Excessivev Fuel Mileage

["Al Powell" <APOWELL@agcom.tamu.edu>]

Glenn asked if he might have a problem in getting extremely high fuel 
mileage.

Glenn - back from days of yore comes thiss tory.  A friend of mine 
had a '66 Pontiac LeMans with a 389 GTO engine, but a 2-barrel carb.  
everyone thot it was a 326 (identical from exterior) and he had a lot 
of fun blowing people off stop lights......but wait, there's a 
point...

No one EVER accused a Pontiac 389 of getting gas milage!!!  My 66 GTO 
never did over 14 mpg no matter what.  BUT......this friend went on a 
trip and came back confused, saying he'd gotten almost 25 mpg on the 
last half of his trip.  he wsa trying to figure out what the deal 
was, or whether he'd lost ALL his basic math skills.

Turned out his fuel pump had ALMOST gone out, but not quite.  It was 
delivering maybe 30% of the rated volume, which let the engine run 
HORRIBLY lean, but still ran...at least on straights and for 
cruising.  Problem was, this would have burned his valves over time.

He replaced fuel pump (prob'ly $19 then...) and went on his gas-
guzzling way.

Hey, it's something to check!!!!!



aTm************A Washington State Cougar in Aggieland**********aTm
Al Powell                           Voice:  409/845-2807
Ag Communications                   Fax:    409/862-1202
Texas A&M University                Email:  a-powell1@tamu.edu 
WWW page - http://agcomwww.tamu.edu/agcom/rpe/alpage.htm

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