Thanks Stefan! It breaks my heart to see good wagons being sacrificed in this crazy Oil scam. The purists (showcar sensitive restorers) are the ones that may save the most, since they probably don't use their babies as Daily Drivers. What about the guys that do a super resto and drive them frequently or daily? I'm probably one of the mean green freaks in here - extremist on saving fuel costs. But besides the usual Motherhoods that government sites give you about properly tuned, tire inflation, no jerky gas pedal tricks, etc. What else can an owner do? The biggest deal would be to swap a big V8 for a smaller, lighter engine. My original 302-V8 put out 134 HP and 152 ft. lbs. of torque. The 1995 2.3 Ford Ranger V-4 put out 145 HP and 180 ft.lbs. of torque, until it was bumped up to a 2.5 V4 and 205 HP. And 28 MPG City/32 MPG HWY. My 302 got 16 MPG City/ 18 MPG HWY. The next best is those Mr. Gasket Advance Timing Curve Kits I listed in the other thread. Cheap, quick and effective. - 2 springs in the distributor and you're saving money for a better carb or cam. What else can be done? Moving common equipment to electric alternatives, like fuel pumps, fans, even water pumps. No loss in power, fairly easy to do, and better mileage. We've all found stuff that worked for different brands, engine sizes and types, and I'm all ears. This is what our governments should have done for the average guy, help him to help himself with every other driver. We can't be dropping $30,000 for some electric go-kart, when we need the vehicle to build our homes, drive our families around, pick up building materials and go on a decent trip. So thanks again Stefan. Truly appreciated. Let 'er rip guys! I can read and write 3 languages, and I've got enough international and scientific search engines to get the poop and put it up in a language we can use. We don't need to be sacrifice-pricing our cars to cut fuel costs. We can make them more efficient, progressively and blow the snot out of the CAFE regs of 35 MPG by 2012! Japan's are already at 45 MPG and they sell the North American market vehicles they don't even drive. One car at a time. They are history on the move. I was just telling Andy that at the end of 2007, our Province had more PRE-1989 cars on the road, than it did 6 months earlier. Table 2-1 on this latest Canadian Statistical Federal site: http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/53F0004XIE/2007003/tablesectionlist.htm Station wagons are outnumbered 10:1 in Canada by SUVs. STSW - Save The Station Wagons, before the Stations disappear.
I haven't searched this yet, forgive me. Is there a post talking about moving common equipment to electric alternatives? This idea intrigues me, and I am interested in learning more about the how and why of doing this. Thank you!
A whole forum for it! Lots of simple things too, like air dams made with ABS or PVC plastic sheeting (to reduce the high speed air resistance under the car.) http://ecomodder.com/ A Canadian gallon is 5 British quarts (litres). In 1957 our gallon sold for 37.5 cents, a new 2-door hardtop Chevy Belair was $1,757 (My gramps had one). Today, its $1.119 per litre, in my city = $5.60 per gallon. The Federal and Provincial Fuel taxes today, per litre, are 32 cents per $1.60 per our gallon. Anything I can do to keep more taxes from leaving my pocket, and keep me moving, works for me. All that politicians and bureaucracy seem to do do very well, is waste, steal or defraud us taxpayers, so I want to save their poor souls and reduce temptation. Less money, smaller crimes.
The first thing, your 302 put out 235 ft/lbs at 1,650. With any engine, the first things to improve fuel economy are how well it breathes in and breathes out. A good 2 1/4 dual exhaust makes a huge difference. If you rig the air intake for a bit of ram air, you can gain another 4 or 5 mpg on the highway, too. The other trick it to gear it so that cruising engine speed is below torque peak, but in the think of the meat. That normally means you need overdrive. Come to that, my 89 Grand Marquis matched the fuel consumption of the Cavalier Z-24 I am driving now, and it has a 2.2 litre 4 cylinder in it.
On the exhaust, I've got one issue from the manifold to the starter - a 1.5 pipe, after that, its all 2.5". I'm thinking (and pricing) about a larger header instead of the stock setup. The local shops have quoted me $90 to replace my stock pipe, so for an extra $100 or so, a header makes sense. Not sure about a dual exhaust system. Have to dig for more info. RAM Air is easy enough on these fox bodies. The cast-in log manifolds are the issue on these intake manifolds; they are the bottleneck, so a 3-single carb (Tri Power) with 3 single barrel Holleys could do the trick, or even a two-barrel with a manifold splitter. In either case, it means removing the head and having it machined. I'll try a professional rebuild on the carburetor or buy one from a well-reputed rebuilder first. Gearing is also an issue. With the V8, it comes with a 3.08:1 axle. If I have to change to get rear wheel disc brakes, anyway, I'd go to 3.23 or 3.27:1. Lots of those around. Thanks, all good pointers.
I see you have the 200 I-6; I used to have two Fairmonts with that engine. First thing about these Fox body cars is that the I-6 has a different crossmember than the I-4, V-6 and V-8, and believe me when I tell you, it's a big job to change it out. Now, the auto trannies that came before the AOD do not have a torque convertor clutch, so the car will not get the same MPG as one with a manual. But also, the 200 CID block and matching bellhousing are specific to only that engine in Fairmonts. So if you want overdrive, either you'll need a manual conversion or you do the crossmember swap and pop in a 3.8 or 5.0 with AOD. If you can get a wrecked Mustang or Capri from late '85, it'll give you EFI to boot.
Actually, since I swapped out my 302-V8, back in 2007, I had to change the crossmember for the I6, but I kept the V8/I4 crossmember (just in case). And since my wagon was built in Mexico, it came with a DANA 30 or DANA 35 3.07:1 rearend, so I'll install the Traction Lok gears into it. I lucked out and got a nice low-miles (kilometers) SROD trans with the I6 bellhousing, the clutch pedal bracket and stock shifter to swap out the C4. I had already swapped the original seats for a pair of 1984 LTD bucket seats and installed a 1981 Capri floor shifter for the C4, so the SROD will feel right at home. Its gonna be fun doing these upgrades this summer. Got most of the key parts, and I'll be making the headers, dual hump crossmember for the transmission and dual exhaust. I'm a member at both http://fordsix.com/forum/index.php as well as http://www.FoureyedPride.com. Thanks for the pointers.
Good places to belong to. And you're lucky to find that SROD; the '78 Dad bought new and was my first car had the RUG, because Dad was too cheap to go up to the SROD. However, the car was a stripper, and on a trip to SoCal, I averaged 24.5 MPG, even though I was regularly exceeding the speed limit and had the two windows open (260 A/C--open both windows and drive at 60 or faster).
Yeah, on a 4 quart gallon (US) we don't use our 5 quart gallon here since 1972, but that would translate into just over 30 MPG. Another member here, also a Fairmont I6 fan, HandyAndy, lives here in town, and he sent me this outstanding link! I'm going to make my own tri-carb manifold and this is what I was planning to do, to use 3 single barrel Carter YF or YFA carbs. http://vintage-vans.forumotion.com/t39465-200-log-milling
