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Before I get flamed, I realize that cams will lower MPG, and I didn't buy a Mustang to get great gas mileage, but hear me out:
My car is a DD, and I mostly drive just to work & back - which is a VERY short commute with nothing but stop & go traffic (no highway). Before the cams, I was averaging about 16-17 mpg, driving conservatively, shifting around 2.5k rpm on most shifts.
I haven't changed the way I drive with the cams, other than the fact that I have to give it just a little bit more gas off the line. I've gone from 16-17 mpg to 12.5 to 13...
Mods are C&L intake, 93R Bama tune, 3.55 gears, and FRPP hot rod cams. I would've assumed a slight drop, but going from around 17 to under 13 seems like a huge drop. I've basically gone from getting over 200 miles on a tank to around 125-150. I was expecting about ~14 to 15 mpg from some of the other threads I came across.
Anybody experiencing about the same mpg with these cams? Could the more aggressive 93R tune have anything to do with it?
Before I get flamed, I realize that cams will lower MPG, and I didn't buy a Mustang to get great gas mileage, but hear me out:
My car is a DD, and I mostly drive just to work & back - which is a VERY short commute with nothing but stop & go traffic (no highway). Before the cams, I was averaging about 16-17 mpg, driving conservatively, shifting around 2.5k rpm on most shifts.
I haven't changed the way I drive with the cams, other than the fact that I have to give it just a little bit more gas off the line. I've gone from 16-17 mpg to 12.5 to 13...
Mods are C&L intake, 93R Bama tune, 3.55 gears, and FRPP hot rod cams. I would've assumed a slight drop, but going from around 17 to under 13 seems like a huge drop. I've basically gone from getting over 200 miles on a tank to around 125-150. I was expecting about ~14 to 15 mpg from some of the other threads I came across.
Anybody experiencing about the same mpg with these cams? Could the more aggressive 93R tune have anything to do with it?
You answered your own question. My city is similar and my highway much better.
Before I get flamed, I realize that cams will lower MPG, and I didn't buy a Mustang to get great gas mileage, but hear me out:
My car is a DD, and I mostly drive just to work & back - which is a VERY short commute with nothing but stop & go traffic (no highway). Before the cams, I was averaging about 16-17 mpg, driving conservatively, shifting around 2.5k rpm on most shifts.
I haven't changed the way I drive with the cams, other than the fact that I have to give it just a little bit more gas off the line. I've gone from 16-17 mpg to 12.5 to 13...
Mods are C&L intake, 93R Bama tune, 3.55 gears, and FRPP hot rod cams. I would've assumed a slight drop, but going from around 17 to under 13 seems like a huge drop. I've basically gone from getting over 200 miles on a tank to around 125-150. I was expecting about ~14 to 15 mpg from some of the other threads I came across.
Anybody experiencing about the same mpg with these cams? Could the more aggressive 93R tune have anything to do with it?
A GT with Bolt on and Cam's isn't going to get the best gas mileage in the world. Especially if it's all stop and go City Miles, you'd see much better results with the highway! My 04' Mach1 with Bolt on's and Cams got about 150 Miles to a tank as well.
We can definitely look into your tune file and see if any adjustments can be made! Please give the Bama team a call and will take a look. Our Bama Performance tuning specialists are here in the building Monday-Friday from 9AM-5:30PM EST and Saturday 9AM-5:30PM EST. You can hit them up directly at 888.226.9764 and they'll get you squared away!
-Dan
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Dan Bailer | AmericanMuscle.com Toll Free: 866.727.1266 | M-F 9AM-9PM EST | Sat 9AM-5:30PM EST Bama Hotline: 888.226.9764 | M-F 9AM-5:30PM EST | Sat 9AM-5:30PM EST Free Same-Day Shipping!
You have increased the efficiency in which the air/fuel enters your motor, Now you should increase the exhaust efficiency for better mpg
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2006 GT w/ auto, 8 piece Razzi body kit, 20'' Boss gun metal rims, full functioning ram air hood, Black on black-BBK LT headers, O/R X-pipe, Flowmaster axle back mufflers, FRRP 3.90 gears, Diablo Predator tuner w/ Bama tune, Steeda 90mm CAI, J&M adj. UCA, Eibach adj. LCA, I want nothing more than to add the Edelbrock E-force super charger!!!!
17 mpg for city driving before your cams seems a little on the low side. I get 20 mpg with similar mods. Only difference is I have a 373 gear which actually improved my mpg by +1.
The drop you are experiencing seems a bit too much. Try a street tune for a couple of weeks maybe? The race tunes IMHO are too aggressive for daily driving. I only load up my race tune on the weekends Hey it's Friday right?!!
Thanks for the feedback - I've got a 91S & 91P tune I can check out, but since I'm not pushing the car I don't know that it'll increase MPG.
I plan to get a bigger TB, the ford racing intake, and a catted x-pipe, so hopefully that will open the intake/exhaust a bit. I know I'll see big gains with headers, but I had LT's on my 02 GT and they were the biggest pain to install and gave me clearance issues since they sat so low...so I may get shorty headers this time around.
I'm also driving to Dallas from Houston this weekend, so I'll see what kind of MPG I get on the highway.
I just bought an 07 GT with whipple S/C, Jon Lund tune, headers, B&B exhaust (I think), and I am getting about 12MPH 70/30 suburb/highway. Thought that was terrible but I guess not.
I downloaded the 91 street tune, let the car idle for ~8 mins on a cold start, then did the AC on full blast for 2 mins, then drove off. I can't really tell a difference between this tune and the 93R tune - if anything the 91 street tune idles smoother and doesn't surge/drop as much.
Too soon to tell if MPG is going to go up, if it doesn't then no worries, but going from 17 to 12 just seemed like a big drop.
Again, I mostly drive to work and back, it's a short drive and I don't go above ~45mph. I've seen ~22 on the highway before the cams.
Drove to Dallas from Houston, got 22.8 mpg according to the dash, so that's a relief! Went about 75-80 most of the way. Street tune might've helped, I'll have to wait and see how it affects mpg when I'm back to the work grind.
Nice! The built-in MPG monitor on the dash was telling me that 55-65 in 5th gear was pretty much the sweet spot for best gas mileage. I went 75-80 most of the way, so I could've probably seen better MPG if I'd gone slower. I've got 3.55 from the factory, so it's not too far off from your gear ratio.
I'm just glad I didn't see something like 16-18 mpg max, that would've bummed me out since I drove over 600 miles round trip.
When I had just the cams, aggressive tune, cnc ported heads, and some other bolt ons I got about 12-13 mpg city also. Since I added a vortech blower I get a mpg less. Stock I was getting about 17mpg city also.
I'm just curious about the surging with these cams. I was looking at buying these as well. My car is a DD as well and I drive 70 miles round trip per day. Sometimes stuck in traffic. Would love to hear your opinion before I spend the money.
Wow that is a pretty big drop I didn't even see that big a drop with 3.73 gears and the supercharger on a race tune. Even putting my stock 18s and running it doesn't bring it that low.
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Whipple S/C 550 HO kit, FRPP 3.73 Gears, FRPP springs, Steeda Spyder 20x9 and 20x11, BMR LCAs, BMR ReLo Brackets, Front and Rear CShelby Sway bars, Hurst Billet Shifter, Custom Dyno Tune, MRT O/R H pipe, Borla Stingers