Camaro low fuel economy

[oil pan 4]

I haven't ran more than a tank of fuel through it since before I joined this site but I do recall it never really being able to get better than 24 to 25mpg.
The transmission was rebuilt in Oct 2000, about a year before I bought the car.
The car has the 5L v8 and 3.08 rear gears.

Last week I pulled the transmission and took it to a rebuild shop that does good reputable work in Lubbock, TX.

Their rebuild guy told me there were a few oddities, the wire to the lockup solenoid was cut. So no lockup.
The band and 3-4 clutches were burned up but the fluid and the bottom of the pan was fairly clean, I changed the fluid and filter about a year before I stopped driving it. They thought that was odd that it was so clean until I told them I dropped the pan.

So with no torque converter lockup and me not really knowing how to tune a carb back then netted me 22 to 24 mpg on a pretty regular basis driving on the highway.
I am curious to see what a functional lockup converter and actual good carb tuning will do.

This is obviously a product of what happens when you let some one else do your mechanicing and go with the lowest bidder.
They throw stuff together just good enough to get it out of the shop.

[MetroMPG]

This is not the thread I was expecting when I got the email alert.

Agreed: lock-up should make a big change.

[oil pan 4]

Well that only took almost 9 months.

My wife wanted me to take the transmission to an actual transmission shop to save time.
I dropped the transmission off some time in april. They got it rebuilt some time in july, I picked it up and installed it some time in july, but I knew right away there was a problem. Reverse gear was really weak, there was no 4th gear and no converter lockup.
So late july early august I took the whole car to them. I called them yesterday and they said its was ready as of that morning so I will pick it up my next days off, this coming Friday or Saturday.

I could have figured it out through trial and error faster and maybe cheaper than this.

The transmission is built with all the upgrade parts to make it a lot stronger than stock for trailer pulling and incase I up the engine torque by say more than double.

[spacemanspif]

You are going to pull a trailer with the camaro? I'm guessing by doubling the torque you are either planning a bigger gas engine or a diesel for the car? With no lock up and burned out clutches, 24mpg was great numbers. Goes to show how decent old, V8s with carbs can be.

[conor97hx]

Who buys a camaro for fuel economy? My old second gen had a 350 in it and only got around 8mpg. But it was more about fun.

[oil pan 4]

Yeah going to put a trailer hitch on it so I can use my 4x8 trailer or incase I have to move my 8x18 foot trailer.

There has to be something very wrong with a Camaro that only gets 8mpg. Was it a 350 built for racing with a 2 speed powerglide transmission and something like 4.55 rear end gears?

[Fat Charlie]

It's all about technique. Back in my Subaru forum there was a thread about how low you got. With mods and right feet, 8 wasn't outlandish.

[oil pan 4]

Now I get 25mpg with out even trying on my firebird with 6 speed, 3.73 rear and 5.7L engine.