Considerations on rebuilding a carb for economy.
 

I just found out that it'll cost me $100 to insure the RX-7 AND the truck... I spend that much on fuel for the truck in a month.

Lemmie back track a bit... I picked up a 1985 GS from someone for $250. Needs a little TLC to be fully road worthy.

-E-brake cable(s) (Old ones were ghettorigged from home depot. Can still roll when lever is up.)
-Carb rebuilt (Stalls when you let off the gas. runs rich as hell when on it.)
-Tires, possibly shocks and springs.

That middle one is what I wanna focus on at the moment...

I need to rebuild that carb. First of all, this'll be my first carburetor rebuild... Everyone here has said that it's not that hard, just don't lose the needle valves.

So I'm gonna shop for a rebuild kit. Would mechanical secondaries or some other modification make it a little more economical. (Of course I'll have to be light on the throttle.)

I'm not used to carbs and am more accustomed to EFI.

I do have to pass emissions here, but only once every two years... A free flowing exhaust would get my a bit of economy and the decreased weight of that manifold might help too...

I'm looking for upper 20's MPG. The truck gets 20, maybe 22 at best.

upper 20's highway or city?

i got almost 29 on highway with stock everything but exhaust-- header to one hollow cat to stock muffler

Combined...

Though good to know I can get that much out of it as stock... Won't have to change out much when I take it to the track.

If I can rebuild a carb, anyone can do it... :)

The mechanical secondary mod can definitely increase your mpg, as long as you don't open them. With the mod, you can feel the pedal get harder to push when you get up against the secondary spring. This puts you in control of when the secondaries open, rather than vacuum. I would have great mileage if I could resist all that power. lol.

Try it out. If you don't like it, it only takes a few minutes to restore to stock.