Fuelly Forums - Softcover MPG book from the dark ages

Hi all

I remember back in my dark past owning a book that dealt with FE modifications.
I had purchased the book , complete with real yellowed pages , from a technical book shop that must have had it kicking around out the back for years.

I don't rememebr the name of the book ,but it was a long the lines of a Chilton/Haynes book but not as simply written.
It must have been published in the 70's (i got it in the early 80's) and was American.

Of particular interest was the section dealing with modded cars for FE competitions.
I think the rule was that anything goes , but you had to start with a real car , and it was divided up into different classes of cars.

A couple of cars that caught my eye had features like 80psi tires from a plane , one car had the live axle taken out and replaced with a single wheel in the middle (quite odd seing a full sized 70's chevy v8 sedan with a single wheel on the back.)
But the most bestest mod I saw and one that ide love to try is a freewheeling clutch on the back of the transmision.
Of course this could be applied to the drive wheel hubs or on the drive shafts in a front drive car.
This meens you can let the engine back to idle when going down hill without the need to take it out of gear., with the same effect.

The book also covered simple aero aids , wheel arch covers , taping up panel gaps , removing wipers , mirrors etc., and gave test figures to show what worked.

If my memory is still good , these old timers were getting 40 mpg from old tech V8's., which would be nearly 100% FE improvent over stock.

Unfortunately , my X-father in law (engineer) borrowed the book from me and that was the last I heard of it.
It was A Top book

-- and John G - Give me back my book and my cement mixer while your at it :mad: