It still gets 40 mpg.
In May, we featured a video by YouTuber ThunderHead289 (a.k.a Luke Finley). He is a master of engines and modified a lawnmower carburetor to fit an old Ford 5.0-liter V8 motor in a 1970s Ford Maverick sedan. The engine ran perfectly and the car achieved 40 mpg highway during a test run. What about something more ambitious?
Finley apparently decided to join the Hot Rod Power Tour’s fleet of muscle cars. Finley completed the week-long trip through the southern states on June 17th. A recent Instagram post confirms that the 302-cubic-inch V8 engine made it through the trip. It did so with the lawn mower carburetor intact.
It did the majority the trip with the carb contraption. The video at the beginning of this article shows the initial stages of the trip with a standard car-sized carburetor. Finley wanted to watch the installation of the carburetor as it happened with a group of people watching. The normally thirsty V8 returned to an average of 35-45 mpg on highways after the linkage was fixed. It’s a great way to go on a week-long road trip with an old muscle car, considering gasoline prices at record.
Our original article stated that this project involved more than bolting a small carburetor onto a large engine. Apart from the 3D-printed adapters that fit the engine, there are a multitude of sub-assemblies as well as sensors that balance the air-fuel ratio. Finley has an app for his phone that allows him to fine-tune the engine, but the carb is not modified. Finley states in the video that this is an experiment in absurdity and not practicality. It seems to be working amazing well.
The tradeoff for power is mileage. We don’t know how much power Finley sacrifices, but it is possible that he may have done a few dyno runs recently. Finley does claim that the car is not dangerously slow so we expect a new video soon to show more of this bizarre but brilliant V8 performance.