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  • 1979 - 1995 (Fox, SN95.0, & 2.3L) -General/Talk-
  • Fox 5.0 Mustang Tech

holy hell, 25MPG!!

  • Thread starter Thread starter accidentprone86
  • Start date Start date Aug 21, 2005
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accidentprone86

New Member
Apr 1, 2005
189
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Westminster Colorado
Aug 21, 2005
#1
  • Aug 21, 2005
  • #1
I just switched to 3:73s and put some underdrives on.
OK so the low gas light was on, i put 20 dollers in at 2.37 dollars a gallon
I drove 212 miles before the low gas light came on again.
DO the math!! thats 25 miles per gallon!!And 100 of those miles were cruzing at 70 on the highway.

Maybe i am going crazy. I was expecting a slight increase in milage in the city and a slight decrase on the highway but Damn i wasnt expecting this. Befor the gears I averaged 18 miles per gallon. Thats a 7 mpg Increase!!!
 

larrendeuce

Member
Sep 13, 2003
649
1
19
Southern NJ
Aug 21, 2005
#2
  • Aug 21, 2005
  • #2
I noticed my mileage go up as well with 3.73's from 2.73's. I used to go about 220 per tank before it was in the red on Empty. Now I can go almost 300. I got 19 miles to the gallon with 2 runs at the strip. I fill it up and drive, then when I fill up again I use the gallons added as measure for gallons used, then I calculate the mileage.
 

HISSIN50

"How long does it take to get help in here?
15 Year Member
Nov 29, 1999
31,179
33
129
Aug 21, 2005
#3
  • Aug 21, 2005
  • #3
Report back after some more driving. The fuel light is about as accurate as the fuel gauge IMHO.
 

carbed87

Member
Jun 5, 2005
215
0
16
Aug 21, 2005
#4
  • Aug 21, 2005
  • #4
yeah, that AND it pulls like a mofo, i rode in it. good job jeremy
 

giddyup306

Founding Member
Oct 22, 2002
3,041
2
59
Aug 21, 2005
#5
  • Aug 21, 2005
  • #5
HISSIN50 said:
Report back after some more driving. The fuel light is about as accurate as the fuel gauge IMHO.
Click to expand...


Ditto. The only accurate way to calculate fuel economy is to record the mileage and gallons between fill ups. I always run my tank till near empty and then fill up and reset my trip meter.....
 

KB5.0GT

New Member
Aug 31, 2004
14
0
0
Danville, CA
Aug 21, 2005
#6
  • Aug 21, 2005
  • #6
god I would kill for 25 mpg, i just got gears and I seem to think my gas milage will go up a little due to staying in 5th pretty much everywhere.
 

Daniel50

New Member
Mar 30, 2005
716
1
0
Discovery Bay, CA
Aug 21, 2005
#7
  • Aug 21, 2005
  • #7
damn i get about 15mpg but i drive it hard as hell
 
S

stang0f87

Member
Aug 16, 2004
102
0
16
Fort Smith, AR
Aug 21, 2005
#8
  • Aug 21, 2005
  • #8
accidentprone86 that is impressive mileage your gettin. Like how many RPMs are u pullin at 70 mph?
 

mustangGT85

Founding Member
Aug 16, 2002
264
0
0
Orange CA
Aug 21, 2005
#9
  • Aug 21, 2005
  • #9
the way i manage my fuel consumtion is to top it off, and reset the trip odometer. drive it for how ever long, then go top it off again. write down the amount of gallons put into the car(until it topped off) then divide the gallons per miles driven or somethinglike that. if i drove 35 miles and put in 1.25 gallons of fuel, thats roughly 28mpg. right?


~Steve
 

Michael Yount

Mustang Master
Apr 10, 2002
9,039
6
79
Charlotte, NC
Aug 21, 2005
#10
  • Aug 21, 2005
  • #10
You didn't calculate your fuel mileage, the way you're trying to figure it has the potential to be very inaccurate because the light and gauge aren't always accurate.

Top it off, zero the tripmeter, drive it til it's time to re-fill, keep track of the number of gallons to fill it and divide that number of gallons into the mileage you covered with it (trip meter reading). Then report back to us. And if you drive it the same way, I'd EXPECT a slight mileage improvement around town with a change from 2.73 to 3.73 gears.
 

85mcLaren

Member
Feb 26, 2004
45
0
7
Aug 21, 2005
#11
  • Aug 21, 2005
  • #11
You have to learn how to control the gas pedal with 2.73s. I got 27 mpg with my stock 86 capri the other day driving at 70 mph. The rpms were now in the cam range and power range. I have gotten near 30 with my 85. When in the city. It is better to drive in fourth than fifth since the further your gas pedal goes down by using 5th, the more gas you are going to 'suck.' Just takes some use to knowing when to downshift and not put the pedal to the floor in the upper gears.
 

ninety15.0

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Mar 10, 2004
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Aug 21, 2005
#12
  • Aug 21, 2005
  • #12
I have a quick question...did u change out the speedo gear...because that could be the difference right there. I noticed a decent change in MPG when i went to 3.73's too but it went from about 14 to 16-17....and on the highway i went down from about 24-26 to 20-22. the gears help out a lot in town to get the car up to traffic speed with minimal gas pedal movement...but the rpm on the highway is just too high to be efficient.
 

vristang

15 Year Member
Mar 31, 2005
4,933
101
124
Seattle
Aug 21, 2005
#13
  • Aug 21, 2005
  • #13
85mcLaren said:
You have to learn how to control the gas pedal with 2.73s. I got 27 mpg with my stock 86 capri the other day driving at 70 mph. The rpms were now in the cam range and power range. I have gotten near 30 with my 85. When in the city. It is better to drive in fourth than fifth since the further your gas pedal goes down by using 5th, the more gas you are going to 'suck.' Just takes some use to knowing when to downshift and not put the pedal to the floor in the upper gears.
Click to expand...

There will be a huge difference here when comparing carb to EFI

The computer will not enrichen the mixture until about 85% of WOT usually (don't remember what it was for the stangs). Sometimes you can actually feel the WOT triggering.

Most carbs will continuosly enrichen as the throttle travels down.

So at 75% of WOT an efi car should be running leaner than a carb. This would mean that there may be less efficiency benefits to running taller gears with efi. I am ssuming similar tunes on similar motors.

Does anyones experience contradict this?
 

accidentprone86

New Member
Apr 1, 2005
189
0
0
Westminster Colorado
Aug 21, 2005
#14
  • Aug 21, 2005
  • #14
ninety15.0 said:
I have a quick question...did u change out the speedo gear...because that could be the difference right there. I noticed a decent change in MPG when i went to 3.73's too but it went from about 14 to 16-17....and on the highway i went down from about 24-26 to 20-22. the gears help out a lot in town to get the car up to traffic speed with minimal gas pedal movement...but the rpm on the highway is just too high to be efficient.
Click to expand...

OOOOPPSS
Yeah no i didnt, that is the reason right their isnt it. it is still stock i havnt got around to changing it.
It was kinda weird seeing the speedo at like 90-100mph driving on the highway, i know i was never going faster then 85.
DAmn how could i over look that with such little regard.
 

sodaking663rd

New Member
Oct 11, 2004
47
0
0
annapolis, md
Aug 21, 2005
#15
  • Aug 21, 2005
  • #15
you also have to remember that just changing the plastic tooth gear is not very accurate...your speeds are actually showing higher than they really are meaning that it is also showing that you've gone farther than you really have.
 
T

TheUser

Active Member
Jul 25, 2003
1,859
1
36
Springfield, MO
Aug 21, 2005
#16
  • Aug 21, 2005
  • #16
ninety15.0 said:
I have a quick question...did u change out the speedo gear...because that could be the difference right there. I noticed a decent change in MPG when i went to 3.73's too but it went from about 14 to 16-17....and on the highway i went down from about 24-26 to 20-22. the gears help out a lot in town to get the car up to traffic speed with minimal gas pedal movement...but the rpm on the highway is just too high to be efficient.
Click to expand...
I was reading down through this thread wondering when someone would think of that! That was my first instinct. Good catch ninety

Yeah, I think my GT reads about 10-15mph over what I'm actually doing, more than that once you get over 100, I'm sure. I replaced the speedo gear w/ a 3.73 unit from Jeep (supposed to be stronger), and mine is still off - but that could be installation error or something....I really need to look at it sometime, but since I've driven the car maybe 2 or 3 times this year, not too worried about it
 

90mustangGT

I felt sorry for girls because
Founding Member
Jan 15, 2002
2,773
17
89
Dallas, GA
Aug 21, 2005
#17
  • Aug 21, 2005
  • #17
I would have to second your OOPS there accidentprone86, that would make a difference.

These cars do get damn good gas milege. A foxbody 5.0 EFI 5-speed and you have a gas sipping machine. My Thumper headed B cammed combo got about 240-250miles per tank. Not bad for a V8 performance car. Now my old Ford Escort GT 1.8DOHC with a 5 speed got me from North Atlanta to Clearwater FL on one tank, about 13 gallons cruising at 80-900mph the whole way. Which that was "back in the day" when premium gas was only $1.30 a gallon.
 

aaros

Member
Dec 3, 2004
114
0
17
Aug 21, 2005
#18
  • Aug 21, 2005
  • #18
im geting 26-27 mpg on road trips where i can keep it at around 70.
 

Michael Yount

Mustang Master
Apr 10, 2002
9,039
6
79
Charlotte, NC
Aug 21, 2005
#19
  • Aug 21, 2005
  • #19
Simple ratios - so if you didn't fix the speedo with the gear change your 212 miles would be 212/(3.73/2.73) = 155 miles.

Assuming you used 8.4 gallons (which you didn't -- we don't know how much you actually used to cover the 212 miles 'cause you have to fill up AFTER you read the mileage) your 25 mpg just became 18.5 mpg.
 

ninety15.0

New Member
Mar 10, 2004
1,336
0
0
Aug 21, 2005
#20
  • Aug 21, 2005
  • #20
Simple mistake....i had forgotten a few times before i changed the speedo gear and thought for a few seconds that i was getting like 30 mpg...haha
 
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