gas mileage and 390 T-Birds ??

[Guest]

Hello all,

I have a 1963 Landau with a 390, that was running an edelbrock 4 bbl carb, when I bought it a year ago. The gas milage was about 6 - 8 MPG in city traffic, but was 22+ mpg on the freeway.

Due to this terrible city gas milage, I installed a Holley throttle body 650 cfm 4 bbl injection system, which does a little bit better on gas, but I have not actually measured it yet.

What are the experiences of anyone else out there that has tried to track and improve the MPG of the 390....my 63 thunderbird is my commute car, and I drive it often...(chicks dig it !)

[Petrolhead]

Hi

With those Edelbrocks, they use metering rods and springs instead of jets and are very easy to tune. For example, driving around town you tend to get on the gas more, which can bring the second stage 'secondaries' into use - but by changing springs (step up springs I think they're called) you can delay the secondaries and use less gas.

I haven't had any experience with the Holley injection you're using.

My '62 390 is great on gas because the car is finished yet and is spread all over the workshop floor... (:

But it's good to hear that chicks dig it, kinda gives me encouragement to get mine on the road. But then my wife might want to come for a drive.

Mind you, at my age they might dig the car, but the driver's a totally different story...

Keep putting gas in and enjoying your car, it's a small price to pay for the fun you're having.

[bcomo]

Petrolhead:

I was wondering -- about how much in US$ does it cost per gallon for premium fuel in Auckland?

Cruising is getting very expensive here. We are up to $3.60 US$ for premium where I am in Texas.

[Petrolhead]

Hi Bart

My maths isn't too great, but our premium is NZD$1.90 a litre. Based on roughly four litres in a US liquid gallon that's NZD$7.60 a gallon. NZD$7.60 converts to US$6.15 a gallon. Ours is also set to go up again, will pass NZD$2 a litre in April. I have a small four cylinder car that I use on a daily basis, I'll spend around NZD$300 a month just getting to work and back.
My friend just finished a '36 Chevy with a blown and injected big-block Pontiac engine in it, he drove it a lot when he first got it going and spent NZD$900 on fuel in ten days!
I've yet to fill my '62, but I'm looking forward to it! It should be on the road in six to eight weeks. I don't smoke, I don't gamble, sure I have the occasional bourbon (theraputic of course!), so spending money on gas isn't a bad vice to have.

Regards

Alistair

[bcomo]

Thanks for that information -- very enlightening. I don't feel so bad now ( I think).

Do you realize that gasoline per gallon may get higher than Bourbon. If someone could figure out how we could burn Bourbon in the T-Bird, we could make the car and us happy at the same time.

[Guest]

I must agree on both. Gas is turning into another vice for the car guys.

[Guest]

Here is one for you. I just bought 30 gallons of diesel. And it was in the 3 diget price range (125). Now that's bad