What should my gas mileage be, and can I improve it?

[AmadeusCharger500]

1974 Satellite.
Rebuilt 318 with 302 heads. 9.5:1 compression.
2.25 headers, 3.55 gears, stock trans, 650 edelbrock carb.
250 miles on rebuild.

Currently getting about 10mpg in moderate city driving, not heavy traffic.
Does mileage get any better as the engine settles and seals?
I know almost nothing about tuning the edel carb, except the air mixture screws.

[aifilaw]

you should be getting MUCH better mileage, and its due to the timing and the mixture. Either find someone who is really competent to do it for you, or start readnig some of the articles about carb adjustment and setting timing.

[AmadeusCharger500]

What does a small block need for timing? I set it the same as my bigblock when I first started it and left it there just because it ran so good.
Its at 15 initial.

[aifilaw]

I hate initial timing because the timing curves are always different based on spring rates, and people modifying the slots.
I don't really do small blocks, but off the top of my head with low compression I would say shoot for around 35* total timing. There is never any "set" timing for any particular engine, they will always have their own sweet spot, and you can usually find it with a vacuum gauge, a dyno, or just adjusting each tank of gas up or down a degree.

[firefighter3931]

Heath ;

15 at idle and 35-36 total should be fine. It sounds like your carb may be too rich. Use a vacuum guage like Aiflaw said and lean it out as much as possible on the idle mixture....then adjust idle speed as necessary. New engines take a while to loosen up so give it some time.


Ron

[Plumcrazy]

Heath ;

15 at idle and 35-36 total should be fine. It sounds like your carb may be too rich. Use a vacuum guage like Aiflaw said and lean it out as much as possible on the idle mixture....then adjust idle speed as necessary. New engines take a while to loosen up so give it some time.


Ron

  You might also want to pull some of the plugs out to see what they look like.