max miles per gallon?

[2sasilverbullet]

giddy-up'n'go - yeah, that's what I'm talking about!

[Dermot]

Try running premium unleaded - it WILL give better mileage, but see whether its more economical given its higher price.
Another idea - a friend with several old landyachts here in Australia (where gasoline is above $5 a US gallon - I spend more than $100 every time I fill up) long ago found that by replacing the accelerator spring with a very stiff spring he required conscious effort to get the secondaries open, and found he uses less fuel. Cheap, simple, no vandalism of an original car. Just add a new spring in parallel with the original.

[66Lincoupe]

460 is 460 whether it's two or four barrel. Years changed the cam profiles and timing, but the base engine and heads are the same.

I swapped a 4 barrel Lincoln manifold onto a 460 truck engine to get an economical 4 barrel manifold. You can easily switch to a two barrel, just look for a light truck engine with a two barrel or one of the Lincoln's baby siblings like a similar era LTD or Montego.

Thing is the primary throttle plates on a four barrel are smaller (generally) than the throttle plates on a two barrel. So you can swap, and actually lose mileage which is usually what happens. In the truck with the two barrel I was averaging 13 MPG. I swapped to the four barrel and manifold and mileage went to a 15 average. If I was flogging it I dropped to 12.

It would be more economical (swap and consumption wise) if you can drive your car in the primaries only like Dermot suggests.

[Dermot]

[quote="66Lincoupe"]460 is 460 whether it's two or four barrel. Years changed the cam profiles and timing, but the base engine and heads are the same.

Never heard of a 2-bbl 460. Its not in any car catalog, whether Ford, Mercury, Thunderbird, or Lincoln, and I have 'em all for this period. OK, maybe a truck engine was made with it...(what trucker would want less horsepower?).
The similar 429 was available with 2 and 4bl. Maybe the carby is interchangeable...?

[66Lincoupe]

460 is 460 whether it's two or four barrel. Years changed the cam profiles and timing, but the base engine and heads are the same.

Never heard of a 2-bbl 460. Its not in any car catalog, whether Ford, Mercury, Thunderbird, or Lincoln, and I have 'em all for this period. OK, maybe a truck engine was made with it...(what trucker would want less horsepower?).
The similar 429 was available with 2 and 4bl. Maybe the carby is interchangeable...?

The 2 bbl manifold from the 429 is a direct fit for the 460. I thought the Galaxies and LTDs had a 2 barrel 460 option. Since I don't have the truck anymore or the parts that came off of it could very well be that my manifold may have come from a 429 - Heck maybe the whole engine was a 429; I just took the previous owners word that it was a 460... And since all of the parts interchange I wouldn't have known the difference without checking numbers. (73 F100)

Meh, no big deal. All the same, drive it easy and your mileage will be better.

[dcm5652]

I had a 1975 Mercury Marquis in 1976 that after putting a size smaller jets in the carb. it was getting 14 city and 22 highway.But gas was better then than now. My 77 Marks get between 10 and 12 city and I don't know about Highway, I haven't had either on a long trip yet ( still getting the bugs out from then sitting ).

[Dermot]

The 2 bbl manifold from the 429 is a direct fit for the 460. I thought the Galaxies and LTDs had a 2 barrel 460 option. Since I don't have the truck anymore or the parts that came off of it could very well be that my manifold may have come from a 429 - Heck maybe the whole engine was a 429; I just took the previous owners word that it was a 460... And since all of the parts interchange I wouldn't have known the difference without checking numbers. (73 F100)

He was lying to you. But yes, the 429 and 460 are blood brothers and the 429 WAS made with both 2 and 4 barrels.

But why anyone would drive a giant 1970s leviathan with a monster-size V8 engine and worry about gas bills is a mystery. These cars are most definitely not economy cars, unless compared with the Guzzler Poster Boy, the 6mpg 1973 Riviera. It might be best to use a pansy car as a daily driver and enjoy the whopper on Sunday afternoons.

[1976BOAT]

But why anyone would drive a giant 1970s leviathan with a monster-size V8 engine and worry about gas bills is a mystery. These cars are most definitely not economy cars, unless compared with the Guzzler Poster Boy, the 6mpg 1973 Riviera. It might be best to use a pansy car as a daily driver and enjoy the whopper on Sunday afternoons.

well thats the thing if i could get up to like 16 mpg i would drive my car almost everywhere since my 2003 chevy trailblazer gets like 17 mpg on a good day i would much rather drive the lincoln then that

[Dermot]

well thats the thing if i could get up to like 16 mpg i would drive my car almost everywhere since my 2003 chevy trailblazer gets like 17 mpg on a good day i would much rather drive the lincoln then that

Here's how I figure it: everyone I know has a new or late model car worth many times what my old landyachts are worth. Most are on leases with monthly payments, savage depreciation, very high servicing costs, very expensive tire costs, and higher insurance costs. My '81 Fleetwood Brougham (to be sold when the Lincoln arrives) and '77 TC were paid with cash, cost hardly anything, do not depreciate, have no payments, cheap service costs, relatively cheap insurance costs, and cheap tires (a VW Tourag tire here costs $900 each - whitewall 235/75R15s are $120 each), so **** the gas prices!!! **** them. I just pay and don't complain. With no lease, I'm ahead $2,000 to $5,000 a month compared to my friend's Eurocrap leases, so what does the marginal extra gasoline cost matter? Not a bit. OK, even compared to buying or leasing a brand new brown wrapper base model large car, say a Crown Victoria, I'm miles ahead. What matters is not the 9mpg I get but the difference between that and the older car. I don't drive huge distances annually - if I did I might get a secondhand pissant wimp sissy nancyboy car for commuting.

A man's gotta pay for his pleasures and they don't come much better than a well-kept ORIGINAL Big Three Landyacht of the 1960s and 1970s.

For the Lincoln, I've also bought some period 1970s clothes - a couple of wild body shirts and an amazingly crazy sports jacket. Already got the flairs.

[Castrosua]

so...i agree with the argument of new cars etc...but..why pick on the crown vic? lol...if there was a car that was as close to old school american cars, thats it. So, some of us bought them new (me included), but a used one can go for maybe 3 grand, and be a solid car, with little maintenance involved.

Now thats a tough question for me, to choose between my Vic and the Continental...(ill keep the lincoln) but in 20 years my Vic will be just as special..maybe even a bit more since i would be the first and only owner.

back to the topic, gas is probably a mid range cost, not the least, but not the most...

[MR.Lincoln]

Hi, new to the forum, Gold Coast Australia. I recently drove my Mark V Gold Coast to Canberra and back, some 1650mls, averaged 15.5/16mpg. Cruised at 50-60mph on trip down, but "drove" the car home. Great fun on a country road. My car has 87000mls on the speedo.By the way Dermot, where can you get $120 whitewalls.

[JimFreeh]

When I've driven my 64 convertible or my now sold 71 MK III on interstate journeys, if judicious, I could consistently get 16MPG.
Nowadays with the 64 convertible one of many old cars, I generally get about 3 months to a tank.

Jim

[tyler_hubbard2003]

Okay, I've been wondering this for a while.. would getting a throttle-body injection system improve things a bit in a 460? Carbs are a tad obnoxious :p

[Dermot]

what is the best mileage you can get with a 460ci? the highest i have ever gotten is 14 mpg with 89 octane and mavel mystery oil fuel additve. has anyone topped that?

The official EPA figures - for 1976 - are 12 city 16 highway. In my experience with a Fleetwood Brougham, the EPA city mileage is fantasy land, achieved only between 2am and 4am on weeknights when no other cars are on the road and all lights are green green green, but the EPA highway mileage can be achieved in light traffic if you stay at 60mph.

Dermot

[Dan Szwarc]

Okay, I've been wondering this for a while.. would getting a throttle-body injection system improve things a bit in a 460? Carbs are a tad obnoxious :p

No improvement whatsoever. Carbs are the way to go on old big blocks. It would takes years and thousands of miles to recover the added cost of moving to "toilet-bowl" fuel injection.

Todays carbs are easy to tune. People are just afraid of them due to a lack of understanding.