Question by WOW: i wana buy an old muscle car, i need to know about gas milage, and how to upgrade to save on gas consumption?
im thinking either “camero ss, mustang, charger or nova ss” and back in the 60-70′s they weren’t thinking gas saving that much. so what are the things that i can add to the engine or car except for a muffler that can cut down a gas chugging car? cause u know as much as me the cars use alot more gas than the 90-08′ <--(years) cars. so any suggestions and help u can tell me it will be mostly appreciated ... thanks
Best answer:
Answer by ya_vigilante
You can buy any muscle car. Just make sure it has either has a straight 6 or a small V8 in it. The reason most muscle cars used so much fuel, was that they had large V8s. Big blocks we called them. Most muscle cars came standard with a straight 6 or a small V8 and would get around 20-25 mpg. Sometimes more. If you are just looking for a car with all show and no go, then that’s what I would suggest. But a Camaro with a 350cid. is no slouch, and will get you 20mpg if you keep your foot out of it. I had a ’71 Nova with a 307cid that got 28mpg. The engine was rated at 200hp. The Nova was a really light car, so it went pretty good.
This is for the immature people below:
Here is a link that describes Muscle Cars:
http://www.musclecarclub.com/musclecars/general/musclecars-definition.shtml
As you can see, not all muscle cars have big blocks. SS Camaros, Chevelles and Novas with 350s are Muscle Cars. And if you read his question thoroughly, he asked how he could “upgrade” to get better mileage. You can put any late model EFI small block in anyone of these cars and get 25mpg easy.
Maybe the guy likes the looks of a ’69 Boss 429 Mustang but can’t afford one. He buys a rotted out ’69 Mustang Fastback with a 289, 2bbl and 4-speed. He buys a fiberglass hood, fenders and trunk lid to reduce weight. He buys all the Boss trim pieces. What’s he got? A nice looking “Muscle Car” that gets 25mpg.
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Man get real, if you are going to buy one of those cars (I suggest 69 Chevelle SS) then you really shouldn’t stress about Gas mileage that is one of the things that makes an old muscle car nostalgic. Think of it this way yes you can find things to make it more efficient but will it still be a Muscle car? If so than no harm but if you get out of hand then consider just getting a KIA RIO……LOL
Muscle cars are just that, muscle that eats gas. Anything you do to increase gas mileage, takes away from muscle.
muscle cars and good gas milage arent things that go together. if u get a muscle car doing general labor like keeping it tuned and changing fluids on a regular basis. muscle cars are meant for one thing power and speed. and a muscle car with a v6 oh plz thats a baby muscle car. v8 big block is the best type of engine to have for a muscle car of course if its milage u want then a muscle car aint what u want
the only muscle car that gets good milage is one with 4 flat tires ;no battery;no engine and no transmission
If you can afford a true muscle car, you would not have to worry about gas prices!
All above answers make me laugh!
Sounds like you intend on making this a daily driver. If thats the case well, here is what you need to do, first off you need to consider rather or not your going to treat this muscle car the way she was designed to be treated. if you are then for get about gas mileage right now, because anything you do to it will kill your speed and power. Now if you really are looking for the mileage out of the motor, first thing you should do is pull the rear end out from it and put in a 2.55 rear end. This will allow the RPM’s to be lower at cruse speeds of 55-65 mph. this will also effect your off the line speed so it will never do well at the drag strip. however your top end will be fantastic. next put in a restrictor plate. this is limit the ammount of fuel the engine is able to pull in, less fuel means more mileage, however your giving up power as well. Next you will want to look at putting in a pedal stop. set it so the pedal will only go down about a 1/4 of the way. This will keep you from dumping all that good fuel down in to the hungry motor and allow for slower accelleration. this saves fuel, but again it kills your power, (Startting to see a trend here) With all the modifications you can get a Big block motor that would normally get 9 in the city and 16 on the highway up to around 14 in the city and 22 on the highway. you have pretty much castrated the motor and everythinf a muscle car stands for, but hey your getting mediocare gas mileage right?
There is really not much you can do other then not have her be a daily driver. I deal in classic cars all the time and I present these options to my clients all the time. short of putting in a EFI engine. there is no way you can get better mileage out of these engines. Power cost money to produce. Sorry thats just the way life is sometimes.
Lol, buying an old muscle car for gas mileage is a contradiction in terms if I ever saw one!
MUSCLE CAR + GAS MILEAGE = 0……GET REAL MAN……..
car like that will spend a lot of time at the fueling station, you would get a better response asking how to increase horsepower however that will increase consummation.
only way to save gas, don’t drive it!
if fuel cost is really an issue, don’t buy it!
if you’re so worried about gas mileage, build a model…
the best way too go is too get like a 68 or 69 nova and drop a new 4.8 v8 vortec and have like a 3.42 rear end so u still have the take off power and good cruise speed. I have one and i get 20 to 24 mpg