Hehe... just wondering what kind of mileage you guys get... the new Z sure drinks up a lot of gas, quite a bit more than the RS... I havent done anything to it yet besides change the alternator, n fix up the electrical a bit.

Anything I could do to gain a few more mpgs..?

Driving tips, mech stuff.. lol gas prices are making me poor...
Any real diff in octane levels?

Would a tune up help?

Personally, I think living on a hill sure sucks a lot of gas out of it... anything i could do there?

anyways, thanks for your time in reading this.

 

You are gonna hate me (or the TBI... not sure which).

I get 25-28 on the road with A/C on going over the ridges from SF Peninsula to Santa Cruz/Monterey sticking closely to the speed limit. Staying conservative is the key. Also, I question really what kind of mileage you can get on an island above in-town driving on the mainland.

In town it's a little different. I get about 15-17 in town and remaining conservative. If I lead-foot it, it gets worse from there.

Of course, my quarter mile is (likely) over 16 too. Then again, I can peel wheels whenever I want too.



You will find folks on this forum that will totally say (and I agree) that mileage is all about the tune. The better the tune, the better the mileage.

 

FYI there's another thread in the Pacific Region that already has gas mileage info. Here's what I posted over there:

Both of my 5.7 TPI cars with 3.27 posi rears and 700-4s are driven hard and get 20-21 mpg in mixed city stop-and-go and surburban driving with the AC on about half of the time. Highway driving on the mainland at a steady 80 mph gets about 25-27 mph on my '92. The '87 has 150k on the clock and the '92 about 175. Both are regularly maintained, are in excellent condition and have not been overhauled. Both get better mileage than my two V6 minivans and will get high 13's-low14's in the quarter mile

So, if you have a TPI 5.7 in good condition, you should be getting about the same. BTW, I don't pussyfoot my cars, they're not abused, but they are driven fast whenever possible.

 

Well since you're manual you can coast down hills and try to keep it below 2000rpm if possible when cruzing around. Whatever you do, dont install a 3 speed auto. LOL

 

Man your gas mileage must suck now with that 350 trans huh Shawn! lol!

 

Living on a hill will suck a lot of gas- <i>especially</i> if you love driving up your hill....

When you're driving around town, "work the lights." Don't drive like a *****, but predict the lanes and lights and try to stick to the same speed.

Remember that the engine uses gas based on load- not just rpm; so if you need to hold gears longer to keep goin' up your hill, do it.

A tune up will always help. Don't use a higher octane than you need.

What's your gas milage now?

Scott

 

What's the point of having a high performance automobile if you can't have fun with it? Trying to operate a 3,400 pound vehicle with 300 horsepower designed with 80's technology as an "economy" car is futile. The best it can do is 15-20 mpg around town. All things considered, this is way better than the average 7-10 mpg I used to get with home-built hot rods.

Bad times are coming if you're concerned about the price of gasoline. Look for it to keep rising. $3, $4, heck, in Europe it's more than $5-6 a gallon ... that's why the middle class drives cars powered by 200 cc motorcycle engines.

But since America is the land of plenty, we will continue to have relatively cheap gas, compared to the rest of the world. Besides, driving an OLD car means the cost-per-mile is much less than a new car that gets 15-20 mpg. Imagine spending $40,000 for a new truck getting the same mileage as your old F-body, heh. Now factor in what it will cost you for depreciation, etc, etc, and you'll find the cost is much higher than the F-body. Oh, and the new car isn't as much fun to drive...

If you want a cheap vehicle with great gas mileage, get a moped.

If you're rich and want a vehicle with great gas mileage, get an electric-fuel battery Honda.

But if you're cheap like me and want a low-cost car that blows the doors off most everything else on the road today -- keep that F-body!

 

Duck, you're pretty close on your gas price figures. A lot of the European countries stick this obscene gas tax onto every gallon of fuel, in order to promote frugal driving habits and cars that get better economy. If they tried that here, I'm sure it would work, of course, us greedy Americans would NEVER put up with it for a second. We're too spoiled for that, right? My GTA gets around 19, and that's having a bit of fun with it. Not sure what I would get if I babied the car for a whole tank, I usually run out of patience or I just 'have to' sprint away from a red light briskly, see how fast I can get up to sixty on the back roads, that sort of thing. It would be nice to get better economy out of the car, but if I wanted economy, I'd get a Ford Festiva with a stick-shift, rack-and-pinion, and no AC. I might just get one when I'm older and have a teenager that has to learn how to drive.

Another thought. I don't know who's heard of it (it's been brought up on this site before) but does anyone know about Peak Oil? The basic gist of it is this: We have a finite suply of crude in the ground, and eventually, it will get harder and harder to extract it out of the ground. Expect crude oil prices to shoot through the ceiling, as supply can't meet our ever-incresing demand. And get this, crude oil isn't just turned inot gasoline and other fuels, crude is used to make over 500,000 different chemicals, including fertilizers and pesticides. I could go on, but I'm already off-topic.

 

i dont know it just seems that everytime i go up and down my hill into town i use about an eigth of my tank... from st. louis heights to the back of manoa valley... so thats what bothers me, on the RS id only see that kind of drain if i were goin out to like pearl city.

 

So, let's imagine that gas prices triple in 5-years... Fill your F-body tank for only $120. Hmmm, that's about 60-cents a mile driving econo-style. Yeah, and also triple cost for airplane tickets anywhere.

There's alternatives such as ethonal, propane and of course ... 10-cc powered mopeds to scoot around on to scrounge enough fuel to start our hot rods, like Mad Max...

Personally, I like the idea of methonal-based fuels, rejet everything bigger and no more overheating!

 

F-body gas gauges are not reliable ... you gotta record the miles and gallons consumed to know for sure.

 

What do you guys think about a set of chrome IROCS? Would match the Z?!

 

Chrome Irocs are always a good choice. Many will say that they are outdone already, but I still love them

 

Way better are these 17-inch deep dish orbs of power...

 

ok ok i admit! I love the ronals too! hehe. Nice wide rims too! Nothing like running 275s at all four corners.

 

Yah, the Ronal 17's and 275's will be my next upgrade if I ever crush one of my 91-92 16-inchers. With the right rubber they stick like Velcro and project a mean stance.

 

Well, turns out those chrome irocs I was talkin about were just polished 16s.. he wants 250$ for em plus trading my Z28s.. not too sure..


But, I finally got to open up the camaro today on the freeway... Im not too sure, but i think my cars wayy out of tune... Not too sure how to describe it. Somethings off though. Itll rev to 2500 on start up, then go down to 750-800. My cousin told me its' running rich.. anything I can do about that?

 

If you already have 16-inch wheels then it's not a good deal, but if you're giving up 15-inchers then go for it, the 16's handle better. The chrome plating on some of those wheels have a tendancy to separate, but hey, as long as the outside rim stays nice, just paint the chrome satin and leave the spoke strips shiny. Personally, I think the chromies are too gaudy.

Car running poorly? Tune it up, or have someone do it for you.

 

How far up St louis do you live? About halfway? If you live at the top, then that's a ton of gas if you like those roads. I would like them more than my hill if they were better paved and didn't have so many parked cars hanging into the street.

Driving fast uphill will suck down a lot of gas. Driving slow will just use a little less gas. May as well have some fun and burn up the extra few bucks a week goin' home.

I was usin' about 2~2.5 gallons per day goin' from the top of maunalani heights to kcc, and king st/pensacola. I probably use 3+ goin' to hcc now instead. The highway helps, but the traffic kills me coming home. Consistantly had 10 mpg- even (11 corrected), with a 12 mpg max (14.5 corrected).

My v6 maxima gets around 15 mpg average right now and I maxed it out at 19 combined. (Primarily by driving nicer up my hill, and windows up on the highway.)

You should take her to the track one night to get a baseline. I'm planning to do that soon. My friends are tellin' me to go on a wednesday night or don't bother.

Scott

 

The track is only open on Wednesday nights during the summer.

 

Crap, that's right you told me that the other week. My friends are morons... because one of them works at the track.

 

yeah I live just about at the top, maybe 7/8ths up. Id like to go get a baseline on her though, gotta wait till I get that torque arm bushing replaced, takes forever for the goddamn dealer to get the part in... no one else sells it... i think.

So, about launching a stick car... is it just a matter of revving it out dropping the clutch n floorin it? or is there some trick to be learned?

 

oh yeah, and how would I tune up the car myself? anything special involved?

 

Instead of spending $250 on chrome wheels, take your car over to Performance Auto Car Center and let Camaro and Corvette Chevy-Dr John Pinero fix it. When I bought my 92 Camaro HPD car I didn't have time to work on it and I had him do the work. What caught my attention [other than a fact that he had a bunch of cool classic Chevys and hot rods in his garage and autocrossed a Third-gen] was that when I got the bill, replacing spark plugs wasn't on the list. When I asked "why," the reply was "oh, didn't need 'em." First time I met a garage owner that honest...

 

There's a lot you can do by yourself in your garage. Which manuals do you have so far? Do you have access to the right tools?

Takin' your car to a shop is fine; just make sure you either really know your mechanic well, or do as much diagnosing yourself. (Especially suspension, it's easy for them to replace more than they 'have' to.)

Learn to check things that you can't fix yourself, so you at least can call for quotes (time and price).

Scott

 

i have access to a full on hydraulic lift, and basically any tool you can imagine of. I just dont know what im doing hehe... Yeah, im pretty sure im gonna not get those wheels, their just 16s n id rather save the money for something necessary.. like paint.. goddamn primers pissin me off.

So how much would the tune up bill be..? Hrmm i guess id have to go down n see for myself or get a quote eh?

 

Go see John, tell him Ed with the white and red Camaros sent you.

 

K thx for the referral ed, ill go see him soon, one of these days...

 

Where and how often do you have access to a lift? I'm sure for a little 'lift-time' someone here will gladly help show you the basics.

You can get to your bad bushings much easier that way. Is it a drive-on lift? Lift + Air Tools = surprisingly easy work on f-bodies... compared to wrenches and dirt, that is.

The VERY first thing to buy would be manuals. Get every book you can find on your car, especially the factory service manual. I still don't have that one. Back that up with some articles and research from this site, and you'll have almost anything you need. Well, you might also need a degree in TPI-ology for more advanced stuff.

Scott

 

My uncle runs a demolition company, and at his garage area, for all his work vehicles, he has four lifts, and a whole set of tools, along with air tools. I just gotta ask him when I can use it. I used the lift to find my busted bushing, but am still waiting for the part to come in.

 

Lucky you!! hehe. I say just take the car to get tuned up and be done with it. I like to DIY because you save $$ but when it comes to something I dont know how to do yet, and time is a factor, I got no problem taking it to a shop that I trust. All depends on how bad the problem is and how soon I need to get it fixed. There are so many parts of our cars that need to be maintained regularly (stuff that previous owners probably didnt do), sometimes we can have a lot of work ahead of us just to get the car back to OEM shape. When you're learning as you go (like me) sometimes it can take a long time to get there. First thing I would do in your situation is pull the codes on the ECM since its fairly easy. You can do it with a paperclip. Sounds like some of your sensors might be messed up. It could be anything from O2 to EGR, even the TPS or IAT sensors, heck maybe even the MAP sensor. If all those check out then I would look into a spark issue (wires, plugs, etc). You can also search this website for key phrases like 'rough idle' or 'bogging' or stuff that explains how it feels and read about what happened to other people. I've solved a few problems by doing that ...

 

Ok, problem solved! Convince your uncle that F-bodies are more fun than golf and Mercedes. He'll immediately acquire several to play with drifting and dragging, notice that your Camaro needs paint and a 383 crate engine ... and immediately have it done, 'cause that's what gearheads do.

 

Hehe he already has one,a 69 Z28, and a 350 formula tpi. On top of that, hes got a 71 SS Chevelle too, and a full race nova... lucky bastard. He's not into the whole golf mercedes thing, hardcore GM dude.

 

So why isn't he helping you get the Camaro running correctly?