I've got a best of 26 highway with brand new tires, fresh alignment, mid grade 89 octane gas, running 65-70 mph on the interstate. The colder it gets, the more the gas mileage seems to drop. The other night it was pretty cold out and I got 21 on 87 octane running 75 mph. Anything over 80 mph and it's high teens. It gets high teen's to low 20's city if you drive like a granny and anticipate lights ahead of time so you don't have to stop completely and stuff.
that would probably be a help... mine had it stock tho so i wouldnt be able to give you the details to putting it in.i think 74 was the 1st year
I know '74 wasn't the first year, my '74 Grabber had points. Pretty sure '75 was. If you're still running on points, I'd strongly suggest getting rid of them.
From Consumer Reports (who drive like little old ladys) when the cars were new: 1970 2dr (200/auto) 25@60mph 1974 2dr (200/auto) 22@60mph 19@70mph 1975 4dr (250/auto) 15.5@60mph 1976 4dr (200/stick) 24@60mph My 76 Stallion (250/auto) currently gets 19.5 at 70 with AC on. 20.2 without AC. Have had a low figure of 13.7 and a all time high of 21.5 at 70mph with AC on vacation trip to Dodge City Kansas in September 2005. My 1971 2dr with the 170/three speed would get 25 at 70mph while my 71 4dr with a 1980 200/auto would get 18.5. My 73 with 250/auto was/is the guzzler with a average of 14 on the road and 10 in town. My 79 Lincoln will get 16.5 on the highway! The highest mileage car I have owned was my 76 Pinto wagon that would get 28@70 and 20 in town. Wiring fire did it in a couple of years ago, I still miss it very much.
When my Sprint was new (200 originally), the best it ever got was around 23 on the highway. Around town and the way I drove at the time, 16-18 was the norm. Thats with a 3 speed manual.
I went through a process of attempting a high milage car once. The project lasted almost two years. With the stock carb the best mileage I got was about 33 mpg. That was with the power valve eliminated and jetting that was just rich enough so it wouldn't ping under any condition. I later swapped to a Zenith carb with an integral velocity governor. The best mileage I got with it was 41 mph. With the mods made to the carb, engine and cooling system running a 200 cu" six and a C4 in 1962 Falcon SW I got the same mileage around town as I did on the interstate. 41 mpg gave me a top speed of 55 mph aned all the acceleration of a turtle with bad knees. When I swapped back to a 1904 Holley the mileage dropped back to 27 mpg but I could accelerate normally and drivability was greatly improved. I milled a flat spot on the manifold log and had the hole cut to an oval that matched the Ford 2 bbl carb opening. I mounted a carb adapter from a rochester 2bbl to the Holley 2bbl and the milage dropped to 26 mpg but the drivability and performance went up considerably. The Ford 2bbl that I used was off a 65 Mustang and jetted 2 sizes larger. The accelerator pump stroke was tuned. All the testing was performed on this car and engine with a Ford "Load-a-matic" distributor. For you younger folks that is an all vacuum controlled distributor that has no mechanical advance. It was used on all the early Falcons. If you want to get all you can out of a Ford six then mill the manifold off completely and mount webers with 8 to 12 inch 1 1/2" tube adapters at each port. Select a cam that will turn power curve to 6000 Rpm and go for it!
Once upon a time the vacuum advance can on my distributor crapped out. My gas mileage immediately got cut in half.
A points type distributor can be converted to electronic very easily or you can just drop in an ignition from a later model 302 with electronic ignition. I prefer points for the street but on a performance car they are a poor second to a good electronic system.
