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By charliemccraney - 13 Years Ago
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I haven't checked my mileage since swapping from the Edelbrock to the Holley and swapping from points to an electronic, inductive ignition system.
I just made a 98.1 mile round trip on the highway. I got 16.87mpg doing between 70 and 80 mph, with overdrive. The last time I checked, with the Edelbrock and points, I got about 14.5.
The Y has plenty of passing power, even in fifth. Oh, the future will be exciting
It sounds happiest above 2000rpm. 70 is about 1800. I'm going to look for a 4.11 to swap and I think it will be where it needs to be.
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By 46yblock - 13 Years Ago
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The mileage gain is great Charlie, and the latest figure very good for a performance engine. Your future increase in cruising rpm may bump it up a little more.
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By charliemccraney - 13 Years Ago
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I'm hoping that the gear change and fuel injection will get it over 20.
I wish I knew just how much each of those two changes affected it. As it is, the result is about 40 more miles per tank, which means I save about $7.00 per tank and I have a range of about 260 miles. City mileage seems to be about the same as it was. I'm happy. It puts it on par with "modern" stuff.
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By 46yblock - 13 Years Ago
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Yes 20 is my target too. The last check was 18.7 at 67 steady mph for about 150 miles. RPM at that speed is close to 2400. With a new Petronix II and coil, plus some 100% gas rather than E10, maybe I can get there. Hope you do too. Oh, the reason for the odd number 67 is that with 60 showing on my speedo, it is actually 67.
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By speedpro56 - 13 Years Ago
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Charlie, have you or are you using the black secondary spring as opposed to the silver to see if there is a difference in miliage?
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By charliemccraney - 13 Years Ago
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I did change springs, following the tuning procedure outlined in the owners manual. I don't know which I have in it right now.
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By Frankenstein57 - 13 Years Ago
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Charlie, sorry if I missed something but did you go to a holley throttle body fuel injection? If so what was the cost of the system? In street rodder, awhile back they put a throttle body injection system on a 52 chebby smallblock in the middle of a road tour. They had impressive mileage gains, and smooth acceleration.
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By Fred - 13 Years Ago
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I have a 56 automatic 312 T-Bird with cruise control and drive it mostly on the highway. I would like to get the best possible mileage on regular gas. I do not mind spending some money but definitely do not want to buy something then find a better alternative.
I am planning on a 4 speed automatic this summer. Any suggestions as to which one etc.? I assume one object would be to produce lots of power at a low RPM so one could use a more economical gear ratio. I am sure there are other things the in the area of fuel delivery, ignition, cam, headers etc.? All help appreciated.
Fred
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By Hoosier Hurricane - 13 Years Ago
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Fred: My question is, how much money are you willing to spend to save a few bucks a year on gas? I'm not trying to talk you out of changing your car to your tastes, but if you don't drive your Bird any more than I drive mine, fuel mileage really does not matter. The easiest way to get better driveability and mileage is to get rid of that all vacuum distributor system, but there again, if you want to keep your original tach your option for a stock distributor is a '57 T-Bird one, and the prices for those are outrageous.
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By Fred - 13 Years Ago
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John
Well I am willing to spend more than the average, probably more than most. I am already using a 57 distributor, a small Edelbrock carb and a 3.10 rear end and have sent the tachometer away for conversion to electric. So recommend away.
Fred
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By 46yblock - 13 Years Ago
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The '57 Ford Carter AFB made for the '57 312 was/is approx. 400 cfm rather than the 500 cfm Carter/Edelbrock, which I recently learned. I havent used one YET, but plan to. Maybe since it was designed for the Y, it would give better MPG than the small, but larger Edelbrock. That assumes of course you could find one.
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By charliemccraney - 13 Years Ago
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Mark, This is with a carburetor and electronic ignition. No injection, yet. Fred, Unless you go with an overdrive transmission, the 4 speed is not going to do much for improving your mileage. My own experience says to stay away from the Edelbrock if it's economy and/or performance that you're after.
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By Ted - 13 Years Ago
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I’ll add that the use of gasoline blended with alcohol ends up being counterproductive when trying to better the fuel mileage numbers. As the percentage of alcohol is increased in the gasoline, the miles per gallon numbers will continue to drop and especially where the compression ratio is already on the low side. This just goes back to the BTU’s of energy that’s available per pound of alcohol versus that of gasoline. For those of you trying to figure out where your gas mileage has gone with the engines still in good condition and tune, the alcohol content in the gasoline is at the top of the list for places to look.
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By glrbird - 13 Years Ago
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Anyone that wants better fuel mileage should start by emptying out congress and start fresh with new people
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By kansas - 13 Years Ago
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my 55 vic 292 with old teapot was getting 12 to 13 put on a B intake with holley 390 and now I get 18 to 19 and runs great/ money well spent
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By Hoosier Hurricane - 13 Years Ago
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Fred: If you are looking for a money-no-object method for fuel mileage it would be to adapt a modern computer controlled sequential fuel injection system and ignition. Would take a lot of fabrication and engineering to adapt to a Y. One of the problems is the upper/lower port arrangement, getting injectors into the lower ports seems to be a stumbling block. I have a friend who mentioned putting the injectors in the bottom of the manifold for the lower ports, and fabricating a valley pan with a deep recess to clear them. I know almost nothing about injection, but one feature it has is that when you let off the throttle, it shuts off the fuel supply. With a carburetor in that mode, high vacuum is drawing fuel through the idle circuit. Another possibility that will probably get me banned from this site for suggesting it would be to adapt a newer engine complete with computer to your Bird. Sorry Y's guys!!!
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By Ted - 13 Years Ago
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Hoosier Hurricane (3/10/2011)
If you are looking for a money-no-object method for fuel mileage it would be to adapt a modern computer controlled sequential fuel injection system and ignition. Would take a lot of fabrication and engineering to adapt to a Y. One of the problems is the upper/lower port arrangement, getting injectors into the lower ports seems to be a stumbling block. I have a friend who mentioned putting the injectors in the bottom of the manifold for the lower ports, and fabricating a valley pan with a deep recess to clear them. I know almost nothing about injection, but one feature it has is that when you let off the throttle, it shuts off the fuel supply. With a carburetor in that mode, high vacuum is drawing fuel through the idle circuit. Another possibility that will probably get me banned from this site for suggesting it would be to adapt a newer engine complete with computer to your Bird. Sorry Y's guys!!! John. This will probably get me banned also as I’ll suggest using the valley pan from a marine application for the dual one barrel carbs as it already has the appropriate recess. Those particular valley pans are plentiful at the marine salvage houses.
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By masterced - 13 Years Ago
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Fuel economy? Surprisingly a '56 ford Y has given me some of the best fuel economy Ive seen in my adult life (and thats saying something).
I've got a '56 312 Y block and I put a T5 transmission behind it about a year or two ago. Just last summer I switched the intake manifold to a '62 two barrel, changed the distributor over to a '57, but kept the points.
I took it on a few trips last fall, the rings are failing something terrible, so even leaving a James-Bond style smoke screen behind me, I drove a few 4 hour long trips averaging over 17 mpg. That was passing most people (which for some reason weren't smiling as much as I was), but since I didn't have a tach and my speedometer still isn't hooked up I can't give you any concrete numbers on rpm or mph. I had a smoke screen behind me anyways, so I didn't worry too much about going OVER the limits haha
I always filled it with premium gas since I don't really trust corn in my engine, and I must admit, I think spending a little more per gallon is worth it. I've got a little Toyota truck with a V6 in it that always gets regular gas, I don't know weights for sure, but I would be willing to guess that the yota is lighter than a '56 ford wagon. Ive never been able to get more than 15 mpg with the truck.
Now, Im not one to belittle ingenuity, but I don't see the benefits to fuel injecting a y-block, no matter what the mileage increase is. I know Im old fashioned, but I would think that using a y-block would be a good excuse to turn away from any fuel injected engine: reliable performance, simple construction, and when running in good shape it can be very economical as well! Best of all it doesn't need a computer chip to stay running.
well listen to me get all judgemental... for not belittling ingenuity, I certainly have a lot of opinions on the subject haha Hope you find a good setup to keep the Y on the road!
Ced
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By The Master Cylinder - 13 Years Ago
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charliemccraney (3/6/2011)
Fred, Unless you go with an overdrive transmission, the 4 speed is not going to do much for improving your mileage.
There's a 4 speed auto that's doesn't have OD?? Beside the old GM 4 speed hydro's?? Wasn't aware...
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By charliemccraney - 13 Years Ago
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I didn't read the automatic part. Ignore my statement.
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By famdoc3 - 13 Years Ago
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I have just pulled my 30 ver 292 that was giving me 19 mpg in my 57 t'bird. It had an original 2x4 manifold with twin rochester throttle bodies controlled by a Accel gen 7 dfi set-up. I was running 273 rear gears, using an old borg warner super special wide t 10 with 2.64 first gear. Going from the 2 x 4 holleys to the throttle bodies was like swapping in a big block. It had buckets of low end torque and didn't load up like the carbs. Will be back in action on my new motor and .80 over 312. 24 or so more cubic inches should boost low end drivability some more. I am anxious to see how it all works with the isky 333 cam. MIKE
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By PF Arcand - 13 Years Ago
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Further to what Ted mentions re E 85 fuel. In the latest issue of Y-Blk Magazine there is dyno tests on a 334 " Y-Blk. One of the tests was done with the engine, equipped with injection & running E 85 fuel. While the power numbers were up by 27 H.P., fuel consumption with that setup was up by 45 % !!
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By charliemccraney - 13 Years Ago
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But was that engine built to run on gasoline or alcohol? I'll bet it was built for gasoline. I'd like to see a fair comparison of E85 and gasoline, where all that can be equal is, but the engines are tailored for the target fuel where necessary. I'll bet that the results will tell a different story then.
It's kinda like building a low compression engine to test the benefits of octane - the result will be that higher octane is not worth the money and that is false when the engine is built for it.
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By yalincoln - 13 Years Ago
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has anyone gone to a holley pro-jection set-up on a y? if so, i must have missed it. i'd like to know how much trouble it is to switch over and what the performance, millage difference was, thanks, wayne. if this has already been done, please help me find it.
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By John Mummert - 13 Years Ago
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Paul, I noticed the fuel consumption on Royce's motor running on E85 also. Some of the change was the E85 but Hilborn Injection would probably not give the best BSFC numbers with any fuel. Charlie, the flex fuel cars are a joke. How can an engine run efficiently on gas and ethanol with the same compression ratio?
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By charliemccraney - 13 Years Ago
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John Mummert (5/24/2011)
Charlie, the flex fuel cars are a joke. How can an engine run efficiently on gas and ethanol with the same compression ratio?
I agree, and that's exactly my point. I am curious to see how two engines built as equally as possible but with the changes necessary for each type of fuel compare. I'll bet ethanol isn't so bad when it's used in an engine that's truly designed for it.
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By jepito - 13 Years Ago
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Pretty sure Mpg will always be worse w/ ethanol because there is less btu's per gallon. It's not a fair comparision. Cost per mile would be better when comparing dissimilar fuels.
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By Missouri Mike - 13 Years Ago
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You're right, it doesn't make sense that an engine that runs on gas and E-85 would run on either efficiently, even I understand that. The key word I think would be......efficiently. My wife's brother has a full size scrub flex fuel truck. He is divorced, kids grown and is known for being the "thriftiest" person you will ever meet (read that as he is one of the cheapest B_______s to walk the face of the earth). He drives to Florida from Chicago a couple of times a year and from Chicago to northern Wisc. on a pretty regular basis. He puts some miles on this truck and has determined E-85 must be 20% cheaper then regular for it to benefit him to run E-85. If regular is $4 a gallon E-85 must be $3.20 or less to make it worth buying. He does acknowledge that anything close to a 50-50 mix in the tank makes it run very poor. It has to have a majority of one or the other type fuel to run half way decent. Cheap as he is I know he's run the numbers dozens of times. For what it's worth. Missouri Mike
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