new guy with old festiva's and veggie f250

[dr mac]

From Kansas city area with 89,93 festiva's .
Well Found this site and been doing some searching.
Seems I may have been doing things right all along.Of course there is room to do more to increase MPG.

At Thanksgiving the wife, the dog ( 120 # rott ) and myself ( do not forget about the back trunk area was full of stuff ) had taken a trip to
Knottsville TN .

We were able to average 39 mpg with a average speed of 63 mph.
The car is a 1993 Ford festiva with a five speed. .

I have used this as a daily driver ( 33 miles each way ) to work and back .
With keeping the rpms down below 3000 .I have averaged 53 mpg for weeks on end . This was only done by keeping my foot off the floor.
I did manage 65 + on one tank by doing lot's of coasting and shutting off of the engine .

Well and I run straight veggie oil in my 1988 f250 4x4. Minus starting and shutting down of course.

So what to do to get better mileage in these festiva's maybe install engine a a 56 vw bug?

[bhazard]

Nice, another festy guy.

The usual mods apply to our cars.

If youre running stock steel wheels you can try to find some stock 12" alloys to drop the wheel weight slightly. Otherwise you can try to find some 13" alloys in 4x4.5. If you swap to aspire brakes (which you should anyway) you can run honda vx wheels.

Theres plenty of room for lowering.

Not much you can do for re-gearing. If you already have a stock festiva 5 speed you already have the tallest gearing you can get, except for an escort pony transmission, which would be a pretty involved swap.

You can try dropping the motor in a vw but then I doubt you would fit the wife, rott, and luggage. The festiva really is one of the most versatile cars ever made.

[dr mac]

I already have the alloy wheels. There is also a hundai wheel that fits if memory is correct.
I was figuring with the weight of a bug ( 1600 # ) and the aerodynamics of the bug versus the festiva ( 1797 # ) rolling brick.
I could then have a car that gets very good mileage ,heat, and still drive a very nice looking classic car.
I have plenty of bug bodies .

Thanks

Dr mac