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Thread: Tuning a high litre car to consume less fuel?

  1. #1
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    Tuning a high litre car to consume less fuel?

    Well I was telling my Uncle about my Grandma's Ford Cortina (if your wondering why they don't know each other -- they do but their on different sides of the family but rarely meet)

    Anyways I was telling him how awesome it would be to have one but the fact that it's a 3.0L would be uneconomical for a "student". He then told me (while under the influence of alcohol) nonsense, we'll tune that car so that's it's mwa.

    He then proceeded to make a circle with his thumb and index finger, kisses them like a french chef would and continued drinking.

    But family introductions aside, is this really possible?

    "Tuning" a 3000 cc engine so that it consumes less fuel? I mean the fact that it's an older engine doesn't really help even if it's possible.

    And if it is I doubt it wouldn't have drawbacks such as reduced engine response or speed otherwise everyone would be doing it.

    But I have little to no experience with engines so I'm asking you guys.

    Thanks in advance.

  2. #2
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    Mmh... i think it's technically possible, but if you don't have thst much knowledge about engine tuning (and engines themselves), you should probaby think about buying a modern engine for the Cortina. Refining the engine (which is in my eyes necessary to improve the mileage) would either cost you lots of work or lots of money (maybe both). Most "easy" modifications that would improve mileage would also decrease the power (like, for example, smaller carburettors).
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    I believe most carbed cars run slightly rich because it is safer to do so, so if you are the gambling type you could lean them out a little.

    I also think you could net a little more mileage by changing the cams, sparkplugs, rearend/gear ratios. If you get economy cams (if such a thing is made) and longer gears, you will lose some performance which may or may not be proportional to the gain in economy. As for newer 'plugs; maybe stronger ones will result in a more complete burn yielding more performance and economy, but you'd have to ask someone who is genuinely knowledgeable about that one.

    In the end classic car ownership is usually about sacrifice in one form or another. Perhaps you cannot be quite so leadfooted pulling away from lights or on the freeway or you take you bike sometimes instead, but you will have an interesting, simple, and characterful car rather than a mobile toaster.
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  4. #4
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    out of curiosity, what is a Cortina 3 Litre? Does it have a Kent V6 and was it only available in South Africa?
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  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by henk4 View Post
    out of curiosity, what is a Cortina 3 Litre? Does it have a Kent V6 and was it only available in South Africa?
    Holy shit. How did you know?

    That's pretty perceptive.

    Yeah I just checked. (link below)

    Ford Cortina - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    It was a 3.0L OHV "Essex" V6 (South Africa)
    So I am assuming it was South-Africa only.

    Edit: read up more on Wikipedia. Found this "In South Africa, the Cortina range included V6 "Essex"-engined variants, in both 2.5L and 3.0L forms." I didn't even know that.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gotmilk View Post
    Holy shit. How did you know?

    That's pretty perceptive.

    Yeah I just checked. (link below)

    Ford Cortina - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    It was a 3.0L OHV "Essex" V6 (South Africa)
    So I am assuming it was South-Africa only.

    Edit: read up more on Wikipedia. Found this "In South Africa, the Cortina range included V6 "Essex"-engined variants, in both 2.5L and 3.0L forms." I didn't even know that.
    Damn, it was Essex in stead of Kent, the Essex was also used in the Capri....never available anywhere else than in South Africa in a Cortina. (I think the best we got is the 2000E).
    Does it run on a single carb?

    EDIT, Did some further research and found that what you have is a MkIII, which was completely similar to the Ford Taunus at the time, and I did not realise that it kept using the name Cortina in the RHD countries.
    Last edited by henk4; 09-13-2010 at 12:31 PM.
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  7. #7
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    haha 3 litres is not high litre!
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  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by roosterjuicer View Post
    haha 3 litres is not high litre!
    perhaps "high litre" was meant in the sense of the amount of fuel that a car consumes? (Some countries use liters in stead of gallons).
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  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by roosterjuicer View Post
    haha 3 litres is not high litre!
    It's relative.

    For contemporary North America, I'd say large is 4ish and up, mid is 2-4, and small is 2. In Europe, it's scaled to the smaller side.

    That's a quick rubric by me.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by henk4 View Post

    EDIT, Did some further research and found that what you have is a MkIII, which was completely similar to the Ford Taunus at the time, and I did not realise that it kept using the name Cortina in the RHD countries.
    Erm I don't mean to sound stupid but what are RHD countries? Third world countries?

    Also I'm really not sure carbs it runs on. (I'm assuming thats a carburettor).

    I can find out tomorrow it's probably only 1 though.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by roosterjuicer View Post
    haha 3 litres is not high litre!
    Well my dad can drive 1 day with R50 of petrol.

    (R50 is South African currency) And he's got a 1.8L

    He can get 3 days with my sisters 1.3L

    So a 3.0L seems like a massive amount to me.

    For what it's worth minimum wage in South Africa is R12.50 and hour.

    And last I checked 1$ = R7 or somesuch.

    So it may not be high but it is expensive for someone like me.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gotmilk View Post
    Erm I don't mean to sound stupid but what are RHD countries? Third world countries?

    Also I'm really not sure carbs it runs on. (I'm assuming thats a carburettor).

    I can find out tomorrow it's probably only 1 though.
    RHD = right hand drive = you sit on the right side of the car, and drive on the left - steer or "drive" with your right hand, shift with your left hand.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gotmilk View Post
    Erm I don't mean to sound stupid but what are RHD countries? Third world countries?

    Also I'm really not sure carbs it runs on. (I'm assuming thats a carburettor).

    I can find out tomorrow it's probably only 1 though.
    RHD countries are Japan, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and basically all British colonies (except USA).
    I want to die in my sleep like my Grandma, not screaming like the other 3 people in her car.

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  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by acfsambo View Post
    RHD countries are Japan, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and basically all British colonies (except USA).
    Boom.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Kitdy View Post
    It's relative.

    For contemporary North America, I'd say large is 4ish and up, mid is 2-4, and small is 2. In Europe, it's scaled to the smaller side.

    That's a quick rubric by me.
    In Europe a 2 litre engine is considered big-ish.
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