Best "mpg Upgrades" For A Fox.

[Saminator0107]

Hello, i am going to be getting my drivers license soon, and i am wanting a fox v8. I was wondering if anybody knew any small upgrades that improve performance without sacrificing too much mpg. I will be daily driving the car, so i dont want too bad of a mpg. I want to do something along the lines of exhaust, intake, and 3.73 gears. I know you all will say "just get a 4 cyl" but im not a big person on 4 cyl, i want to have some fun and be able to daily drive it too. I know any upgrades will reduce mpg, but i want to do it without sacrificing too much mpg. Thanks in advance.

 

[90sickfox]

Your foot and a 5 speed...that's the best advice I can give. Your foot being number one.

You'll want to match your camshaft to your rear gear and your cruising speed. That way its the most efficient when cruising at your cruising mph.

Being light on the gas is the best for keeping fuel mileage reasonable. I got 26 mph out of an e cam, 3.73 gears, and an edelbrock carb. Cruising at 72mph

Now, I do not recommend alphabet camshafts or edelbrock carbs for performance mods....or carburetors at all on 86+ foxes. EFI is the way to go and there are a lot of better options over alphabet cams.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Pretty much your foot is going to dictate what your mpg is going to be.


Right now, I average 6.45 mpg on my car. But my right foot (and left) drive happy

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Pretty much your foot is going to dictate what your mpg is going to be.


Right now, I average 6.45 mpg on my car. But my right foot (and left) drive happy

Come on Mike, that means you'll last for at least six months off a gallon though

Honestly, they're right. Try to keep your foot out of it, but you're young.....I couldn't help myself when I was younger too.

Worry about the brakes for right now. You gotta whoa as well as go. Then get after the suspension, SFC's, new shocks, springs, bushings, etc...

 

[mikestang63]

5.0 mustang and improved gas mileage are an oxymoron
If you are concerned about gas mileage
Keep it in good tune
tires properly inflated
well maintained
as stock as possible

I'm averaging around 19-20mpg on my newly aquired 86GT in the hot South Florida summer with the A/C on most of the time, in mostly 10 mile trips
I dont keep track of the mpg on my 90 vert anymore.. probably getting 15 or so if I keep my foot off the go pedal

 

[Mustang5L5]

Come on Mike, that means you'll last for at least six months off a gallon though
.

Nah, I'm driving at least 10-20 miles a weekend these days

 

[92Apocalypso]

if you are concerned about gas mileage, you aren't ready for this fox body lifestyle. i guarantee you that you will spend more time troubleshooting and replacing parts than driving it.... fox body life isn't easy man

 

[Sparky714]

I have a 306, B cam, vortech v3 and 373 gears. 200 mile cruise a couple weeks ago I made 20-21mpg. Around town between stoplights, not nearly as good. MPG and the weight of your right foot are inversely proportional in a V8 foxbody.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Depends what you mean by good gas mileage. My damn dodge truck gets 12 miles to a gallon, so, yes you can get good gas mileage in my opinion!

 

[MustangIIMatt]

Gearing is the most important thing for gas mileage in a fox.

In my '87 GT convertible automatic, I got 25-29mpg highway and about 9mpg city with the factory 2.73 gears.

When I switched to 3.55s my highway dropped to 23-27mpg and my city jumped up to about 14mpg.

Hell, gearing is a big part of fuel economy in any vehicle. In my old farm truck, I got 8mpg highway and 14mpg in town thanks to 4.56 gears in the rear end.

 

[JJD08]

Way back when I had an 89 with 3.27 gears, a mass air meter bored out to 60mm and a Jacobs Stop Action ignition box. That thing would get 28-29 mpg at 70 mph.

 

[cleanLX]

Back in the day... I had 3.73's, off road H pipe and the stock MAM bored to 60mm's and timing set at 12*... Car also had less than 18k miles on it back then.
I routinely got 20mpg in town (but could easily get 10 too, so, driving style) and it routinely averaged over 26mph on the highway (65mph cruise) with a best ever of 29mpg once on a 400 mile trip.
This was all at or near sea level, and the gas was not jacked up with ethanol.

 

[MustangIIMatt]

The choice of platform is diametrically opposed to your goal. Save the modification money, and buy a Saturn SL2, like mine, for less than $3k and get 38mpg. The most effective mileage mod is numerically low gears, but it's hard to go lower than the stock 2.73s. Then, go with high efficiency tires, but you're defeating the purpose of owning a fox body, IMO.

38mpg in an SL2? You underachiever. I used to get more than 40 out of my Saturn! 1994 SL1 with a stick. I learned to drive a manual in that car.

 

[MustangIIMatt]

The fiberglass body doesn't dent or rust. It's one of the most reliable vehicles ever built. 0 depreciation due to age at this point. Believe it or not, even my lanky 6'3 ass can stretch my legs out completely under the pedals on long drives (with shoes off ).

We bought our '94 in 2002 with 90k on it, drove the hell out of it to 149k when the odometer quit, shrugged our shoulders and kept driving the hell out of it for 2 or 3 more years before we traded it in. The odometer was the only thing that broke in the car. Traded it in with the original clutch still in it. My dad and I split the cost on it because he had a Suburban and I had a Thunderbird with a 460 in it. In-town we just took our gas-hogs, but if either of us was leaving town we took the Saturn. Not only did the plastic body not rust, in a fender-bender, it'd sometimes pop back to shape after! That happened to me when someone bumper-tagged me in an F150. I was yelling at the guy over it, and we heard a loud "pop" and turned to see that the back bumper had popped back to shape. I just yelled "PAY ATTENTION!" and got back in the car and drove off!


Damn I miss that little car, called it the "plastic fantastic". People talk about those old Saturns, but man, they just don't know how good they really were!