Who wants to save gas? The real challenge is using it!
06-10-08:
All the rage today is how to save gas. Google ads are sprouting up with the same old snake-oil gas saving-rips offs we saw in the 1970’s and the 1980’s, promising big-time increases in miles per gallon. Magazines and internet sites are posting stories about how to save gas in your Mustang by doing simple things like making sure your tires are inflated right, that you have a clean filter, and that you don’t drive fast. What a bunch of wet blanket drivel that is!
We wanted to take a different approach and put together a list of the best mods to make your gas mileage worse! Come on lets get jiggy with it and knock those numbers down into the low teens and even single digits. The following is a compilation of our best recommendations to assure that your car becomes less efficient and even more expensive to drive.
Advertisement
1. Big Wings & Air Dams
Yep, they look awesome. Aftermarket body augmentations are the best and most eye popping way to suck more gas. Wings are the best. The larger the wing, the more drag is created. The same goes for the huge front fascia with the low to the ground air splitter. Sure it helps stability on the road course, but it does increase your frontal area by leaps and bounds. It takes more power to push all that surface area through the air, and thus more gas. Potential Efficiency Decrease: 1-3mpg
2. Wide Tires and Big Wheels
20” rims and 285/30/20 ZR tires look phat! With Mustang’s huge wheel-wells they go a long way to making your car look “just right”. Hell if you can fit some 22” rollers in there all the better. The bigger the wheel the more they weigh and it takes more power to turn them. Wider tires present more aerodynamic drag too - a lot of drag. This is why those lame economy cars always come with narrow granny tires. So, if you want use more gas, a huge set of tires and wheels should be at the top of your list. Though keep in mind that the high cost of this mod provides the least bang for the buck in mpg losses. Potential Efficiency Decrease: 2-3mpg
3. High Ratio Rear Gears
Part of going fast is getting more of your engine’s sweet spot into the acceleration run. We all know the best way to do that is to put a set of higher gears in the rear axle like a 3.73 or 4.11 ratio. It gives you power you can feel without modding the engine. Yeehaw. Of course by raising your axle ratio, the engine will turn faster at highway speeds and therefore use more fuel for commuting. Remember the higher the sustained RPM, the more gas you waste. Cool huh? Potential Efficiency Decrease: 2-4mpg
4. Aggressive Custom Tunes
Boy howdy. If the other mods weren’t enough to raise your monthly gas expenditures, take your car to a local shop or just get a hand held tuner and go for broke. Advance your timing, add more fuel and sharpen your drive-by wire throttle response. You can easily get a couple more ponies. The best part about this path is that you can tinker with it over time to home in on a program that gets the least gas mileage possible. Potential Efficiency Decrease: 2-5mpg
5. Smaller Pulleys
If you have a supercharger, the best way to use more fuel is to add more boost. Yep, an increase in boost pressure requires more fuel to make it all the magic happen - think MTV Cribs. A quick pulley swap can give you a lot of extra power and response. In most cases your computer will be happy to make some quick adjustments for you in the way of fuel delivery. If it cant go all the way, get that tune we discussed in the last paragraph. This mod presents the most potential and has the best bang for the buck. Potential Efficiency Decrease: 2-6mpg
Summary
Now don’t be too disappointed if you do all of the above mods and your still only come up with 3-7 mpg in decreased efficiency. As with all mods they aren’t always cumulative in their combined results. Your actual mileage decrease may vary. But you can easily make up for any disappointing results by changing your driving habits. By flooring the accelerator more often, driving faster on the freeway, and even keeping your tank topped off you can use even more with relative ease.
