In a message dated 5/12/99 4:45:53 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
samuelquincy@hotmail.com writes:
<< I've got a 59 Chevy Apache 1/2 ton, 235 stock. It's a daily driver and
I've
been driving it for about a year and a half, though I had the engine
remanufactured in November (would have loved to do it myself but was not
excited about doing a rebuild on the street in LA!). My question though is
about fuel economy. I really don't know what I should be aiming for, though
I have a sense it should be higher than the 10mpg that I get in the city.
I'm thinking about getting over to a shop with a dynomometer to fine tune
it. I don't do any heavy hauling to speak of with it. Any of you all's
suggestions or comments as to what I could do to amp up the economy factor
would be real welcome. Thanks--
Sam Quincy
59 Apache 235
>>
Sam,
Best thing you can do is make sure it's in proper tune first. Plugs, cap
and rotor, check the wires too.
Set your points properly, then advance the timing until it pings on
acceleration, then back off just a bit from there. If your timing is
retarded at all, you're wasting gas.
Before you spend the money for dyno tuning (not needed for a stock i-6 in
my opinion) look into putting an O2 sensor in the exhaust, and read the
voltage for rich (above 600-700 mv) conditions.
You're not too far off from what it's going to get, my '59 w/235 gets about
15-15.5mpg on the hiway (3.90's) and about 12mpg in town type driving.
Mike
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