Tony Lives!

[mostlytwowheeled]

Spring has arrived and Tony is running! I've completed some mods/repairs under the hood. I'll give you a little rundown of what I've done through the winter months.
This is Tony, a 1978 spider with a 1979 2.0 liter engine.
Gone is the 79 carb and intake. A Holley 5200 -32/36,from an early Ford Pinto was purchased,NOS,on eBay cheap. A cleaner intake manifold from a 1973 124, which I bored out the primary bore to 32mm to match the carb, was installed. A new fuel pump was mounted. See through fuel filter before the fuel pump was put on.
I finished it up after work yesterday, ate supper and went for a drive. WHAT A BIG DIFFERENCE!!!! Lil' Tony pulls real strong right off idle all the way to redline. I did'nt have enough road to redline 5th gear, but 7000 rpm in 4th was 85 mph. And I can drive around town with barely touching the gas pedal. I figure I'll still get very good gas mileage. An added bonus is that the car actually starts easily now.
I'm very happy with the way things turned out.............. Now for some body work!!!

[TulsaSpider]

Sweet! I love it when a plan comes together!

[mostlytwowheeled]

Did a fuel mileage check yesterday. A combination of highway and city driving, 65-70 mph on the highway for 85 miles and 27 miles at posted city speed limits,and while on the highway i did a couple of 5th gear roll ons up to 90mph. Total miles 112.3, fuel used 4.375 gal. , fuel mileage 25.66 mpg. Roll on power is very good with being able to pass slower traffic very easily. During this drive it was VERY windy with strong head winds. 90mph in 5th gear was 5000rpm on the tach, 175/70 13" tires and 4.3:1 rear end.

[mostlytwowheeled]

Just got home from a second mpg check. I kept my foot out of the carb,drove 89.4 miles,of which 85 miles were on the highway and used 3.133 gals. of gas, for an average of 28.53 mpg. I kept my speed at 58-62 mph. I'm very happy with the results from this mild performance upgrade. Starts easy, idles good, pulls strong and returns good mpg.

[WBPDX]

I wish I would have seen this sucess post, and known about this carb, before I ordered my EMPI. This carb is still very much available on eBay; brand new for less than $100. And, things like spacers are available at the auto parts store, off the shelf.