What is your best option for saving money at the pump? It doesn't seem like gas is going down any time soon, so what do those of us that are crazy about their Mustangs do to combat the ever-rising price of gas?
Here's what I'm doing:
I'm sure many of us are in the same boat. Some of you drive your Mustangs every day. Some of you are like me. I own several vehicles, many of which are fox body Mustangs, none of which have less than 8 cylinders. My daily driver is a truck, specifically a 2007 Silverado. The Silverado gets about 17 mpg, on average, which is really good for a big, 4-door truck, but when gas is basically double what it was 2 years ago, it's as if I'm driving a motorhome back and fourth to work, 20 or so miles each way.
I needed a solution for my $100+ per week gas bill.
Here were my options:
- Drive less - I'm doing this, but I can't help the fact that I drive a mandatory 40-50 miles to work and back alone, each day, 5 days a week.
- Buy a cheap beater that gets good mileage - well, unfortunately, cheap beaters that are reliable are getting scarce, and not so cheap, and certainly not cool or fun to drive. I've scoured for 4-banger fox bodies and they are bringing good money now, some are as much as 5.0 cars! May sound vein, but I want a driver that is exciting. My career and hobby both are based off of my love for cars, and I get enjoyment out of having a nice ride. Don't get me wrong, I've driven some junk in my time, but I'd prefer not to.
- Trade - Well, I like and need my truck, and my wife's Suburban is unfortunately not worth what it was a year ago because of the price of gas. I'm not about to take a major butt-whooping on either one of these rides just to save gas money. I don't believe that losing tons of money on a car makes sense, no matter how much gas you save.
- Car pool - this is a good option, but our staff seems to be pretty spread out, and we all like our independance.
This brings me to my fifth option.....
Start driving the old 5.0 again - It's certainly not an economy car, but the mileage is better than the truck, it's still a blast to drive, it's pretty much a classic now, and I don't have to go buy another car. I think I can improve the mileage, too.
Yep, the old red 92 coupe was the option. So I had to address a few things that could help improve the mileage. About 18 mpg on average is what I've always seen from this car, so the mileage was already better than the truck. Mind you, this is driving the car with no regard for fuel mileage. The car is a 5-speed with a Cobra intake, E303 cam, GT40P heads, and MAC longtubes. The gears were 3.73's, and the timing was set at about 14 degrees initial.
The great thing about performance mods is that many improve the efficiency of the combination, therefore increasing the fuel mileage at the same time. My intake, heads, cam and exhaust did not seem to me to be hurting the mileage, so I chose address the things that were obivous and easily improved.
The gears were 3.73's. Since I had plenty of gears in my arsenal of parts, I went ahead and made the change back to the stock 3.08's. In-town mileage never did really suffer with the 3.73's, but I do a lot of my driving on the highway, so the 3.08's should be an improvement.
My extra timing wasn't hurting mileage, but I had to run super unleaded. The timing is now back to 10 degrees initial, so the car runs fine on 87 octane.
My driving had to improve. Since my Mustang wasn't my daily driver, it used to be for special occasions, or when I just wanted to rip on it. I had to re-train my self to keep the rpm's low, and slow down a little. We'll see how it improves.
I've got about a tank down since the gear change, and it appears that the car is going to help me save some money on gas. My average is up to 20. As time goes on, I may make some other tweeks that could improve mileage even more, such as an electric fan. In the meantime, I'm enjoying being back in my fox, and saving gas at the same time.
Here's my list of tips for improving the mileage of your Mustang:
- Gears - if you do a lot of highway driving, 3.73's, 4.10's, or 4.30's may not be for you
- Timing - if you have a programmer, back off to the 87 octain tune. Distributor guys - back the timing down to the stock 10 degrees btdc.
- Slow down - take your time and keep the rpm's down.
- Air pressure - check your tires. Less air means more rolling resistance.
- Underdrive pullies - they cut parasitic loss, increasing horsepower as well as efficiency
- Electric fan - if you have a fox body, an electric fan will also decrease parasitic power losses
- Alignment - keep your front end aligned. Badly mis-alingned front ends will result in excessive tire wear and more rolling resistance.
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