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Fuel Economy is Too Good ... So, I took my car on a nice drive last Saturday. Before heading out I went to the gas station a mile from my house and filled the fuel tank. After that, I took my trip, which involved a good mixture of driving, it was mostly country two-lane travel but there was also a fair bit of stop-and-go and some highway motoring.
When I got back to my neighborhood I'd driven 92.2 miles (according to the odometer, which I think is conservative according to GPS). I went back to the gas station and filled the tank again, which required 4.317 gallons of 87 octane. According to my math, which isn't very good, I averaged better than 21 miles per gallon. HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE? :D I mean, I'm not complaining, but something doesn't seem right. :confused: It shouldn't be that high, should it? And I'm not afraid to rev it up or cruise at 65 miles an hour. My car's engine is basically stock aside from dual exhaust, an 80-thou overbore and 12-volt electrics. It's got a 3.78 rear-end and NO overdrive. |
Re: Fuel Economy is Too Good ... My 35 with a 3.54 rear gets around 22 highway. It makes me laugh everytime, as my 1996 F-150 gets 8
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Re: Fuel Economy is Too Good ... The fuel mileage from "back in the day" according to the service bulletins says 20 to 22 MPG is correct. What this tells me is your car and engine is set up correctly as to timing, carb, tire pressure etc. Also it probably does not run hot.
Congratulations, a lot of these cars are reported at 12 to 13 mpg. However they usually have typical problems of over rich mixture, late timing and other things that are wrong. If the 4.317 gallons is correct to fill the tank back to exactly where it was when you started, you are good to go! Just an opinion |
Re: Fuel Economy is Too Good ... Rascally flathead, dual carbs, Mitchell overdrive; I get 22 too.
Everyone hates me. |
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Re: Fuel Economy is Too Good ... Your numbers may be dead on, but remember that you really can't calculate gas mileage with one sample (and a fairly small one at that). It takes at least several fillups and then average the results. You should be able to check your speedometer by using the milemarkers along the highway. Again, not just driving one mile, drive several miles and see how the odometer compares to the milemarkers.
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I was talking to an EFV8 club member a couple years ago at Hershey. He has a 1950 or '51 sedan with the V8 and overdrive. He said he averaged like 29.5 miles per gallon on a drive of around 500 miles getting there. I was floored :eek: when he told me that but now I believe him. |
Re: Fuel Economy is Too Good ... Here's part of an old post with some of the Ford standards for level road/steady speed driving:
On another project, I located some economy standards in the Ford "Performance Services" section of the manual, along with accel and speed standards. Note that numbers are not real world, they are for short tests at steady speed/level road measured with the normal Zenith 1/10 gallon mileage tester. They only have specs with commonest axle ratios, but the different cars give a good spread of those. 1935-6 85HP, 4.11 37.1 @ 20, 22.8@ 40, 18.7 @60 1937-40 85HP, 3.78, shows 31.7, 26.2, 20.9...reasonable comparison for the above. No 85's were commonly sold with 3.54, but there are 239 numbers for the 1940 Merc with 3.54: 29.3 @20, 26.3 @40, 21.9 @ 60, numbers run 1--3MPG better than '39 Merc with 3.78. These, as noted, are pure steady state tests done just to see if a customer complaint was a car or a driver problem, but they give some indicators. You can see the reason for the national 40MPH top speed during WWII! With a heavyish car and 221, you might well like 4.11 or 3.78 with the overdrive. I too suspect gearing would be toodamnhigh with 3.54 and OD. Tests listed in the bulletin do seem to confirm that bigger engine with higher gear is better on fuel than smaller with the requisite lower gearing. Note that these were Ford's standards and expectations based on a simple test (Zenith tester) using dealer equipment; this means if someone complained about mileage the dealer was to perform the specified test...if car did not meet mileage standard, it need work. If it met spec...the complaining owner needed driving lessons. |
Re: Fuel Economy is Too Good ... Take that 29 mpg with a grain of salt! I've had 6 of this 49 -53's and they don't get that good...
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Re: Fuel Economy is Too Good ... In the late 50's I would fill up the oil, then check the gas.
Never checked gas miles per gallon. Bruce |
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Re: Fuel Economy is Too Good ... My car will exceed 22 MPG. This is a flathead of 290 cubes, Potvin 425, dual 4 bbl carbs and a bunch of other mods.
I run a 4.11:1 axle and an overdrive. Flatheads are cool |
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'Our stories aren't always true, but we sure do remember them well!' :D |
Re: Fuel Economy is Too Good ... My Flathead powered cars will NOT exceed 22 MPG with me driving them.
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Re: Fuel Economy is Too Good ... It seems I'm not capable of achieving 22 MPG in anything that I drive . . . even a late model four cylinder Subaru. Of course, it was making 310 HP on the turbo! :)
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I've never driven the 52Merc more than a few miles at a time so can't comment just how thirsty it is for gas. Fuel economy was a selling point for Mercury back when they were new. Usually with the standard and overdrive transmission.
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Re: Fuel Economy is Too Good ... Back in the day, our local Standard Oil Dealer sponsored a Saturday "economy run" and it was well attended by the locals. First prize was a trophy plus free oil changes and eire rotation by the station. I don't remember the numbers (I only remember in was in the 30's ) but a 1953 Ford with overdrive was the winner for many years. Nobody else even came close........ -RG
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Re: Fuel Economy is Too Good ... If you're addicted to and can afford this hobby, it would seem that 'fuel economy' is not a priority....
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You don't buy a Harley for the gas mileage...you buy it to ride!:) |
Re: Fuel Economy is Too Good ... Even if you don't care about the mileage because of the fuel costs there is more engine wear with too rich of a mixture
39 with the 60hp Under 40 about 30 mpg Under 65 about 25 mpg Flat out 70-74 would get it down to 20 mpg 46 big truck--- 2 ton load averaged 15mpg on a 4 day ride coast to coast with a stock 49 merc engine |
Re: Fuel Economy is Too Good ... At $6.00 a gallon good mileage dos not hurt. Jack.
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Re: Fuel Economy is Too Good ... Good heavens, I thought Canada was an oil exporter! Where is the cost coming from, taxes? I get unhappy when gas gets close to $2.00 (it's under that now). But, in the big picture, when I was in high school gas was in the $.25 to $.35 per gallon and I thought nothing of it. Drove a high performance car that would get less than 10 MPG on a good day. Now figure the pay scale then vs now, or any thing else. It's about a 10 to 1 ratio, a $.15 hamburger is $1.50 (if your lucky) so gas should be around $2.50 to $3.50 at least. In fact, it is one of the best bargains going.
But, if fuel mileage is your thing, go for it. I'm to into the fun factor, I drive my Fusion for the gas mileage! Even racers / Hot Rodders like O'Ron have gone over to the darkside!:D |
Re: Fuel Economy is Too Good ... Fuel economy...I'm just happy my 83 year old car is running.
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Re: Fuel Economy is Too Good ... Quote:
On a road trip to Queensland from Victoria here in Australia for the 2012 Early Ford V8 Nationals in Caboolture, we had my parents '35 Ford 4 door and a '54 Ford Crestline Skyliner travel 1075 miles over 3 long days to get there. Same to get back a week later. That's a pretty good distance to get some real figures with and I kept a log book for fuel and distance for each car. The '35 has a standard rear axle and 3 speed manual with a slightly more modern '39 Mercury engine, rebuilt to standard specifications with the addition of some original aluminium heads. It has been converted to 12 volt electrics and runs a single 97 carb on the original manifold. The '54 we bought out of the Utah mountains as a (sort of) restored car a few years back, and while we were told it had a new overdrive behind the 3 speed, it wasn't hooked up right and when it was wired properly it made some horrible noises....:mad: So for all intents and purposes it was a fair match between the two cars with one sporting a flathead and the other its original 239 OHV. The Skyliner has 4.09 diff gears and I believe the 35 runs a similar ratio, slightly taller. So, after 2150 miles in each car during a week and a half run, with varying terrain and weather conditions, both cars doing the same speed at all times, it was quite surprising that they both returned an average near enough the same. Both of them hovering around the 17.5 mpg average....... It should be said that the 239 OHV was consistently pipping the flathead by a couple of points between fuel stations, but that is to be expected. And we still haven't had that overdrive unit out to have it looked at......too many projects :confused: |
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Re: Fuel Economy is Too Good ... Just did a check on an 800 mile run we did this past week and we averaged nearly 21 mpg.
260inch motor ,twins and a .87 5 speed in a 37 coupe. Never bothered to check this before, it is what it is. |
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Hahaha, it's fun to be immature at times. |
Re: Fuel Economy is Too Good ... It's still nice to know it's running good like it should.
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