Fuel efficient 200?

A

Anonymous

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I'd like to optimized my gas mileage. I saw a post about MPG, so I was wondering what everyone did to get more miles per gallon?

I currently get about 18.5 MPG in the city.

Thanks!
 
Pertornix, electric fuel pump and fan.
More importantly, good bushings, bearings, etc. Slightly overinflated tires.
Most importantly, gearing. Combining tranny, tires size and rear end.

My set-up (see signature) gets about 24mpg tops. My short coming is my trans (a T5 is best for mpg) and my lead foot. :roll:
 
LaGrasta":vuij7980 said:
Pertornix, electric fuel pump and fan.
More importantly, good bushings, bearings, etc. Slightly overinflated tires.
Most importantly, gearing. Combining tranny, tires size and rear end.

Enough people have had trouble with the pertronix that I wouldn't try one, but I know for a fact the Duraspark is as reliable as anything out there.

I wouldn't waste my time with an electric fuel pump if the mechanical is fine. I think a mechanical fuel pump uses about .0001 HP to operate. Big gains can be found with an electric fan, though.

Gears, an overdrive trans, and good quality tires run at 35 psi are vital.

"city" mileage is so subjective....depends on so many things besides climate, traffic density, number of stops, etc.
 
8)

I was getting 30mpg with my 1980 Mustang stock with Duraspark II, and Holley 1946 1bbl.

I had it all tuned up, and have P215/60-14 tires, and a C4.

The car is not currently running but if it were I would do the following mods.

Wash and wax car for aerodynamic smoothness

Have tires properly inflated or slightly over inflated. Proper alignment is also important. Also, tall skinny tires have less rolling resistance than shorter fatter tires.

Remove any excess stuff and weight out of the car

If possible get lowering springs to drop heigt a bit to improve aerodynamics.

Switch to Mike's DUI ignition and those big fat plug wires.

I would also look at synthetic grease for the wheel bearing and rear end lube.

Me personally I would also run synthetic lubricants in the engine but that is entirely dependant on the condition of your engine.

Extreme measure would be to run manual steering as opposed to power steering to reduce parasitic power loss to run components.
 
Howdy Drew and All:

18.5 in city driving is great!!! Especially in the winter.

Your best bets with what you've got is to-
*Optimize your initial advance and open the plug gaps to .050".
*Make sure your vacuum advance is working properly.
*Make sure your air and fuel filters are clean. Make sure there are no obstructions in the exhaust system.
*Minimize your automatic choke almost to the point of stumbling.
*Set your idle speed as low as possible
*Make sure there are no gas or vacuum leaks anywhere.
*Upgrade to synthetic lubricants through-out the engine and drive train.
*Do not sit and idle the engine ever. Start up and drive off. Your engine will warm up faster and more efficiently in drive and under light load.

If you're in the snow belt some sort of engine pre-heater is a good idea- to hasten warm up. Also a hotter thermostat, or a fitted piece of cardboard with a hole in the middle, in front of the radiator. Anything you can do to avoid cold starts and quickly get the engine to operating temperature will help.

Finally, drive as if there was a raw egg between your foot and the accelerator pedal. Your driving habits will have the greatest effect on mileage.

Adios, David
 
drive as if there was a raw egg between your foot and the accelerator pedal. Your driving habits will have the greatest effect on mileage.

I hate it when he says that. I wanted to fix the problem with a bolt-on goodie.
 
He's right about your foot. I drive with a heavy foot in town and i see 13mpg avg in town, where on the highway last time I checked I was getting 25mpg doing a sustained steady speed of 70-75 mph on the interstate. I'm curious what my car will do if i keep my foot out of it in town, and if I were driving 55 on some country road.
 
I get 19.5 MPG City with the 81 3.3, best I've ever gotten is 19.8.
81 is driven from Oct to April.
88 5 litre 24-25 city and 31 to 35 Highway
No Air.no cats,glaspacs and lowered.
driving with a vacuum gauge on both vehicles.
308's in the 88 and very seldom use 5th in the 88.
5th puts the vacuum down to around 3-4 inches the way I drive.
60-80 MPH,28-3200 RPM,15-17 in vacuum,4th gear,31-35 highway.
 
Cruise control should be worth a couple of 10ths on the highway on level ground. It also reduces right leg cramps on long trips. I bought an after-market unit from JC Whitney severel years ago for about $100.
 
:D Anlushac is right about the wash and wax.Crew chiefs on P51`s in WW2 would wax their AC and they would cruise appx 10 to 15 MPH faster
than an unwaxed AC.Given identicle power settings.
Leo
 
I just got about 16 mpg out of my last tank. Not very good, but I do tend to stomp on it. I do a lot of city driving and my gearing is a bit tall.
 
To have a chance of getting into the 30's on the highway:
T5 transmission.
A well tuned Holley 1946.
Tires at 35-38 psi (or the max rated inflation).
Staying below 65mph.
Duraspark, MSD, Petronix, etc., ignition, plugs gapped at .050".

To get 20's around town:
Set idle as low as possible.
Short shift.
Don't be in a hurry.

I get 32-33 mpg on the highway. It took some self training to stay below 65.
Around town, my mileage varies quite a bit depending on my mood...
Rick(wrench)
 
ludwig":3tbs8ju5 said:
drive as if there was a raw egg between your foot and the accelerator pedal. Your driving habits will have the greatest effect on mileage.

I hate it when he says that. I wanted to fix the problem with a bolt-on goodie.
I hate it because I'm tired of cleaning up the broken eggs, and replacing them :LOL:
 
If you are driving a car with a carb, set the choke at its leanest setting or remove it completely. Then, drive only on hot days, or move to a warmer climate. :LOL:

Seriously, synthetic 10W-30 oil was worth about .5 MPG. Pertronix 1 with Platinum plugs was worth at least 1-2 or more. I've gone on several month-long road trips, and packed the car accordingly. I've gotten a high of 25 MPG at 65 MPH or so, with the top up. I gotten 21-23 at 70+ MPH with the top down. ;)
 
8) a lot of good information here. a few tips;

1: start by optimizing your driving style. learn to be consistent in your driving as that will have a large effect on fuel economy as stated a few times.

2: optimize your current combination. you have to have a solid baseline as a foundation so that when you start making modifications you will have a place to go back to if you get too far out of shape, and need toe reset everything. document the combination.

3: make ONE modification at a time, and optimize it before making another mod. again document each mod as you go, and the effect on fuel economy. this way you can go back one step of you make a change that doesnt work rather than going back to the beginning.

4: dont be afraid to try a particular modification at a later time just because it didnt work earlier. there are times when a mod that didnt work with one combination will work with a slightly different combination.

5: some modifications may not improve fuel economy, but are worthwhile because they improve reliability which is also important.

these 5 tips come from an old time crew chief, and are applicable to improving performance and/or fuel economy.
 
rbohm":93k4rs1b said:
8) a lot of good information here. a few tips;

1: start by optimizing your driving style. learn to be consistent in your driving as that will have a large effect on fuel economy as stated a few times.

Install Cruise Control for highway driving. 8)
 
A loose bowling ball in the trunk will also help :eek: If you can keep that sucker from rolling around you will be getting good mileage.

I had a couple of loose rims in the box of my truck for a couple of months and noticed that my mileage got better because I hated it when they would slide and bang around in the box so I drove nice to keep them quiet.
 
Something to remember:

As expensive as gas is, it takes a lot of driving for these mods to pay for themselves. For example, say that adding a DSII gave you 1 mpg over the load-o, moving you from 16 to 17 (arbitrary).

Also assume you commute 100 miles a week to work in the car. (More like a 100 miles a day for me, oh California)

That means that, In 1 week - you used 100/16 gallons with the old setup, or 6.25 gallons. With the new, thats 100/17 or 5.88 gallons. @ 3.50 a gallon, that means you save 1.29$ worth of gas per week.

So, if you spend 129$ upgrading to DSII (approximate and keeps math easy) it will take you 100 weeks, or two years, for it to pay for itself.
 
Bort62":3nb55owx said:
Something to remember:
if you spend 129$ upgrading to DSII (approximate and keeps math easy) it will take you 100 weeks, or two years, for it to pay for itself.
Oh desert man, art thou the angel saying to save my pennies or the devil giving me the dirty on how to install a turbo?

My old cars are hobbies and being such I spend money on them that I full well expect never to recoup. And since my hobbies are the the last thing to retrieve $$ from the bank account they don't get that much. Spending $129 for parts can be viewed as exactly that. Parts only. However doing the work yourself will prove invaluable for any future electrical work or diagnostics, plus you get to enjoy your hobby.

-ron
 
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