I haven't thought about this, you are probably right! I have never seen a 76 Electra with a 350 in Canada, I'm wondering if they were available here. I know that the 1976 LeSabre V6 model wasn't sold here.
The difference between the 75 and 76 are small ones. Different standard axle ratio, different spark advance, crankshaft design, and it weighs a few pounds less. I had thought that the 350 was standard, but I found this website that shows the brochure and it has the 455 as the standard engine.
I had a 72 Electra that got about 18/19 MPG on a good flat Interstate. I thought that was pretty good. It is city driving that will kill you. It takes a lot of energy to get that much mass moving. I have often wondered how LOW of mileage you could achieve with your foot in the gas at every light. I bet you could drive that car hard enough to get it down under 5 MPG if you tried. I probably did that with my 72 Riv. when I was a young man in the early eighties. It sure would be fun to try it.
Sorry, I am only 16, and I didnt live (back in the day) ou: I guess I wouldnt know except for the stories I've heard. -Jake
I'm always getting single figures (and that's with the bigger Imperial gallons) But you also drove that Electra in the US, I reckon you didn't bother about fuel consumption, just because the petrol is so unbelievably cheap there ?
Tom, The title of this thread is "What is average mpg on a 76 Electra 455?" So you can move up a few years from "living back in the day" :laugh: :laugh: :beer
mpg??? or gph? Ihavent been able to calculate the exact mileage, but my Skylark does between 15 and 25 gph!!!
Buick Electra 1976 455 mileage I'm not a Buick guy or a gm guy even, but I read this board a lot, maybe I can help. My friend Conrad JR. and I were talking about mileage the other day with respect to my car and his. His daily driver is a 1971 Caddy 2 door, with 472 and quadrajet. it has about 110K on it, points and he rebuilt the carb himself. We were at the dragstrip in oct 2003 , and I think his car weighs about 4800 or so, maybe 4900, and he managed a 17.2 at 80 mph. His second run was identical, and although this doesnt have anything to do with gas mileage, I think its a good sign that the car runs decent. Low 17's at 80 mph is a good ET for a full size luxury car with high compression with what we BELIEVE is a 2.93:1 ratio. However, his mileage hovers around 11 or 12, which I think is low. My daily, believe it or not, is a 73 Imperial Lebaron. It has a low compression 440, thermoquad, 3:23 open and weighs about 5300 pounds. (I weighed it on a truck scale.) I have gotten as high as about 15.4 mpg on the highway. I ran next to JR at the track and I did 18.2 @ 74.7 mph. My advantages over JRs Caddy are that I have duals with crossover, electronic ignition and bigger tires. My timing and carburetor were dialed in pretty close, by using a tach and vaccum gauge, JR set his carb by ear. Its in the ball park but not as close as mine. Our ratios are probably about even. His car has 2.93:1 but he uses 225/70/15 whitewalls. This should have the effect of making his effective axle ratio higher numerically because his came with taller tires. I use the commonly available 235/75/15 whitewalls, even though my car came with L84-15's. His probably came with J or L78-15's. Keep in mind that the accuracy of your speedometer and your effective axle ratio is dependent on the diameter of the tires you use. A smaller diameter tire means that your car moves less distance for each revolution of your tires. This means that your engine runs at faster revolutions to maintain the same speed, and your speedometer with will show faster than true mph. A higher numerical ratio, say in the 3's gives you better mileage around town, but poorer milage on the highway. This is because your car gets moving from a dead stop easier, but revs higher on the highway. A lower numerical ratio, in the 2's, makes it harder for the car to get going from a stop, but revs lower on the highway. Thus mileage figures for two identical cars with different axle ratios might look like this: Car 1, 3:23 ratio: 12 mpg city, 15mpg highway Car 2, 2:56 ratio: 10 mpg city, 18mpg highway All that being said, I think my mileage for my Imperial at 15+ on the highway, is about as good as it can get for now. Theoretically, with his ratio being taller and a higher compression engine, and a quadrajet, not to mention less weight, his car should be capable of 16 r 17 mpg at 60-65 mph with the car in good tune. He could certainly use less restrictive exhaust, taller tires, and electronic ignition, but I think the main issue is that his carb needs to be dialed in better, or perhaps relaced with a fresher one. I told him he needs to use a tach and vaccum gauge to set his mixture screws. The higher number of inches of vaccum, the better. The bottom line is that if I can get 15+ mpg on the highway with my My Old Pig Aint Runnin , a 76 Electra with a quadrajet and an axle ratio at 2:41, 2:56 or 2:70 can too.
When I filled the tank in my 75 Electra yesterday, I had 155 miles on the trip odometer (which I reset at each refill) and it took a bit more than 18 US gallons to fill the tank. That makes an average of about 8.6 MPG...
Hi And thanks for all the answers. :TU: Especially too waginator for some interesting information. Yes for me as a foreigner it makes quite a difference compared to the gas prices over here in Norway.
I tuned my carburetor today and it helped a lot, it uses 15, 7 on the highway now.I turned the needles 1 turn inwards.And I have no loss in power. :bglasses:
I don't know, that sounds a bit low to me. My 'Lark gets 10 mpg city or highway, empty or with a car full of people and ski equipment. The engine is a '73 350 with a Holley 650. The car is not what you'd call fast, and I'm sure the carb is hurting me. I'd expect a bit more than 13 from your car. Not much more, though
re mpg what all you guys forget is alot of the gas sold in the USA today has 10% ethanol annd as you know the mpg will be less. We need to bring back SUNOCO 260 100 +++ OCTANE!!!!! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :beer :beer :beer :beer :beer :Comp: :Comp: :Comp: :blast: :blast: :blast:
