Hey guys,

Don't know if you noticed, but I had a thread in the V6 section. I was going to buy a 2.8L V6 88 Camaro for $1,000, but there were too many parts to replace and it would've cost another $1,000. I wanted a V6 for the better MPGs.

But my girlfriends uncle offered me a 92 Camaro RS Auto for a steal - $1,000. It's mileage is in the low 100,000s, has a recent paint job, and is in running order. He told me that he put in a new 305 V8 recently.

The only thing that concerns me is the gas prices. I know V8s are a little thirsty for gas, but is the mpg they get reasonable? Does anyone know the mpgs for city and highway? I looked it up on a few sites and got different answers.

I know V8s arent the most fuel friendly vehicles, but if it gets an average around 17 or 18 mpg I think thats decent for a V8. Are there any cheap ways aside from correct tire pressure, air filters, etc to make the engine gain a few more miles?


I'm very picky about my cars and I love the looks of this car. I plan on driving this car about 3-4 days a week to school and back (30 minute drive total per day). I've driven our old 4runner and tacoma and it seems like they get low mpg.

Thanks,
Evan

 

well for a 1992 with new paint and under a 100k miles for a grand is a steal anyways and gas price arent all that bad right now but it all depends on how you drive it. I think my 1991 rs 305 few mod was getting me 15 mpg but that was my first car in HS so I dogged the a$$ out of it so.... but i do belive city is around 18 mpg depending on miles, tune up ect.

 

i have a 90' rs with over 200000 mi and i get 26+ highway

 

my 89 2.8 got low 20's highway and it sucked. buy the 305.

 

Thanks guys. Well i drive 15 minutes from home to school, while going around 45-50 mph on the highway. About 5 minutes is through town.

I saw the car today and took it for a spin. it actually has 130,000 miles on it. I'm going to buy it this week so I'm pretty excited. I plan on driving it like a grandma I'll try to keep my foot as light as a feather (But she sounds GREAT when you give her gas)

Are there any cheap upgrade i can do to boost its city mileage? Any air filters or aftermarket parts? I'm new to these engines and am not too familiar with a TBI set up. Any help is appreciated

Thanks,
Evan

 

just give it a full tune up plugs, cap, rotor, wires, air filter (preferibly taller then stock) for a start.

 

Air filter and exhaust are the most restrictive things on these cars. Freeing the car up to breath can never hurt.

Really though, on older cars like this, keeping it in good shape is the best bet. People have reported the V8's hitting 20+ mpg in some situations, but they are in good shape. My own 305 gets 11 mpg, but I also know it runs really rich and has been flogged to death by PO's for 170,000 miles.

With cars in this price range, a tune up and proper care will matter more than mods, or even engine displacement. Heck, I had a 200,000 mi. Nissan with a 2.4L engine that got 9 mpg because it was in such bad shape.

 

I had a '91 305 with automatic, and it always got right around 23 mpg. Then OD went out, and even so, it still averaged 23 mpg. Then I replaced the trans, with an identical but fully functional one, and changed the rear axle for one with a 3.42:1 gear ratio, in place of my original 2.73:1 axle. Then I corrected the speedometer. Even so, I still got around 23 mpg. Maybe the lesson here is that your driving style does matter, or maybe it's that the LO3 isn't particularly sensitive to what rpm you cruise at. Mine was in great tune, with only a Flowmaster muffler.

 

Thanks guys!

I plan on replacing the air filter (I read that K&N is probably the best brand?), wires, and plugs. I really hope I can get good mileage out of her because she was fun as hell to drive!

I'll definately post some pics this week when I pick up the beast

 

LO3 "fun"?!?!? You need to get a ride in an LS1 car. That'll fix your perspective :-)

 

I was thinking the same thing. Not to mention that "fun" also included the idea of good MPG. Didn't know cars were fun at above, oh... 10 MPG or so, lol.


Back to the topic, heh. The K&N should serve you well. Get it tuned up and enjoy!

 

I woulda guessed higher average #s, than I'm seeing here.

My 200,000 mile L98 (TPI 350) gave me 21mpg, on my last highway trip that I bothered to check the mileage on.

I guess the 45 extra cubes doesn't increase consumption that much, when combined with port injectors vs throttle body injectors on a smaller motor.

 

Fun for me considering that I've been stuck driving a 4 cyl Honda CRV. I'm sure the 350 would be "fun" too, but I'm happy with whatever I get. As long as it gets decent mileage (More than our 90 4runner).

I thought I read that the difference between MPG of a 305 and 350 were about 1.5-2 MPG? As much as I want a 350 there aren't really that much options here on my island.

If anyone else has any more tips on how to get more miles out of a 305 I'd appreciate it Thanks

 

I was mostly poking fun at the L03... I have one too. No offense though, glad your getting a 3rd gen.

By the sound of it, if you can keep it in good condition, upgrade the air filter and get a tune up, you should realisticly be able to expect 20ish mpg on the highway, maybe better if you drive nice (something I"m not quite sure I could do if my life depended on it). There's probably not alot you can do to get any better though. But it should definatly outperform the trucks you've been driving. If nothing else, these are extremly aerodynamic cars.

 

None taken

I rarely got to drive my 4runner (Dont get me wrong, I LOVE 4runners. Only vehichles i'll own in life is a runner or camaro) till the headgasket blew. But from my dads and borthers experience, it had horrible MPG. We got a new 4 cyl tacoma which is great, but i've never driven a car with a lot of "umf" until I drove the 305. Last week I drove an 88 V6 Camaro, thought it was amazing, then drove the 305 and couldn't stop smiling.

I do plan on doing a tune up in the near future. The guy I'm buying it from is a mechanic who's really passionate about his cars. So hopefully he'll help me out. But having this camaro for my senior year in high school was a pipe dream come true. Haha.

 

well i get about 20 in town its not bad for me i mean i like v8 cars sigh.... if you want to get better miles per gallon get a superchip, performance chip that will let you adjust your horsepower and mpg rating

 

Thanks for the input. How much do those chips run about?

 

not that much its than $120 i just ordered my yesterday so ill get it in like a week or so.... i heard some gets like more than 20 hp gain

 

By any chance do I have a link to where you ordered one?

 

here you go, you just need to put year of your camaro
http://www.performancechipsdirect.com/Chevy/Camaro/

 

127,000 miles, stock except for CAI from a v6, daily driven 24MPG.

 

How do you bolt on that chip into the car

 

... that super chip does nothing except change the value of your intake air temp sensor readings, in some temperatures it can hurt performance... keep the snake oil out and the real sh*t in

 

So what chip would you recommend me for my 305 tbi

 

honestly if you are not changing anything in your car leave the stock prom in, if you are going to be changing stuff around or engines, its better to invest the money into getting the equipment to burn your own proms, its not as expensive as one thinks and in all reality it will be better than any chip out there you can buy, there was another post on how the jet chip had only a few values changed an that was it, not really worth the money, there is a GREAT write up on how to do this in the prom section too. if you dont wanna do it yourself, you can always take your car in to be tuned as well

 

Don't know about superchips, but Hypertech's chip for tbi added 4-6 degrees of timing depending on the fuel you wanted to run, and changed the iat enrichment values for fueling. Not at all ideal for economy or power. sure it feels better, but too much timing and fuel at the same time creates ash. That basically "sandblasts" the inside of the engine. If you want an upgrade to your ecm after modifications, read up on Rbob's EBL.

 

with my mods,im do bout 18-20 city and bout 30hwy

 

My LO3 got me about 20mpg with city driving (I actually delivered pizzas in it for a long time). It had a tbichips chip in it that had lean cruise mode enabled, but not really much going on in the way of performance mods as far as I know. I think the original owner got it burnt to get rid of the smog stuff and he got lean cruise mode and the speed limiter turned off in the process. Never really tested the speed limiter though. It did get pretty damn good mileage.

I wouldn't buy a mail order chip unless you're getting optiosn toggled on and off and you cant find anyone local or afford to do it yourself. They're never going to get your tune exactly right.

 

Thanks guys. I don't know much about chips but I'll read up om it soon.

In the mean time I'm just going to play it safe and get basic upgrades and watch the way I drive it. Hypno Toad - what mods did you make to your car?

On a side note I still haven't got my car yet. Before buying it I noticed the speedo, signals, and wipers were not working. The mechanic who's selling me the car told me he would fix it first, as well as shave the disc brakes and remove the thermostat. Unfortunately he got busy with customer cars, and I have to wait for mine to get fixed (Its been 3 weeks)

But once I get her I'll start off with a K&N filter, check the tire pressure, and do other minor things. This thread has been informal and thank you guys for all the tips!

 

That is a sure fire recipe to overheat the car. If the coolant flows through the system too fast, it doesn't have time to really cool in the radiator, so the hot coolant just goes back into the engine & get heated up some more.

 

its in my sig,idk if its or not but

10 bolt 3.23 LSD rear end
Hedman Longtubes headers
2.5in xpipe
thrush turbo mufflers
open element
advanced timing
170 themostat
removed all smog and A/C,replaced with pulley and delete box
lexan ttops
eibach sportlines
kyb shocks


but im bout to go to a single 3in exhaust.

 

Is it hard to install the long tubes in the car and do they hit the ground on the speed bumps, im thinking of buying some thats why

 

my '89 L03 got a hair less than 20mpg when it was completely stock. matter of fact, i just replaced the ignition setup recently when i did the headers and it all looked pretty worn out (the rotor was kinda rusted to the distributor shaft might've still been the OEM one). oh and that's daily driving where i don't really feather the gas all the time, the 2.73 gears out back really help at highway speeds but i drive mostly in and around the city.. back in march i did a 300 miles highway trip at mostly 90-100mph with just the EBL (stock 0016 bin) installed and i still got 22mpg

 

I get around 450 KM to a tank of fuel.. 281 miles?

My 3.42 gear is nice around town, and even better on the highway

 

my LTs still arnt perfect,their still not bolting right and i burnt through those paper gasket like nothing,lol

my motor mount is giving me problems with it,need to pull it out again and beat on it some more.

i dont hit them on anything,and my car is lowered bout 1 1/2 inch in the front,but im deff done with my true duals...they are to low ,im going back to single pipe.

 

So its to much work having them even to install from what your saying is it worth it though

 

I may have confused what he said about the thermo, i thought he said he was going to remove it so that water (i think he said water, maybe coolant?) would move throughout at a constant rate. But if what you said is true, i should ask him to leave it in! Haha, i thought it was odd when he mentioned taking out the thermo...its weird, because the 88 camaro I was looking at before, the owner said there was no thermostat in it as well :/

As far as I know, the only thing he did to the car was install new mufflers. Other than that its bone stock. Does anyone know what the stock gearing is? And is it expensive to set up a more fuel friendly gear setting?

 

u wouldnt want anything higher than 2.73,its awful...i have 3.23 which gets 30mpg hwy like i said.

but id step up to 3.55 or 3.73 with 700r4 and 4.10 with t-5