The Battle Begins — Fuel Economy Vs. My Right Foot
By John Novak
Gas was 36 cents per gallon when I bought my first tankful down in California back in the early 70’s, and now it’s almost five bucks! Back in 1970 a nice car cost about $4,000 and the average household income was around $10,000. Today an average car is $30,000 and the household income is about $50,000. With those ratios, gas should be about $2 per gallon to be of equal value. I only rolled about 50,000 miles on that first car, but I pulled 250,000 out of the last two. Now, I’m no economist but that seems to be a better value to me.

Let’s not forget about fuel economy, we average about three times the mileage we had in 1970, so our cost per mile of fuel is actually a pretty good deal. After the initial shock to our budget, I think that we are really better off in the long run.

Now let’s take a look at our cruising cars and trucks. I put almost 40,000 on my daily driver last year, but only about 1,500 miles on a performance car. With the small amount of gas we actually burn and the amount of fun we have I think it is still a deal. In reality, at 10 miles per gallon and $5 a gallon our average cost is about $40 per hour (mix of city & highway). The same couple spends $20 per hour at the movies. I would rather have my right foot crammed on the gas, but just don’t ask me how much the smoke from the tires actually costs!

With all of this swirling in my head, I realize that most people are focusing on ways to save gas, but not me! We build cars so that “normal” people will look at them with envy. So now is the time to add a blower, or a big block to that custom car. Better yet, why not add a big block and a blower with two big thirsty carbs. Think of how many heads will turn when you proudly display that vanity plate that says “8 MPG” and they see the smile on your face from ear to ear. Consume my fellow hot rodders, this is our finest hour… I for one will go down with the last oil tanker.

My point here is that we can find a way to look at this drastic hit to our wallet two ways; crumble under the weight of the moment with the masses, or exploit this change to our advantage. I will see you all at the next Nostalgic Drags, but never at an Electric Car event. You can toss in all of those Import cars with big mufflers, I’m sorry but no matter how quick they are, that will never qualify as a Muscle Car in my book.

There are ways to improve our plight by using newer technology. Overdrive transmissions, different gears for the road trips and drags – think “Quick Change”, port fuel injection hidden in traditional intakes, and using Nitrous to add power to a mild motor only when you want it, and don’t forget those newer cam grinds will also give a better performance vs. mileage ratio. There are going to be many of the best minds looking for ways to improve things in the future, till then we will need to open our wallets to avoid the mothballs and rust from taking all the joy out of our world.

On a more technical note, I was asked recently the best way to find a broken wire in an electrical circuit. On a non-computer car the trusty old “Trouble Light” is your best friend. Resembling an ice-pick with a 12 volt bulb in the handle you just poke a small hole in the wire and look for a voltage to light it up. Just remember to seal the holes back up or moisture will enter the

damaged wire and corrode it from the inside out! Use the old Split-Half method when looking for a problem. Just keep moving to the middle of the remaining circuit in question to find out what half of the remaining wire has the problem. A better tool these days is a Digital Volt Meter.It has a high input impedance making it safe for computer circuits, and is very accurate as it does not “load” the circuit to take a measurement. By sampling voltages across the circuit as with the test light, you will find the drop or loss of the voltage indicating the location of the problem.

I usually start all electrical quests with a visual inspection looking for abrasions and nicks and cuts to the insulation, then move on to checking and cleaning connectors (using a spray circuit wash) before going any deeper.

More often than not the problem is in one of these two areas. Don’t forget to check the grounds! Most of the older automotive circuits use the body/frame as a common ground for all circuits. Remember those old braided wires that went from the engine block to the firewall that you tossed out in the trash when stripping things down? Well now the motor mounts and transmission mount will need to complete the circuit. What’s that, you replaced them with polyurethane bushings! Looks like the driveline and ring gear are the only path to ground that’s left… you get the idea. If the problem is intermittent, sell the vehicle and move on with your life… Or better yet, maybe that should be the topic for another column.