OK, I think I may have found the cause of the terrible fuel economy I was getting out of The Duke (9.7 MPG): The clutch is knackered. Went to pick up a roof and some windows from a bloke off the EMLRA forums and the extra weight and some hills made it quite obvious that much of the engine’s power is being wasted burning the clutch!

So, I have spent another £150 on new parts for the clutch. There will, no doubt, be more on the blog about the roof, windows and clutch fitting later on!

I started a thread about MPG on the LRnet forums and got some advice which may well be worth listening to! Most people with 2.286 petrol engines like mine claimed to get around 17 MPG. Still not amazing but it’d halve my petrol bill, which suits me!

  • Overdrive - around 30% improvement when engaged on motorways etc. Available on eBay for around £300 and often of poor quality.
  • Performance/unleaded head with a higher compression ratio - could give 10 - 30% improvement for £350 or so
  • A better carb - I am starting to distrust the crappy carb I installed - roughly £100
  • An electric fan, rather than the 8 blade military one. Kenlowe fans claim an 8% increase in performance for £100
  • A higher temperature thermostat - the engine runs better when hot. Not expensive but needs investigation.
  • Somebody also claimed that the military 109 had lower than standard gearing in the transfer case. Not sure if this is true...?