I'm about to get my Mav on the road and now I have to face the hard cold facts on fuel mileage. So, with a stock 302, what kind of mileage can I expect on a 1973 maverick, 3 speed manual transmission. I'd sure hate to just have her sit in the garage all of the time. Cars are meant to be driven. Also, how does it compare with the 250's?
ya 20s easy if you can hold up on the gas haha. is ur car four or two barrel??? that makes a good differnece also haha. i run a four barrel 650 on my 302 and get 18s with my young lead foot haha.
It also depends on your gear ratio, if you have 2.73 or 3.00's then you will get allot better gas mileage then 3.50 or 3.80's But if you want something more fuel economy minded swap the 3 speed out for a late 80's early 90's mustang T5 and you can venture into the mid to low 20's with the overdrive. To give you a good comparison the 1988 mustang GT with a 5.0 H.O. and T5 is rated 14mpg city and 23 MPG highway with 3.07 gears in the 8.8 rear end.(according to fueleconomy.gov) so with a car of similar weight and depending on how you drive you can easily average 23+ mpg on the highway.
yeah gear ratio and tranny plays a big part like markso125 said and also dependds on the daily speed limit you would be driving. if your fastest speed limit is 55 then i wouldnt care about have 3.91s or something. but if you have to drive freeway or something then ya ide go 3.00s or something for gas milege. so theres alot of factors that come into play when u talk mpgs haha
My dad had a dragged out 302 with jsut a 2bbl i think on it... He did 13s and got 22 city if he was nice... not sure about his whoel setup though. currently with my 86 speed density without the o2's and running rich cuase of it i get 8 half city half hgihway and thats bein nice.. i get 2.79 in a 8.75.. i wouldn't go off what i get though... not super reliable considering it's not running perfect.
With a stock rear gear, and a stock or mildly modded 302, and conservative driving, I would expect 14 city/19hwy. That is about what my Comet got and that is with a C4 automatic. Even switching to a 351W (600 Holley, somewhat rowdy cam, headers, 2400 stall conv in trans) and the 3.0 gear, the mileage was 12 city/17 hwy if I kept it at 70 mph. If I cruised at 80, the carb was getting into the secondaries and mileage dropped to 15.
G' Mornin', Frank. ah, yes .... fond memories ... the only thing that keeps me plugging away on this car. Thanks for the laugh.
30 miles to work, 30 miles home. All highway miles at about 70 mph. I believe it is a 2 barrel carb. Stock rear end, etc. I'd love to switch out that 3 speed for a 5 speed but no $$$ at the moment to do that.
I just took a trip down the freeway this past weekend, mostly 70 mph, vast majority level. 302 w/ C4, 4bbl 600 cfm. 15.5mpg. After 3 hours of driving I was out of gas. To get from the center of Washington state to the Idaho panhandle and back, I spent $130. Town driving is much worse. I don't even want to keep track of that.
I can honestly say that after 20 years in the trade dealing with fuel mileage issues the single biggest factor is peoples....MATH. Short of that its just common sense stuff. Keep it tuned. Keep the tire pressures up. Align it properly and keep your foot out of it. GOOD luck on the last one. LOL.
My "real world" mileage; me driving the way I drive, mixed city+highway, the last time I paid attention I was doing around 14 mpg consistently over several tanks. That was with a 302, 4 barrel carb, stock 3.0 gears, C4 trans, 2500 stall, ~10:1 compression and a strong but sensible cam. But that was before the double pumper, the exhaust and the 351 Windsor. Haven't measured it since then, not sure if I'm gonna...
Driving to the Round Up and back, I averaged 11MPG....It didn't help that I was excited most of the time, and had it matted on the highway.
