Trying To Save Gas.

[toytech]

Did a 300 mile trip last Friday, 80% Hwy/20% in town. Averaging 75 - 80 mph on I-10, and still got 20 mpg.

[67 S-Code]

I pulled 24mpg to work and back on back roads but with a 3L55 gears she drops between 19.8 to 22.1 on the super slab. Not bad for a big ol tank, my 87 Mustang pulls 22MPG with 3L73.

[73vwtodd]

I don't have a P71, but I do have a P74.

It's a 2002 Crown Victoria LX, pretty much loaded. Getting more performance from the vehicle, and improving my fuel economy has been a primary concern for me.

The best that I've been able to get out of my P74 was 28.2 miles to the gallon.

I've basically got every single option these cars came with, except for the ones that kind of overlap. I've got the full bench leather seat, power door locks, mirrors, windows, 8-way adjustable seats. I installed the memory seat track from a Lincoln Town car for the drivers seat and used the switch from a town car (has the MEM 1 and 2 buttons integrated into the 8-way control which fits the standard 95-98 door panels. It's got rear window defrost, mirror defrost, the underbody security lighting, the wood and leather wrapped steering wheel with A/C, cruise, and radio controls. It's got the CD player with a 1997 factory subwoofer box installed (modified the bracket), replaced all four speakers with MB-Quart speakers hidden behind the factory door panels. I used the 1996 insulated door panel foam, spray painted the inside of all the sheet metal with rubberized undercoating for sound deadening. I put dynamat down in strategic places. I took the extra sound deadening and matting from a Grand Marquis LSE. It's got the door accessory lighting from the 95-96 doors. It's got the glove box light, the glove box dampening kit / option, the overhead accessory dome light, the 140mph speedo with the rest of the gauges being the ones with the grey trim on them. I've got the cargo net, two huge amps hidden behind the spare tire, the ~1998 factory jack mount on the inside passenger side fender well, the adjustable pedals, ABS, the light-up cigarette lighter, the accessory lighter outlets, the courtesy lighting package, class 4 trailer hitch, blah blah blah... every damn option I could find, or install. Needless to say, the car is God-damned heavy.

It still has it's factory 16" multi-spoke wheels (not the wire wheels, but the "luxury" wheels that was standard for the LX). I've got Goodyear ComfortTread white-wall tires on them, in the factory sized (low rolling resistance / highway tires). It also has 2.73:1 rear gears. I also use Synthetic oil.

What I did to enhance performance, and improve fuel economy was this:

1 - Installed the 98-02 Grand Marquis LSE dual exhaust system by Quiet-Flow. It's pretty quiet, and has the dual mufflers, and also the dual resonators. Gives improved air flow, but it's really quiet.
2 - Mercury Marauder Air box, w/ 80mm MAF.
3 - K&N panel filter.
4 - Steeda intake spacer (hahaha...)
5 - Ported intake elbow (used a grinding wheel, sand paper, etc...
6 - Blue Oval Chips ECM reflash w/ Xcalibrator (87 octane tune)
7 - 70mm Ford Racing Performance Parts throttle body.


With all of that, I was able to get 28.2mpg on my best run from Fort Lauderdale to Orlando. The car has about 48k miles on it. I normally average about 27mpg on highway trips.

I have some other car parts which I have yet to put on, these include Steeda Underdrive Pulleys, Magnaflow Catalytic Converter header pipes (replace all four cats, slightly more efficient with better exhaust flow). Also have a pair of factory 2002 exhaust manifolds that I've more or less ported (really just smoothed out the exhaust) and had them ceramic coated. I haven't had time to install that stuff yet.

But with that, my goal is to reach 30mpg.

I check my fuel economy by filling up completely... then taking a trip, and filling up and dividing the miles driven by the amount of gallons I put back into the tank to fill up.

The car is pretty quick too... I want to say that I'm probably running a flat ~15. It absolutely DESTROYS a stock P71. I had a friend that had a 2008 P71 that he bought brand new from Plantation Ford (they special ordered it for him through his business). It came straight from the factory, and didn't have any of the crap that the police departments put on yet (no lights, etc). My 2002 LX with it's big leather seats just totally DESTROYED his Crown Victoria like it was sitting still.

I just moved, and my car now basically sits in the garage of my house that I'm renting out.... I don't know when I'll move back to Florida... probably won't be for several years, but when I get around to it... I'll install that other stuff. Hopefully the fuel won't destroy my injectors, gas tank, and fuel lines... :/

I'm sure my brand new tires are already flat by now!

Anyway, here's some pictures a few days before I moved.... hahah...

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EDIT: damn, you guys get some really shitty gas mileage. I guess it's because of the crazy gearing of the P71s. I have 2.73:1 gears.

EDIT 2: I also just wanted to mention that with everything I've done to my car, it's VERY calm and sedate. I inherited this car from my grand father with only 10k miles on it. I really liked the calm, smooth, and quiet ride that it had, and all I wanted to do is improve upon that. When I drive around in my car, just very casual, the engine is so quiet that you almost don't even hear it. You DO hear it when you first start it up because the tuning from the Blue Oval Chips reflash bumps the cold rpms up slightly for a couple of seconds. But once it drops down after like 10 seconds, then the motor just kind of whispers. If I start to get on it, it starts to sound a bit louder, a nice deep sound. If I'm cruising and it JUST shifts into the bottom of 3rd gear, and I NAIL the gas, it will usually drop into the top of 1st gear, and it will sound f**king insane. I've had friends in their cars next to me when I do it, and they say that the car just screams. They said it's weird because they don't hear anything except the sound of the resistence of the tires on the road, but then suddenly, the exhaust kind of explodes. Sort of like how the AMG63 Mercedes exhaust sounds. Really quiet until you floor it, and then you hear a growl. That was what I was looking for. When I would take my wife to dinner in it, or something, it was real smoth, real quiet... really relaxing. But when I'd floor it, the shift was so hard that it'd send her into the back seat if she wasn't strapped in.

[05stangkc]

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[Pecos Slick]

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