City Fuel Mileage?

-
B

bordin34

Active Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2011
Messages
31
Reaction score
0
Location
Mahwah,NJ
I tried the search feature and couldn't find anything to do with just city mileage. So what is everybody getting from their small blocks around town?
With 100% city driving I get 15mpg from my stock 74 318. Is this good?
 
That doesn't seem bad for in town stop and go driving. You might be able to tune another mile into it, but now your splitting hairs, could end up going the other way.
 
15 Isn't to bad depending on gears and whatnot, i think mine gets somewere around 7 in the city lol.
 
Thanks, to get better mileage I am thinking of getting a clutch fan, going to a lower weight oil, and putting synthetic rear end oil in.
I have 2.76 rearend gears I believe and a totally stock 74 318 with all the emission stuff connected.
If anybody has advice post it up.
 
I think you might just wanna be more happy with it. Is that a freshly rebuilt engine--if not i would NOT run too light of an oil. You might kill it in very hot weather, a spun rod bearing isn't cheap to repair.

If its a stock carb a new 500 Eddy carb or even a rare 400 Carter if you can find one might give you a bit better mpg.

As for the rearend, again I would not fool around with it, maybe just change the oil to factory specs.

I had a 77 gran fury with factory everything tuned the best i could. well lots of stuff disconnected but the factory carb I rebuit. it did have dual exhaust. Got 16 mpg best running no faster than 55 mph and trying to get good mpg. Yeah the car was a bit heavier but gas might had been better in the 80's.


BTW my 340 gets 8 to 12 mpg--with 13-14 a maybe if I drove like some fools out there
 
If you want to do something, dual exhaust and a intake, carb change would be best. But spending around $700 to get 2 to 3 better mpg seems foolish to me. If your happy with the power and how it runs I would leave it alone--your not going to get 22+ mpg without lots of work--higher compression, cam, headers, lighter wheels, better tires--a bit taller, removing weight from the car, etc. Then you have to change the speedo gears.

and even then if you start getting on it alot--cause its freaking fun, lol..watch you might be getting less mpg, ha ha
 
Thanks, it already has a dual exhaust. The engine is the original unrebuilt one that came stock, but it only has 16,600 miles.
 
My Dart has the original 318 in it and when I was running the stock BBD 2 bbl it got 12.7 in town with a 904, duals, and 2.76 gears.
Now it has a performer intake, Thermoquad, 340 exhaust, 727, 8 3/4 with powerlock 3.23 gears. It gets around 11 or slightly better or worse now in town.
I got 15.5 in town with a stock /6 69 we had for a while as long as it wasn't loaded with 300 pounds of parts in the trunk so getting 15 with your car is excellent.
Don't touch anything and be very happy.
 
My freakn jeeps 318 doesn't even do 15 and it's fuel injected lol. Happy scootin!
 
bordin34 said:
Thanks, to get better mileage I am thinking of getting a clutch fan, going to a lower weight oil, and putting synthetic rear end oil in.
I have 2.76 rearend gears I believe and a totally stock 74 318 with all the emission stuff connected.
If anybody has advice post it up.
Click to expand...


The couple biggest gains for me are have the front end aligned properly and make sure the parts are all good, and air the tires up to 2-5lbs under their max pressure. Most tires are low on air anyway, and will always lose some over time (especially in warm/cold climates like the northeast). Most tire shops won't inflate beyond 32psi, but the tires generally have max pressures of 45psi. So I puff them up to 40 and watch the tread wear. If the center wears more, drop a couple psi. tire pressure makes a huge difference, and most cars could benefit from an alignment guy that actually knows how to properly set ride height and do an alignment consisting of more than setting toe.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top