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View my fuel log 2013 Mirage 1.0 manual: 47.5 mpg (US) ... 20.2 km/L ... 5.0 L/100 km ... 57.0 mpg (Imp)
That reminds me of the first car I ever owned which was a 1979 Rabbit that had the fuel injection removed and replaced with a Porsche carb (at least that's what I was told). The carb was WAY too big for the engine. If you floored it from a dead stop, it would flood the engine and stall. If you wanted to pass someone on the road, you had to ease into the throttle before going full throttle. I got on the throttle a little too hard one time from a stop and stalled the car in the middle of the intersection. When the car started back up, I heard a loud BANG. Fuel had pooled in the exhaust and when the car started it ignited the fuel in the exhaust. At that point, the exhaust blew apart.
Certified holder of useless car knowledge.
Ouch I have never experienced anything like that. The webbers is an aftermarket VW part made for certian cars, its pretty common to reverse to these carbs from EFI and they sell a matching fuel pump. My only trouble was dialing it in with weather changes.
http://www.alamomotorsports.com/weber/vw_carb.html
A couple of cars I had, that I miss...
First one I should mention was my 1976 Chevrolet Caprice coupe. This was the last year for the very LARGE, non boxy Impala/Caprice. It was long, it was wide, it was comfortable. The doors weighed as much as my Mirage, the velour interior had enough room to manage all sorts of antics that a 20 year old guy could imagine. Best part, however, was under the hood. I'll never forget the first time I opened the hood and saw the big orange lump staring back at me. The old girl had not a 350, not a 400, but a 454 V8. If you hit the gas hard enough to launch quickly, but not so hard the tires started spinning, you could feel and see the entire car twist up from the torque.
The other one, more recent, I got rid of because it just... sat around. I wanted someone else to put it to use, and I never had the time to drive it, and take care of it, with the new baby arriving. I had a 1989 Chevrolet Silverado, with a long bed, regular cab, a 5.7 liter V8, and the best part - a 5 speed manual transmission. This truck was the most ludicrous bucket of bent bolts I've ever had the fortune to own. It flatly refused to break down. 236,000 miles and it ran like new. I remember replacing the alternator, once, the belts, clutch, and tires. It would spin the tires in 3rd gear. It would pull anything you put behind it. It would, with trouble, stop anything you put behind it. The paint started to come off in big sheets, so I sanded it down, and painted it with bedliner. Couldn't scratch it after that, but at that point scratches ceased to matter. There were very, very few panels in the truck that hadn't been hit by something. Idiot father in law backed into it once, caved the side of the bed in... drilled holes, and used a come-along and an eyebolt pulling on drilled holes in the bed to straighten it. It had been hit a couple of times in accidents (one of them a 7 car pileup on I-44, it was the only vehicle to be capable of driving away) and both times, the other driver's insurance paid me more to fix the truck than I had paid for it originally. I'd love to find another, just like it, 5 speed and all.
Fun! Despite being an efficiency nerd, I have a soft spot for giant Detroit land yachts. My first car was an old '64 Pontiac Catalina 4-door with the 389. Coincidentally, yesterday I was browsing the ads for 70's & 80's Cadillac Fleetwoods.
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View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 62.4 mpg (US) ... 26.5 km/L ... 3.8 L/100 km ... 74.9 mpg (Imp)
I had a room mate at one time that owned a late 1960's Caddilac Fleetwood Broughm Presidential Edition. I have never seen a car longer than it. As a matter of fact it was so long that it had fold down foot rests on the back of the front seats for the rear seat passengers!! Talk about leg room!!
Certified holder of useless car knowledge.
1988 toyota corolla FX
1st car here in the US. It was the same age as I was. Bought it at 19yrs old with 30k miles.
Sold it at 23yrs old with 75k miles. Biggest regret of my life til this day.
Then the '12 mustang. My mom shared it with me as a gift for my graduation. She was supposed to pay half of it, then I was going to take over the payments. However, she rammed into a car in front of her so I told her I didn't want it anymore. I'm waiting til next year to get a down payment from her for either the new F150 or Mustang.
Efficient, that Caprice was not. I think the best I ever managed was 12 mpg. It of course had a 3 speed automatic transmission with no overdrive, because that's what they had back then. I remember also the HVAC controls and the radio were both out of reach of the passenger - I think the HVAC controls were actually left of the steering wheel. No girls fiddling with the controls to swing it from hot to cold constantly.