I just figured your mileage with my calculator. I was just estimating off the top of my head when I said you got 26 mpg over the radio. When I crunched the numbers in the calculator, you got 27.7 mpg!

 

Cool I guess my combination is pretty good then

 

WOW.. where can i get that calculator? i need to figure out what i was getting before my oilpump just about died on me!

 

Gas Mileage equals number of miles travelled divided by number of gallons used.

MPG = miles / gas

 

I figured that I got just a hair under 25 mpg. Granted, that is with 3.08 gears but the fact that the car has pretty much sat in a garage for the past year (maybe 250 miles?), was only resurrected last week, and still isn't idling right, I wasn't disappointed with its performance.

 

It makes me wonder if I could improve my mileage by getting a 3.4x rear gearing instead of the present 3.23? With all of the traffic we ran into, I spent a lot of time in 4th gear. With a little more gear, I could have stayed in 5th longer. Your numbers are not that much worse than your old 305 combo, but I'm sure your power is much better. I also wonder how much difference aluminum heads with 10.5:1 compression makes compared with my 9.3:1 combo with steel heads. I'm also used to rev happy 4 cylinder motors, and I may not be utilising the torque of the 350 like I should.

 

good for mileage.....but I thought you built your 3rd combo to go fast and get a better ET. I thought you wanted to go fast

 

Well, I guess that is in the eye of the beholder
So sorry your vision is so blunted.

Gas Mileage equals number of miles travelled divided by number of gallons used.

250 mi. divided by 9.5 = 26.3

 

I was going by the 9 gallons you told me you put in when i asked on the radio. 26.3 isn't bad either!

 

12 second ET's and 20+ MPG is all he hoped for out of his daily driver. Going fast is reserved for those types with more money than places to spend it.

 

exactly! lots of people harass me for modding a 3rdgen when i could get a supra, or 4thgen, or skyline... because they are "faster" but some of us dont have the 40k+ to buy and build one of those... ill stick with my 20mpg thirdgen that cost me under 10k...

on a side note... my last trip from Phoenix to SoCal it got 346 miles on one tank... thats 25+ mpg... with a 3.23 rear and an auto trans... i love it!

 

Well, since this is the place.. And a Thread was closed being Non Tech.. But in all concern and considering it's 3rdgen related as they run from fuel and considering Some cars remain stock and some are modified and some are Highly modified..

So question would be.. How are you doing with the cost of gasoline with your 3rdgen.. And especially the ones that use them for daily use, commute etc..

We know and understand Smog Laws are making it tough for our 3rdgen's.. Could it come down where our mpg just wont get us far enough even at 20+mpg hwy..

With my current combo.. I can keep up with my 4cyl Malibu hwy mpg.. But anything city mileage it takes me.. I was able to make it from here to Bakersfield using aprox. half of a tank upon the initial break in period for the 383ci..

 

im getting 15mpg in a v6 all i get is about 135 miles a tank and thats mostly highway

 

ouch.... usually at least 220 on the tank in city... over 300 highway

 

i got to figure out what the heck is goin on with the car, All i can think of is the carb needs a rebuild or something

 

yeah, a 2.8 should be getting better mileage than a 5.7... especially the way i drive!

 

however this car had given me problems since i bought it day one (over a year ago) im gonna take it to a shop for them to do a full tune up, (dont have the time to do it as of late) and see how that goes, however the full tune up wont be for a few more months

 

well i hope that works out for ya. a V6 getting that bad of mileage isnt running right... well, unless its in an astro van or forced induction... then i could understand..

 

You may be experiencing the difference between efi and carb. My 87 T/A was originally a Lg4. The lady I bought it from asked me to stop by and show her the car when I finished it. It isn't finished yet, but I took it over for her to see it after it was painted. As we were talking about the car, I told her I was getting 22-24 mpg on the highway. She said the best she ever got with the carb was 13.5

 

thats also true... silly technology actually working...

 

hmm, perhaps i am then, and complaining about a perfectly normal running carbed v6 or maybe not? im a noob to carb's and carbed engines, i got a hanyes manual for the car, just need to get the verajet rebuild manual and rebuild it aswell i dont think its ever been rebuilt.

 

I've got a V6 and a 5-speed and I look at 28MPG all freeway milage and like 20 city. 3.42 rear-end. I actually get better milage without using cruise control. With the cruise on I drop to about 25.5 on the freeway. Wierd, huh?

 

yours is also a 5 spd.... his isnt... that probably has a lil to do with it..

 

My old rs had a v6, but the original 2.8 had been replaced with a 3.1. It also had the 700r4, but I don't know what the rear end gearing was. The best mileage i ever got out of it was 21mpg. I normally got 20 on the highway. I got better mileage around town with the v6 than I do with the v8, but I get 28-30 on my 4 cylinder Saturn daily driver. I came to the conclusion that a v6 f-body is not as economical to operate as a v8 (although a stick shift might be better), so why sacrifice performance. The v6 did handle better than the v8, but not enough better to make up for the shortcomings. I've often thought that the biggest problem with the third gen v6s (TTA excepted) is that G. M. used what should have been the last choice for base model engines. The 3.8 or the 4.3 would both have been better choices given the weight on the f-body.

 

Yea i got a 3 speed auto w/o Overdrive so that right there takes down the MPG i know that, Gonna do a 700r4 swap in this car if i can find one that is bolted to a V6. however what gets me is i got the orginall window sticker and the EPA back then said it would get 19 mpg i guess 4 mpg less aint That bad

 

drafting SUV's

Hey don, that was pretty good mileage too, considering you led the way, mostly.

 

My 2.8 is MPFI 700r4 and I have 3.23's. I am lucky to get more than 15mpg in mine either. Problem with them is your foot is always to the floor trying to get them to move.

I don't drive like a normal human being either- so that doesn't help things. I am lucky to get about 11mpg in my 89 truck when trying to conserve (Yes I tried that once for about a 1/2hour), otherwise its about 8-9mpg even on the hwy. Its a 34gallon tank and I fill it up with 91oct at least once a week.

And I hear everyone else whinning about fuel costs- I don't even bat an eye at it, and I use much more that most anyone. I just drive

Stop buying overpriced coffee and bottled water and you'll have plenty of money for gasoline.

 

Was your gearing changed?

If it was changed, why did you go to taller gears? If I change mine I'll be going to 3.73's just so I don't have to press as hard on the gas to get moving. Plus at least it'll feel better for the price of not going to a V8.

Yeah, the manual trans helps with the milage, so that's one good thing. The downside is that a trans mount costs $170 for it. Good thing I work a t a shop and can fabricate a new mounting bracket so that I can use the Auto Mount.

 

I changed them myself down to 3.23's from 3.42's. They are a better range of gears for freeway and roadracing type driving. I can run mostly in 2nd and drive with the 700r4 ranging from about 40mph to 130mph in just those two gears without having to use O.D.

Running freeway speeds at around 70-80 mph with 3.42's in OD lagged too much, and Drive at 70 - 80mph was revving a tad high. The car modulated way too much between Drive and OD with the 3.42's locking and unlocking the convertor. Now with the 3.23's I can hold it down in Drive when I am cruising more aggressively by myself or I can run fine in D or OD cruising with the family based on traffic and cruise speed.

This car probably gets more like 20 -25mpg if I drove it normal and tried to conserve fuel, But I don't drive that way. There is a reason why my suspension & brakes are built so radically, Its for safety for high speed driving.

I built the car for my driving style, NOT I drive the car fast cause its built. Its for safety and avoiding accidents when cruising those speeds. This car will stop on a dime from 130mph _while in a turn even.

 

okay guys, What is the best gearing for highway/city driving that will yeild the most MPG for each type of driving?

 

3.4x

 

It depends entirely on your combination. I can tell that my car would work better with 3.42s. It runs about 2000 rpm at 75 mph. That would be perfect if I didn't have to deal with traffic, but in traffic if the speed drops below 55, I need to grab a gear. With 3.42s, I could probably go as low as 45 before shifting down.
An automatic has only 4 gears instead of five, but they have a tq that slips allowing them to run taller gears. The efficiency losses of the automatic eats up fuel. One other thing is that the chip has an economy mode that G.M. turns off as delivered. When Don or Kevin burn a custom chip, they turn on the economy mode. The problem for guys with v6's is that they don't have the program to do custom chips for v6s.

 

alright guys, with out taking the rear end out, how would i figure out what gears i have? i have no clue about what i need to look for. I know a guy who restores classic stangs (hes got a shelby hes working on right now) and im sure he would beable to change them out if i need to.

 

The easiest way to check your ratio is to jack up the car, take off a wheel. mark a stud, and turn the driveshaft while counting the number of turns the wheel makes. If you have an open rear end, leave one rear wheel on the ground. You may need help from someone to turn your driveshaft while you look at the marked stud. If your wheel turns @ 2 3/4 turns, you have 2.7x, if it turns 3 1/2, you have 3.4x, 3 3/4 is 3.7x, 3 1/4 is 3.2x

 

If you leave one wheel on the ground with an open, you will need to double the count. ie. 1 1/2 = 3. 1 3/4=3.5 etc.

 

The T-56 rules. I get over 25+ mpg on the hwy and about 15 on the street. I have 3.73s, 80mph+6thgear =2200 rpms.
That is when it runs...

Ben

 

Don't you mean if the driveshaft turns 2 3/4, 3 1/2 ...etc? The ratio is the number of revolutions the driveshaft makes for one wheel revolution.

 

Probably, when I do it one obviously turns more than the other; so I count whichever turns more. I never can remember which is which unless I'm watching it happen.

 

Good comeback...Ha Ha