<VV> Fuel Mileage

[Tony Underwood]

At 08:53 PM 9/11/2009, Jason Cesana wrote:
>Hey Gang. I have tried almost everything to try and get my 60 more fuel
>efficient.


Choke...


>I seem to be getting only around 10-12 mpg when I know it should
>be getting around 20 (give or take a few miles).


Choke...


>I know not many out there
>know how to properly set the choke on the 60 and I have the shop manual but
>when I set it "to the book" she runs like *%it!

Inop choke...


>If anyone out there has a
>picture of their 60 choke in hot and cold positions I would greatly
>appreciate it.

In COLD the butterfly should be closed, or very nearly so.   In HOT 
it's supposed to be wide open.    You should be able to get a peek at 
it easily enough from inside the air cleaner with filter element removed.

After you check it and find it still closed with a warm engine, check 
the heat tube coming off the exhaust manifold.   It's usually 
plugged.   If it's stopped up the bimetal spring inside the choke 
housing will never open the choke as the engine warms and the car 
will suck fuel and run like crap once it warms.


>Not sure what else it could be as when I close off the
>needles to the carbs it starts to bog down as it seems to not get enough
>gas. The carbs were rebuilt last year but I am unsure of how old they are.


Not carbs, choke.   If you set it according to factory specs, those 
same specs are gonna assume that the choke system is working.   If 
something isn't, all bets are off.


>I wonder if the jets are worn out or if they are aged to the point of useless
>repair. Thanks.



Not carbs, I'll bet.


I once had a bit of free-for-all discussion at a show and the '60 
choke system came up, whereupon I mentioned that it wasn't in my 
opinion worth much of a damn, particularly since it only lasted ONE 
year, and someone else spoke up and said "It works very well".

I STILL disagree.   I've never seen a '60 yet with its original 
"unmolested" choke working "well" unless it had been repaired at 
least once or twice along the way.   The linkage is problematic and 
that heat tube is constantly getting clogged... if it's still 
actually there at all and not rotted away where it's supposed to plug 
into the exhaust manifold.


...yet I keep seeing '62-'69 Vair engines with factory choke hardware 
that's never been touched and still working fine.    The carbs 
themselves may be loose as a goose and rattling from all the wear, 
but the chokes still work.


I think the vendors still have those '60 choke heater tubes.   Mine 
is moot (although it did work since I fixed it.   twice.) since the 
tube is still on the original engine with a broken valve stored in 
the barn.   ;)




tony..