<VV> Corvairs and fuel economy

kevin nash wrokit at hotmail.com
Thu Aug 18 21:32:30 EDT 2011


> Message: 4
> Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2011 02:27:42 -0400
> From: Ramon Rodriguez III <corvairgrymm at gmail.com>
> Subject: <VV> Corvairs and fuel economy
> To: virtualvairs at corvair.org
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> 	<CAEaZS-9Lwc-7Ug8CTrbPOtxE-xjJn5ti=CEV9O-Es-P_9yqbLA at mail.gmail.com>
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> 
> Greetings Vairfolk,
> 
> Tonight on my way home I got to thinking about how fuel costs are so
> drastically effecting my life... primarily in that I need to really think
> twice before driving any distance for recreational purposes.  Currently a
> round trip to the nearest shopping center costs me nearly $10 in gasoline!
> (around 20mpg).
> 
> I own and drive ONLY Corvairs, and I wouldn't have it any other way (except
> maybe a tow vehicle to bring new ones home with!), but the mileage isn't
> fantastic and I have to run premium to avoid pinging.  I know a lot of the
> strategies from the econo-run events won't translate over well to real world
> driving but I figure you guys must have learned some tricks that can be
> applied to a daily driver.
> 
> So let's have it!  How can we get maximum MPG from our Corvairs with minimal
> investment?  Since the whole point is economy let's try to avoid any costly
> modifications, or at least put them at the bottom of the list =)  What kind
> of mileages have you attained and by what methods?
> 
> 
> -- 
> Ray "Grymm" Rodriguez
> Lake Ariel, PA
 Ray- Probably the biggest bang for the buck is to get a air/fuel ratio meter and see how well your carburetors are set up- most corvairs were set up fairly rich from the factory, and who knows who messed with them since then!! for best fuel economy, you want around 14:1 afr (and can go quite a bit leaner than this at idle if you are carefull!!), but best cooling comes at richer mixtures. If you are willing to take the lower shrouds off, thereby dropping the head temps 20-30 degrees, you may find that you can run leaner mixtures without having the head temps get too high. Another thing that helps alot is to gear it taller- besides being nicerto drive at freeway speeds! Having a Safegard ignition controller helps a bunch also, as the timing can be more advanced than normal. Also- EFI- Ray Sedman has been working on a kit to mount the fuel injectors directly above the carburetors, thereby eliminating a bunch of the expense in doing that conversion. Kevin Nash Early Turbo daily driver, soon to be efi (getting really close!!)    		 	   		  


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