gas mileage

[Chillin014]

Alright...this is probably a retarded question...but how can i get better gas mileage? I'm not talking about making sure my tire pressure is correct and weight reduction...I mean what does it take to get better than 12 mpg? thats my estimate of what I am adveraging....and its making me not want to drive the car.

the car/truck weighs 3800 pounds. But I have heard of people getting 18 mpg out of their elkys. I have the gas 350 in it btw. I just put in a new edelbrock carb that I rebuilt hoping to see an improvement. I try to be easy on the gas but it feels like it takes so much to get the car moving. should i be looking into a gas-friendlier rear end gear ratio? electric fan? I am putting 20 bucks in this thing and coming home with it empty after running a few errands. I dont ever use the a/c.

just out of curiosity...waht gas mileage do ls1 swappers average? (just thinking towards electronic fuel injection set ups).

 

[KrisW]

EFI will certainly help with mileage. The Carter/Edelbrock carbs aren't bad, as I was getting 20mpg highway with my 80 Cutlass when it was 350 Olds Gas powered.

Here are two HUGE upgrades that you need. You need 3.23/3.42 rear gears and an overdrive transmission. Those two upgrades alone ought to net you 16 city/20 highway with your mild engine. With a TH350 you need a 3.08/3.23 rear end but you just won't get what you need without overdrive.

With Overdrive, a 3.42 rear and a well tuned quadrajet, you will do nearly as good as 80's fuel injection. With an LS1 type swap you can also get the cylinder shutdown functions that can increase mileage by an awful lot when combined with an electronic shifted trans as well. The problem is, that after the thousands of dollars involved to do the swap, how much expensive gas could you have purchased? I can't justify the cost of the LS1 swap yet with my budgets. TPI/TBI or even computer controlled quadrajets can be tuned by me with a laptop and can optimize mileage with overdrive as well as anything I have owned (except my crazy Prius.)

I think your first upgrade should be a used 2004R/700R4 trans. Then a 3.42 rear. After that see what your mileage is...

 

[Chillin014]

EFI will certainly help with mileage. The Carter/Edelbrock carbs aren't bad, as I was getting 20mpg highway with my 80 Cutlass when it was 350 Olds Gas powered.

Here are two HUGE upgrades that you need. You need 3.23/3.42 rear gears and an overdrive transmission. Those two upgrades alone ought to net you 16 city/20 highway with your mild engine. With a TH350 you need a 3.08/3.23 rear end but you just won't get what you need without overdrive.

With Overdrive, a 3.42 rear and a well tuned quadrajet, you will do nearly as good as 80's fuel injection. With an LS1 type swap you can also get the cylinder shutdown functions that can increase mileage by an awful lot when combined with an electronic shifted trans as well. The problem is, that after the thousands of dollars involved to do the swap, how much expensive gas could you have purchased? I can't justify the cost of the LS1 swap yet with my budgets. TPI/TBI or even computer controlled quadrajets can be tuned by me with a laptop and can optimize mileage with overdrive as well as anything I have owned (except my crazy Prius.)

I think your first upgrade should be a used 2004R/700R4 trans. Then a 3.42 rear. After that see what your mileage is...

thanks for the advice. I cant afford the ls1 swap either, your right.

I just swapped in this practically new TCI th350 so i'm not looking forward to taking that back out unless its for a 5 speed (manual). A 5 speed is REALLY appealing actually. How easily obtainable are the 5 speed transmission for the gbodies/elkys...do you have any idea? And what transmission is it...T5?? I know the swap is probably not extremely easy but its something I'd be more willing to go out of my way for since driving an automatic is so annoying to me, the 5 speed is probably lighter, and it would give me that overdrive.

 

[KrisW]

The best thing you can use are 80's Camaro/Firebird or S-10 parts. I bought a complete change over kit for one for 600 bucks a couple of years ago. It came with the T5, bellhousing, flywheel, pedals and all. It was nice. Make sure you get stuff for either a V8 Camaro or 4.3V6 S-10 so that the bellhousing will bolt up.

 

[Chillin014]

The best thing you can use are 80's Camaro/Firebird or S-10 parts. I bought a complete change over kit for one for 600 bucks a couple of years ago. It came with the T5, bellhousing, flywheel, pedals and all. It was nice. Make sure you get stuff for either a V8 Camaro or 4.3V6 S-10 so that the bellhousing will bolt up.

v6 s10 eh? wow if i could find a deal like that I would jump on it instantly. where did you find yours? t5 is the transmission thats in the v6 manual s10s and camaros? or your saying just the parts work for them.

 

[Wolf001]

The best thing you can use are 80's Camaro/Firebird or S-10 parts. I bought a complete change over kit for one for 600 bucks a couple of years ago. It came with the T5, bellhousing, flywheel, pedals and all. It was nice. Make sure you get stuff for either a V8 Camaro or 4.3V6 S-10 so that the bellhousing will bolt up.

4x4 or 4x2 ??

 

[KrisW]

2 wheel drive, of course.

I got mine from the classifieds at thirdgen.org. You can look in the classified section under engine/drivetrain parts for sale. Search T5 transmission. There are routinely complete setups for sale.

The T5 is the 5 speed used in both S-10s and Camaros. Be aware that the transmissions are different between V8 and V6 cars. Ideally, you want the S-10 4.3 bellhousing and the V8 transmission from the Camaro. The camaros tilt the transmission at a 17 degree angle and the S10 puts it straight up.

 

[Vern]

First why don't you start with calculating your actual mileage. If you don't have a tripometer write down the mileage at fill up and then from the gallons and mileage at next fillup you can calculate actual mileage. When I am looking to first find mileage I will do this for three tanks because some times I drive more in town etc. The chevy 350 will never be a very fuel efficient engine but its certainly capable of way more than 12 in a g-body even in a much higher performance state than original stock. Shoot I have a 509ci Cadillac that gets 17 on the highway.

The LS1 is a very cool swap but also costly involved and not for the novice. Proffessional carb & timeing tuneing can be worth your money. Going from a 3 to a 4 speed overdrive may help alot if you have lower gears such as 3.23s or greater. (numerically) In addition to an overdrive the lock up torque converter in itself is usually worth a solid 1 mpg. A Q-jet is often worth 1 mpg over square bore carbs. On another note years ago my wife had a car that got terrible mileage and was sluggish. After I drove it a couple times and started paying attention to it I realised she had a brake draging. It was no so bad that it was immediately noticeable. I use an electric fan but I doubt its worth 1/2 mpg over a properly working clutch fan. I use an in tank electric fuel pump which also saves a little power & mileage. But I am not a fan of a electric water pump in a street car that will actually put on several thousand miles per summer.


Edit: Wow I got interupted but there was no posts when I started this reply. This forum must not notify you when someone posts a reply before you press send.

 

[Wolf001]

2 wheel drive, of course.

I got mine from the classifieds at thirdgen.org. You can look in the classified section under engine/drivetrain parts for sale. Search T5 transmission. There are routinely complete setups for sale.

The T5 is the 5 speed used in both S-10s and Camaros. Be aware that the transmissions are different between V8 and V6 cars. Ideally, you want the S-10 4.3 bellhousing and the V8 transmission from the Camaro. The camaros tilt the transmission at a 17 degree angle and the S10 puts it straight up.

So the transmission in s-10 won't fit, just the kit ??

 

[Chillin014]

haha yeah i need to calculate my actual mileage for sure. I just feel like I'm always having to step on it to stay with traffic.

and let me guess..im gonna need a different cross member to work with the t5 transmission.