Timing-Tune/MPG increase?

[JSSuper455]

Folks, I've been doing a lot of budgeting lately for gas and fuel economy and now with expectations of $4/gal gas I've got a question?

I've tuned my car for performance as many of us have. I was thinking that now with gas the way it is, I'll be driving my Mustang more than before because it is the 2nd best fuel economy car I have.

Currently I have the car timed at 11-11.5* as such I can run 88 octane from Chevron and Tesoro (More expensive than Maverik and others) Would returning my car to the factory spec * timing help to improve MPG if at all? or will it simply allow my car to run on the cheaper brands of gas? Also what about changing from my 180* therm back to 195* help MPG.

Also, my chiltons manual doesn't give me the timing spec and my emissions sticker under my hood is gone. As I recall factory timing is 9*BTDC correct?

PS. I did try searching on timing and related, but it didn't return helpful info. I either got about every topic posted or nothing...

 

[HISSIN50]

Stock is 10*advance.

What car do you have that is worse - a tank? J/K.

You can run the most timing on the lowest octane (87 or greater octane though) for best economy. The increased advance helps economy in my experience (Just dont ping).

As long as you are getting the ECT up to ~178*F, you should be in full CL operation. If you do this with a 180* stat, I dont see the need to swap. The hotter stat is for emissions (but no HC's, per se).

Good luck and bump.

 

[JSSuper455]

Thanks for the reply, This topic was based on a debate I had with a friend of mine. I really didn't think it would do anything for me actually.

As far as fuel economy goes, the averages are based on average city/hwy driving.

MPG:
Buick= 31
Mustang= 22
Silverado= 18-19
Cherokee= 17-18
Sport Fury= 16
T/A = 10