NOWHERE.

10kph is definately not the most fuel efficient either, in fact, the most fuel efficient speed for most cars is around 70-90 kph [depending on gear ratios and power of the engine obviously], this is where the amount of fuel being burned to the distance being travelled is at it's peak.

That is, you're using the least amount of fuel possible to go the greatest distance.

How the f*** could you even consider 0kph to be the most economical, unless you like to just burn fuel listening to your car idling in the driveway all day.

[edit] Yes, 0kph and idling uses the LEAST possible fuel (that is, a car idling will always be using the smallest amount of fuel that it will ever use), but that isn't the same as efficiency/economy.

last edited by Loki at 17:32:25 29/May/04

install a fuelstar system, this is a catalystic convertor which is installed on your fuel line, it will:

-allow leaded vehicles to run on unleaded fuel.
-Achieves Fuel savings 8-15%.
-Improves power by 3-4%.
-Lowers emissions.
-Helps the motor to run cleaner.

What... the.... f***... x2

First of all, A Catalytic converter is in the exhaust, not the fuel line, and it removes some of the toxic fumes in EXHAUST gases.

The reason cars use leaded is because the engine uses the lead deposits in the fuel as a protectant/lubricant, particularly the valve seats, it's easier to simply convert the f***ing thing to unleaded by replacing the valve seats, so, how the f*** is putting something on your fuel line going to allow you to run unleaded fuel unless you have to top it up with an addative every so often? In which case, what's the point.
Now, there's nothing even in unleaded fuel which any such useable thing could even be extracted out of the fuel for the engine as good as lead, if it did, we'd all be running on straight unleaded anyway because its already in there.

Unleaded fuel is more toxic once combusted than Leaded, so?

Yes there is a power increase because unleaded fuel is a higher octane than unleaded - this is easily attainable by using a lead addative into the fuel tank of a lead-required car, keeps the octane level of unleaded, (thus better power & fuel efficiency), the s*** is cheap as hell and a few ml will cover 55L easily.
a 2-3L bottle will cover something like 1000L of petrol.
And your engine still receives the 'lead' deposits required to maintain it.

You can run a leaded engine on pure unleaded without the addative for probably about a year [depending on k's done etc.] before the valve seats start to implode and decay on themselves and become unuseable.

last edited by Loki at 18:00:58 29/May/04

Some vehicles, including my Gemini can run unleaded no worries because they have heads which include hardened seats. Most Japanese engines made after a certain year (late 60s or early 70s, I can't remember) have this because that is when they converted to ULP.

Yes, there is no problem in simply changing the valve seats over and running unleaded Hunter.

Better alternative than that faggety fuelstar s*** which I wouldn't trust.
Tin oxide, wtf.

Sounds like some poofter asian made bulls*** to me. Even if its not, it's definately designed to do something on the cheaper, instead of properly, and it aint even all that cheap.
Kinda like Thaiwan auto-chokes, break after two uses when extractors heat up.

All cost saving, no thought process when it comes to anything asian made.

No Offense to asians etc as a race/people. I dont mind the people, I hate the f***ing cut-price bulls*** parts that come from there, that's all =)

I'm sure there's plenty of other s*** from other countries that are the same, but meh, it's always MADE IN THAIWAN that you avoid like the plague :)

last edited by Loki at 17:55:54 29/May/04

last edited by Loki at 17:57:01 29/May/04

GET A BIKE

i don't give a s*** how much petrol is. 10 bucks a week for any thing between 200 - 300 k's depending on where and when i ride.

*Shudder* Bikes are great, but it don't matter how good you ride, its how bad everybody else drives.

It's a coffin on wheels.

I was talking to this guy from Middas this morning and he said somewhere in south australia the petrol price hit a $1.50...

Gawd.

a cheap coffin

Calm down loki, no need for forum rage.

The fuelstar system supposedly deposits trace amounts of tin or whatever into the fuel solution, and that somehow makes it burn better as it acts as a catalyst.

Its all bulls*** psuedoscience obviously, about as effective as a magnetic healing mat.

^^ Hahaha, I like it =)

Indeed, you riders have some serious balls, I just couldnt do it with some of the d*******s that are on the road =|

Calm down loki, no need for forum rage.

Apologies, I didnt mean to come across as "going off", except about the actual system and cheaply made parts (regardless of where they come from really I spose) =)

Are there any roads in australia where the speed limit is 90?

Plenty down here.. and thank f*** for that too.


One thing that i often dont get heard mentioned, and well, it could go both ways, is that buying slightly more expesnive fuel (ie BP ultimate, Shell Optimax, Caltex Gold) will give you better milage... and the diff in price is usually negated by its efficency
And yes, i do beleive this as even my car (lancer) seems to get more K's off it, and, as its higher octane, i usually notice the car isnt so sluggish.

As i said, it may go each way, depending on both driver and car.

Having said that, i realise that a stock lancer engine is tuned for australian fuel, so i dont know what effect higher octane fuels have on the engine.

last edited by Andrew at 20:28:49 29/May/04

First of all, A Catalytic converter is in the exhaust, not the fuel line, and it removes some of the toxic fumes in EXHAUST gases.

yeh, thats what one of them is, however there is a catalyst that goes onto your fuel line before it goes to the engine.

The reason cars use leaded is because the engine uses the lead deposits in the fuel as a protectant/lubricant, particularly the valve seats, it's easier to simply convert the f***ing thing to unleaded by replacing the valve seats, so, how the f*** is putting something on your fuel line going to allow you to run unleaded fuel unless you have to top it up with an addative every so often? In which case, what's the point.
Now, there's nothing even in unleaded fuel which any such useable thing could even be extracted out of the fuel for the engine as good as lead, if it did, we'd all be running on straight unleaded anyway because its already in there.

thats not the only reason why leaded was used in cars, my car is a 68 HR holden, the engine is high compression and being HIGH compression it needs leaded, not only because of protecting the valve seats but also because of the higher octane rating needed for the car to perform properly, however they did make low compression motors in the 60's which ran on lower octane petrol (unleaded), although not many people bought these because they just didn't have power.

changine valve seats over aint a cheap process, costs around 600+ dollars.

the fuel star thingy is meant to put a tin coating over the valve seats intending on making them harder so when using unleaded petrol it won't create valve seat recession. apparently its supposed to work on the vibration of the engine that will cause these tin particles to come out of the canister and go into the fuel.

Yes there is a power increase because unleaded fuel is a higher octane than unleaded - this is easily attainable by using a lead addative into the fuel tank of a lead-required car, keeps the octane level of unleaded, (thus better power & fuel efficiency), the s*** is cheap as hell and a few ml will cover 55L easily.
a 2-3L bottle will cover something like 1000L of petrol.
And your engine still receives the 'lead' deposits required to maintain it.

the valvemaster additive that you add to unleaded fuel upon filling up isn't all that its cracked up to be. for starters it may eventually create valve seat recession, and it may cause spark plug fouling.
also through using unleaded fuel straight, apart from valve seat recession it will create what they call "pinking" which is because the engine makes a pinging noise, its the process where because of the low octane of the unleaded petrol causes the push rods to hit the valve seats or something like that.

before i sold my old car i use to run it off caltex gold then i tried it on a tank of unleded and i hardly noticed a difference. the only thing i could tell that was different was my exhaust note. When ran on gold it had a smoother sound but otherwise there aws no change in k's or performance.

I've got a dual fuel V8... so there.

Well I'm in Norway at the moment, and the fuel price here fluctuates between about AUD$1.70 and $2.10 per litre. The price itself is high, but by shopping around you can easily save 20 bucks on a tank, and thats a difference for you at the end of the year. shø

My brother has a dual fuel hilux with a holden 308 (i think). Its a piece of s***.