Reasonable cruising RPMs for 2.25 engines?

[chilidavid]

I'm making the mistake of comparing my wife's Honda Element's RPMs at various speeds to the 2.25 petrol engine in my '71 Series 2a at similar speeds. I just installed a Smith's RPM gauge and finally got my Roamerdrive installed, so I'm starting to focus on what would be safe highway RPMs now.

Does anyone do any road traveling in their Series truck who could let me know what a reasonably safe RPM range the 2.25 engines can handle on a daily (or continual) basis? I'm not interested in hearing about "top speed achievable with an overdrive" right now, especially since I'm running 16-inch rims with an original 15-inch-rim-calibrated speedo. (I do realize that my original speedo is off by 10% - on the low side - because of my larger rims.)

I prefer to tailor my drive to work around RPMs now, not MPHs.

Thanks for any input!

Chili David

[TeriAnn]

The 2.25 petrol really likes cruising in the 3200 to 3400 RPM range. It is the sweet spot of the engine.

The engine will run smoothly down to 800 RPM and if in good tune 600ish RPM but it has no power. The power drops off quickly below Max torque. It is usually a good idea to downshift by 2200 RPM if not higher. It is a good shift point when the engine is on level ground and not working hard. On a hill where the RPMs are dropping, about 2700 RPM will put you at a higher RPM where there is more power to keep going on the hill. During maximum acceleration, such as a freeway on ramp, I liked to shift at 3800 RPM.

Each engine is a little different with different states of tune and wear so you will likely want to adjust the rev points a little but 3200 to 3400 RPM is the sweet RPM range of the engine where it will happily run all day with minimal engine wear. For around town on level ground driving you will probably mostly be between 2400 & 3200 RPM.

Third gear over will become a favorite gear if you drive through the mountains a lot.

[SafeAirOne]

I prefer to tailor my drive to work around RPMs now, not MPHs.

That's funny--I drive my disposable winter car the same way because of a grossly inaccurate speedo: 3100 RPM = 65MPH in an early 90's VW golf with an automatic transmission.

Out of curiosity, have you driven your Rover with the Roamerdrive and rev counter on the highway yet? I suspect you have, so I'm wondering what the RPM was at which you began to feel um..."nervous."