Finally able to compute my MPG

[Daryl]

Now that my speedometer and odometer work, I was finally able to get my mpg! 347 stroker, 3.55 rear gears, but I am easy on the loud pedal… so 18.5mpg! Not too shabby

 

[07GtS197]

Not bad at all. Do you do mostly city driving?

 

[Daryl]

Not bad at all. Do you do mostly city driving?

Yes, probably only 10% freeway. And here in CA, at $5.70/gal for gas, I’m in no hurry to burn through my fuel so I don’t drive it too hard. Well ok, maybe every once in a great while! ;-) but 95% of the time I’m a very mellow driver.

 

[joemomma]

That's really good, honestly. Last time my odo worked, I think I calculated 13-14 MPG lol. That's a mix of city/highway with 4.10s.

 

[Daryl]

That's really good, honestly. Last time my odo worked, I think I calculated 13-14 MPG lol. That's a mix of city/highway with 4.10s.

I was expecting as poor as 12mpg, but that was guesstimating distance and how frequently I needed to gas up. Needless to say I’m quite content with the 18.5mpg

 

[joemomma]

Yeah the 4.10s kill my mileage, I have about 16.5 mile commute one-way on highways with a 70MPH speed limit, so it's singing pretty good most of the way.

 

[lwarrior1016]

Makes me love my coyote. I’ve got 4.10’s and am getting around 22-24 mpg. Most of my drive I can do about 60 mph, then interstate at 80 mph. My commute is 36 miles.

 

[badass98svt]

That's really good, honestly. Last time my odo worked, I think I calculated 13-14 MPG lol. That's a mix of city/highway with 4.10s.

Damn man.
I was getting 20.5 pretty regularly in my 4V with 4.30s (mixed city/hwy)

Now with the built 4V, turbo, and 3.55s, I'm averaging around 15-18. I'm sure I could get the MPG up if I kept my foot out of it a bit.

 

[joemomma]

I'm pretty sure it was that bad, but it's been a minute since I had a working ODO lol. I might have been slightly better, but not much.

 

[Chip66]

I feel sorry for Daryl, I just filled up this week for $3.62/gal for 87 octane, and I'm still complaining about it.

When gas prices go up everyone starts questioning their need for economy vs power.

The cam selection will affect MPG much more than the gears. This is why the newer engines with cam phasers can produce so much power and still achieve good mileage.

The cam phasers are good but after owning one for a while, the Honda VTEC is definitely the coolest way I've seen this done. It has two completely different cam profiles that engage at higher RPM and high power engagement. This allows for both increased duration and valve event timing changes only when needed.

This isn't really new knowledge. Manufactures were getting really good mileage in the '70s at the sacrifice of power: https://www.ford-trucks.com/articles/throwback-thursday-1976-f-100-50l-got-better-mpg-than-2015/ What's changed is they've learned how to engineer and manufacture engines that can do both.

More commonly known is the inverse relation between displacement and economy. This is because a large engine doing the work of maintaining cruising speed is at a very low throttle compared to a small engine doing the same work. The large engine will have a higher vacuum and be working against that, wasting energy.

So when you want more power with older technology engines without sacrificing MPG, think turbo before cam and stroker kits.