29 Fordor gas mileage

eagle

eagle

Well-known member
I sold my T coupe and bought an A Fordor recently. What kind of gas mileage should I be getting? Everything is original/stock with Zenith carb. I have to keep the carb adjustment up 1/4 turn or a little better in order for it to idle nice... I'm getting maybe 18mpg or so. Anything I can do to improve it? I have a Tillotson spare carb I've been thinking about trying. I use only premium gas. I drive it every day so a little better mileage would be nice.
 
Why are you using premium gas???
How much spark advance are you using at speeds above 40 mph??
18 is better than many get.
 
You may have it open a quarter at idle, but out on the road you should close it off more, long as it does not starve. As Kurt says, have the spark fully advanced at higher road speeds. Many A's would get worse gas mileages than 18.
 
I advance the spark fully when on the road. If I shut the carb valve off much more it "chuffs" back through the carb when I let up on the throttle. Maybe thats normal, I guess I was expecting around 20-25. Its maybe a matter of me adjusting my expectations! Is it not important to run premium gas? I didn't think you were supposed to use ethanol? The premium gas here does not have ethanol in it. Thanks
 
Here in NJ we have had ethanol gas for years, the only change is that the GAV needs to be open more.
The GAV is not a a set opening, it is adjusted as the car needs, on my car it can be closed, or 1/4 open for speeds up to 25, at 55 it needs to be 3/4 ---for my car with ethanol, with real gas I can run 55 with it closed--and have gotten 23 mpg at 60--65 ( stock head,zenith,B cam), now with the ethonal it gets around 20, I don't really keep track, 20$ last a long time, couple of parades, 80+ mile trip, some cruising ---I don't worry. --I am lazy, usually the instant I get moving I use full advance, and can leave it there when I come to a stop, I have never been able to have "spark knock" unless I am burning some "spoiled" gas drained out of a modern car( free gas)
 
I get 16 to 18 around town and 22 on the open road while speeding along at 42 to 45 MPH. This is in my 28 Phaeton with the top up and no side curtains, so it's almost like pulling a parachute down the road.

If you're getting 18, you're doing OK.
 
On a recent 355 mile round trip, in my freshly rebuilt 30 Fordor, I got 27 MPG. But alas, that is in Canada, we also have larger gallons. It works out to 22.5 MPG on the smaller American gallon. I was not driving it to get good mileage either, I always drive like I just stole it!
 
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