10 miles per gallon

Cougar Community The Garage
21

I can install a stiffer needle valve spring in the carb, which generally improves mileage.

It’s the orange spring if my recollection is correct. (Edelbrock AVS2 unit)

The axle is open diff about 3 to 1, which is the stock ratio. I drive it a lot in stop and go traffic because my other car (high mileage 2012 Suzuki crossover 6 speed) is manual and I want to keep it’s clutch alive.

I got the Suzuki new and it’s never had any power train issues whatever & I want to keep it that way.

Besides, in traffic people really notice the cougar more and get out of my way much better. A much louder horn contributes to it’s success.

If I actually drove the speed limit on the highway, it might or might not improve.

There’s no place for a low fuel light to even exist. If it did, I’m assuming it would be in one of the gauge clusters such as the fuel gauge.

I also wonder if an electric fuel pump might help. AutoZone of all places has a very nice Holley electric pump that can work of literally any fuel. Block off plates can easily be found for the 302 Ford.

The only concern world be reliability vs the mechanical pump. I’ve also heard that electric pump cars start up much faster especially if they (cough cough) run out of gas.

22

It looks like the bottom of my gas tank has somehow collapsed inward, definitely needs to be replaced.

Idiot idea: make a valve and pressurize the tank to expand it again, probably not but still…

Jeg’s has 2 fuel sending units. One has a plastic float, other has brass float.

There are no fuel leaks.

Can the wrong gas cap somehow collapse a fuel tank? Either way, I’m going to head to AutoZone or Advance Auto & pick up a vented fuel cap.

23

Update:

Using air pressure did indeed reinflate the tank. After drilling a 1/64ths carefully concealed hole in the filler cap, this hasn’t reoccurred.

I did one run from totally full to half a tank. I was wrong, it gets about 13 miles per gallon, easier to tell when you know what’s actually there.

24

My 69 with 351w 670 Holley FMX,3.0 gears would get 18 mpg. More recent with the engine hopped up abit, higher stall converter and 3.7 gears I get 14.
Some years ago I had replace the gas with a 20 gallon one. It would only take 16 gallons. A new 22 gallon took 22 gallons, that was a nice improvement. Took some adjustments to get the gauge correct but now works well and can be trusted.