My uncle gave me a 77 Ford Thunderbird.Rebuilt engine and carb. It only gets about 5 miles to the gallon.Has anyone found aproven way to increase the mileage. I have beentold that an Edelbrock carburetor will double the mileage. Has anyone had experience with this before I spend the money. What about air special air filters that say they improve mileage?

 

A different air filter (like STP) will keep itself from blocking up with dirt too fast and sucking more gas. Edelbrock carbs are junk. They can't beat a good Ford carb done right. I'm assuming if you only get 5 MPG you have a 400 or 460 engine? You can't get good gas mileage out of a big motor without running it too lean and burning stuff up over time unless you link on a low PSI supercharger and beef up the motor to handle it. Making sure the gas is warm (expanded) coming out of the tank will also increase mileage but don't blow yourself up trying that one. They had a spiral set of fins you could buy to put in the air cleaner for vortex action. Tornado fuel saver or something? Also magnets on the fuel line have been said to be able to help slightly. Lightening the weight of unnecessary junk parts in and on the car will also help. Plus look out for nagging problems to gas mileage like dirty converters (which can lead to performance problems also). Maybe whoever rebuilt the carburetor jetted it too high (try smaller jet sets). I have a basic chartI go by for stock or bored engines. If the engine was rebuilt and bored - the carb may be improperly tuned. Just because the engine increased bore size a touch doesn't necessarily mean jet size should. Also check that choke operation isn't backward (sign of a bad carb. rebuild). Overall if you don't have a 351M, 400 or 460 engine your gas mileage is really sucking. My old 351W used to get near 20 MPG. Granted the lighter engine block and I went around/in/under the car and removed unnecessary garbage pieces. You may also want to change to a higher geared rear axle (provided you have like a 3.25 (3-1/4) or lower gearset).

 

check the choke!!! check the timming... i belive if you slightly retard the timming it will help mpg.. do not run any fan belts you dont need. get a set of Power-Pullies and a electric radiator fan...disable or pull out the air condition unit..heat wrap the exhaust.. i haveheard of people disabling the (secondary) jets on a 4 barrel carbso it acks like a 2-barrel with twice the air flow..works gr8t.. i have never done this but maybe somone can walk you threw it... ok now (PUSH THE CAR) by hand down the street. dose it roll freely??do the brakes drag?? check tire alinement/brakes and air pressure..lighten up the car as much as possible... strip the trunk of carpet.. install light weight bucket seets. (aerostar van seats?) take out the rear seat. and cut out the webing that devides the trunk.. i have always wanted to see how light i can make a full size car by cutting out all un-nessary suportsand webing.. take off the hood springs and cut out the heavy steel suportwebing from the under side of hood and trunk lid.. use asteel rod to hold up the hood.... trim the inner fender welds .. take out any electric motors you dont need.. like the antenna motor and rear electric windows..replacerear glass with raceing plexiglass.. i have seen people use the bumpers for moulds to make lightweight bumpers out of fiberglass.. .. i know this is taking the effort of gas mileage to the extream but... hey!! maybe just a few of these things will help .. .. lol