One of the questions that I ask my service customers is "how is the
cold-start?
Answer, more times than not... "oh it starts up just fine, I don't even
have to use the choke".
Most street cars are WAY too rich, either wear or incorrect settings.
Many are rich to the point of suffering top ring "washdown", especially
the later cars with auto chokes.
Yes a simple plug check will tell a lot of info.
Glen
-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Babcock <billbab@gmail.com>
To: Ed Major <ejmajor250@comcast.net>
Cc: fot@autox.team.net
Sent: Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:47 am
Subject: Re: [Fot] gas milage, etc.
I bet the gas mileage could be substantially improved by tuning the
carbs. Most older cars I have worked on run amazingly rich. When I
show my plugs to other mechanics they generally freak out a little.
Every car wrench wants to see some brown, or at least tan. The only
place I want to see that is a little in the base circle of the
insulator.
Sure, that's a holdover from racing motorcycles but these water cooled
engines should be even more forgiving. If you showed plugs with tan on
the nose to Bobby whatsisname (the guy from Champion) he'd say "you're
safe" which meant "you have no idea what you're doing and I won't help
you".
There's a lot of horsepower and some mileage between slightly rich and
just right. I suspect these cars were deliberately set rich to cover a
bunch of owner maintenance ills and make them run better when they
were cold.
On Jun 25, 2008, at 6:40 AM, Ed Major wrote:
> My TR3A jumped 4 to 5 (from 21 to 26, open road) mpg after
> installing a
> Pertronix and a dizzy clean up.
>
> Ed Major
> '58 TR3A, '68 TR250
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <emanteno@comcast.net>
> To: "Terry Stetler" <tlizzard@msn.com>; <fot@autox.team.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 8:17 AM
> Subject: Re: [Fot] gas milage, etc.
>
>
>> -------------- Original message --------------
>> From: "Terry Stetler" <tlizzard@msn.com>
>>
>>>> I get 18mpg in my normal around town and short trip driving. On the
>>>> highway
>>> at a steady 70 mph with OD engaged it will get about 24mpg.
>>>
>>> All in all pretty poor milege really. I suspect the major culprit
>>> is the
>>> less
>>> than economical right foot, at least in my case.
>>
>> FWIW, on a trip to a VTR Convention one year, I checked mileage
>> with the
>> top up and the top down on my TR6. On that trip, I got 23 mpg with
>> the top
>> down, and 27 with it up. Even on our brick-like cars, aerodynamics
>> makes a
>> difference. of course, I'd rather get crappier mileage and drive
>> with the
>> top down.
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