Afb jets and metering rods for 1965 riviera

[65 Fi Sting Ray]

Can I get my 65 riviera to get 15 to 17 mpg?

 

[gungeey]

Yes.

Drive like there's a fresh egg between your foot and the accelerator pedal. 

Carefully judge the distance to a hills peak and coast as much as possible thereafter. 

Drive 50mph on the flat highway on a calm, wind free day. 

Make sure brakes are properly adjusted, tires properly inflated, avoid A/C use... blah blah blah

 

There may be a day when you reach your lofty goal. 

Likely from that point on you will start enjoying the car and get 11, maybe 12 mpg.

[Mark 2]

I have a 65 Skylark Gran Sport.

401. 4 speed. 3.36 rear. 7.75x14 tires. 
Restored, rebuilt, what have you, everything. Before restoration, 10 mpg.

After restoration, 10 mpg. The Riv weighs a little more, and you have an auto trans and unknown rear gear. 
If you get to 15, please let me know!

[Lee H]

LS?

[m-mman]

I have Ford FE engines which get notoriously bad mileage.  

However I have discovered that if you change the speedometer gear so that the speedo reads artificially high then my calculated mileage improved significantly.  😉

[rocketraider]

I'm feeding Oldsmobile 455s which supposedly had the most efficient induction of all GM big-inch engines.

 

They get 14 mpg. To its credit the 1976 Ninety Eight has gotten as good as 18 on a long Interstate trip at steady 70mph with A/C off.

 

You have to remember you're feeding 400+ cubic inches in a heavy car thru a fairly inefficient drivetrain. If you lean out the AFB's cruise metering you may damage your Nailhead without realizing it.

 

I'm not sure even an aftermarket EFI system would get you into that mpg range. I think some of the folks in the Riviera subforum have done that. Ask around down there.

[60FlatTop]

On 5/23/2024 at 1:07 PM, 65 Fi Sting Ray said:

Can I get my 65 riviera to get 15 to 17 mpg?

If you park it on a level floor and put it in Neutral can you make it roll putting your foot out the door? That is a easy way to tell if you have a problem.

 

12-13 is probably good. On a trip refill at 200 miles. Regular driving, top it off on Saturday or Sunday afternoon. I find increasing the top offs eases things at the pump.

 

The guy sitting at the break table at work said "I spent almost a hundrit bucks filling my gas tank!" "Oh, mine only took $35."

[carbking]

 I cannot say what is possible in fuel economy with the Riv. I have never really tried to find out.

 

A long time ago, a good friend had a "mechanic" rebuild and install a Buick dual quad on his wife's '66 Skylark, with the progressive linkage. The guy had no idea what he was doing with the linkage, and the car would barely run. My friend brought it to me, and I fixed the linkage to work the way it was supposed to work. Car was still a dog in city driving (have no idea the rear end ratio). He was about ready to sell the car (convertible) and I then suggested lets try some different carbs. I took off the factory AFB's and replaced them with a pair of 400 CFM AFB's and set up the linkage up as 1:1.

 

Car literally became alive!

 

On the highway, she was able to obtain around 19~20 (before ethanol); but in town she probably didn't get 7~8. She certainly did not follow gungeey's advice with the egg! Probably would have needed a couple of dozen to get home from the store! I don't think the rear tires lasted very long either. Oh, and if you like song lyrics, she was not an old lady, she wasn't from Pasadena, but she sure had fun.

 

M-mman - if you replace those romantic Holleys that fall in love with every gas station with Carters, some of the FE get good mileage!

 

Jon

[m-mman]

5 hours ago, carbking said:

M-mman - if you replace those romantic Holleys that fall in love with every gas station with Carters, some of the FE get good mileage!

Naw, my cars were all originally shipped with Ford-Motorcraft 2 & 4 barrels and that’s what they remain.  A good carb that can sit for long periods, wake up with a prime and run without complaints. 🤓

[Aaron65]

I have a '63 Thunderbird with a 390 and a '63 Riviera with a 401: Both get about 11 mpg. I think I eked out 14 with the T-Bird once and 13 with the Riviera. Both have also achieved single-digit mileage with a lot of around town driving.

[Oldtech]

On 5/23/2024 at 10:50 PM, m-mman said:

I have Ford FE engines which get notoriously bad mileage.  

However I have discovered that if you change the speedometer gear so that the speedo reads artificially high then my calculated mileage improved significantly.  😉

Years ago I rented a Torino from somebody.  Paid by the mile. The speedo had to show 80 at keep up with 60 mph traffic.  🤔

[carbking]

15 hours ago, m-mman said:

Naw, my cars were all originally shipped with Ford-Motorcraft 2 & 4 barrels and that’s what they remain.  A good carb that can sit for long periods, wake up with a prime and run without complaints. 🤓

They are still Holleys, just different.

 

Autolite/Motorcraft bought carbs from Carter, Holley, and Stromberg and added their tag. I don't know who built the Autolite 1100 (single barrels), but I have Holley sheets with Holley part numbers on the 2100/4100 carbs.

 

Jon

[m-mman]

26 minutes ago, carbking said:

I have Holley sheets with Holley part numbers on the 2100/4100 carbs.

😲

[rodneybeauchamp]

On 5/24/2024 at 2:37 AM, 65 Fi Sting Ray said:

Can I get my 65 riviera to get 15 to 17 mpg?

 

If you can coax it to get US14.0mpg, when you convert it to Imperial MPG it will be Imp 16.8mpg. Problem solved, goal achieved.

Rodney 😀😀😀😀😀😀😀

[EmTee]

On 5/27/2024 at 7:38 AM, rodneybeauchamp said:

If you can coax it to get US14.0mpg, when you convert it to Imperial MPG it will be Imp 16.8mpg.

I like the way you're thinking!