What do I need to get the best gas mileage out of my 1971 VW Bug?

My true goal is to get up to 80 MPG hwy miles to the gallon of gas, but I want to know what all is best for performance. any help would be greatly appreciated!What do I need to get the best gas mileage out of my 1971 VW Bug?You had better start pushing it some around town.I had a 71VW and got around 25 mpg.What do I need to get the best gas mileage out of my 1971 VW Bug?LOL I applaud your worthy goal, but 80 mpg is not even remotely possible in that car, if you stay with a carbureted engine driving a transmission to the wheels.



If you went strong-hybrid (which is essentially an electric-car with an auxiliary generator), you might be able to hit that number if you were very particular about system design. If you made it a plug-in hybrid, where also you plugged in whenever possible, you could hit 80 mpg no problem.



The electric part is fairly straightforward to build and there are a lot of people doing that. The hybrid part a little less so.What do I need to get the best gas mileage out of my 1971 VW Bug?You could try porting the intake and exhaust. This involves grinding out excess material to make the passages larger, and smoother.

You could also add a water injection system. A "T" such as those used in fish tanks is inserted into the vacuum line for the distributor advance line, or some other vacuum source that leads into the intake manifold. The free end of the tube connects to the top of a water bottle that has a tube extending into it, just past the lower side of the top. Another tube, open to free air, is inserted into the bottle and ends near the bottom of the bottle with a air stone like those used in fish tanks. A needle valve inserted into the outlet tube will allow you to vary the air flow through the water in the bottle. As weird as this may sound, it works. The original idea comes from an issue of Mother Earth News, from somewhere around 1979. I have used this myself. I used it in a 1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass Cruiser. My city mpg went from 19 to 19, highway was even better. Putting alcohol, any kind, in the bottle, with or without any water helps as well, might even do better with it. While this won't get you to 80 mpg, you will get better mpg, and more power as well.