Gas mileage/how to increase gas mileage on a 72 Maverick grabber 302

I'll be hopefully getting a 72 Maverick grabber with a 302 auto soon, and I was wondering what kind of gas mileage I'll be looking at? Or if there's any way I'd be able to increase mpg's? You guys seem to be really helpful and knowing when it comes to these cars, I'll be looking forward to your advice =)
Thanks,
Maverick

 

First off, get rid of the points ignition, then do a complete tuneup (new plugs, wires, ca & rotor and set the ignition timing to around 12* BTC)

 

A lot of your fuel economy will depend on how well you keep the motor tuned and maintained, and perhaps even larger is how you drive.

 

Tires filled to give the maximum foot-print/pressure.
180 degree thermostat or higher as your engine tollerates
Recurve the distributor for less advance at a faster rate and time the engine to 34 degrees max (initial and mechanical advance but have the vacuum advance disconnected when you set the timing at 3500 rpm to 34 degrees)
Use the vacuum advance at the maximum your engine tolerates.
Raise compression if economically possible (new pistons if rebuilding or mill the heads)
Install a vacuum gauge and keep the vacuum as high as you can while driving
Use the lowest grade gasoline your engine tollerates
Gap your plugs as close as you can without effecting the idle quality
Use metalic conductor resistor spark plug wires
Swap in a later model electronic ignition (druaspark II)
Run 10w30 oil
Use your brakes as little as possible (every time you use them you have to use more fuel to get the speed back) keep your following distance to 2-3 seconds from the car in front of you.
Paul

 

All of the above will work, except for the "lowest grade gasoline" part. That's really hard to do today with the federally mandated ethanol blended gas today. E85 is about the lowest grade today and gets the lowest mileage of all. Straight, conventional 85-87 octane gasoline (less than 5% ethanol) will yeild less mileage than midgrade to premium will with the timing bumped up to accomodate the higher octane in most engines.

 

Welcome from Ontario. Where are you in Canada?
Looks like these guys have your fuel question answered. Good luck keeping your foot out of it though.LOL.

 

I hope you don't want to drive it in the winter....

 

I use the 10% ethanol 87 octain (lowest grade available) in my 302, auto, PS Mavericks and get 20 - 21 with mine and 19 -20 with my wife's. Using more octane in an engine with 8.5:1 compression is not only a waste of money but it also has been shown in dyno tests to make LESS power than the correct grade gas.
Higher octane gas is made to burn in a higher compression engine - with a lower compression it burns too slow to make the power. The lower grade gas is easier to ignite and burns at the right speed in the lower compression engines to make the best power. That is why I said run the lowest octane gas the car will tollerate. 10% ethanol will give slightly less power than the older leaded gas but all gasoline in the USA has no lead (even the Avgas 120 Low lead is lead free). It doesn't matter which substitute is used ethanol or the other one - they both have the same effect - to lean the mixture slightly by providing more oxygen to the fuel.
Paul

 

But have you ever bumped the timing up and tried a higher octane fuel ? If you haven't, you could be leaving power and mileage on the table. Just because your compression ratio is low doesn't necessarily mean you cannot bump the timing up to take advantage of a higher octane fuel to yeild more power and mileage. The cam grind also comes into play here as well, there are cam grinds that will boost the dynamic ratio up in a low comp motor that can benefit from a higher octane fuel.

 

e85 is over 100 octane and not a low grade fuel, its just not gas and yes it wont get good mileage.

 

Not in my book. Anything with ethanol is crap, especially living here in a humid environment. The ethanol readily absorbs the moisture from the atmosphere anytime it's exposed to it. You can pour a gallon into a pan and watch it turn milky white in a few minutes time.

 

http://e85.whipnet.net/news/indy.ethanol.html
Someone should tell these guys its low grade.

 

Going Green ? It takes more energy to produce and distribute ethanol than you get from the energy it produces in an automobile engine. And it's driven up the price of the corn that's being used to make it. And lets not forget the 50 cent per gallon subsidy the government is paying the ethanol companies to make it and the subsidy the refineries are getting to blend it with their gasoline, along with the mandates from the feds that require them to do so.. Let em start making it from crops other than corn and stop paying the subsidies and see where the market takes it. Then there's the mileage decrease you get over running straight gasoline, especially with E85. What we should be doing is converting to CNG to run our vehicles, it's far cheaper (1.55 per/gal here in Louisiana) and there very little emissions, plus producing it creates thousands of jobs and millions in revenues, without any subsidies from the goverment, it generates revenue instead from severence taxes.

 

Anyone who has actually studied this topic knows that Ethanol is made from feed corn and not the corn we eat. The alcohol made from corn is only 1/3 of the cash product that is made. You also get a high grade feed from the left over corn and a high grade fertilizer from the liquid residue. add all that up and the cost of turning corn into alcohol (although not the most economical way) is far from a non-profit adventure. The biggest expense with ethanol is getting to the end user. the pipeline companies won't let the ethanol be transported in their systems so it has to be trucked which is why we don't have any in western Washington other than on the combined base at McChord/ft. Lewis. That is why it is being subsidized - not because there is no room for profit.
Ethanol is not corrosive, it does not degrade until it absorbs 10-12% water by weight and at that time the gasoline separates out. If you were to use pure ethanol (E100) then you would add water to it to make it a better fuel - 20% water in ethanol is the best mix for fuel (80% alcohol) as it adds to the cooling effect and adds latent heat content when burned adding power that the alcohol can't when used in pure form.
The gas is mixed to denature the alcohol to prevent drinking it and to make it vaporize better at low temps. Using heated air eliminates the the problem with vaporization and as for drinking it.... who cares!
In the early automotive years most of the cars ran on ethanol. It was available at every farm in quanties that were enough to run the farm equipment and the family car or truck. The government subsidized the building of the delivery system (pipelines) for gas and oil products and gas became cheap and widely available. Henry Ford had to put new carburetors on his model T's so they would run on gas.
Its funny that it has come a full 180 back to alcohol and I am sure that as gas gets more expensive and harder to come by the ethanol will be using the pipeline system rather than gas. Either that or we will all be using batteries and electric motors to get around with.

 

All this talk of E85, and it's impossible to find up here. There are 4 stations in Ontario that sell it.