There are warnings on this forum against flaming, but it would be difficult to give truthful answers to this thread without someone taking personal offence.
I may not always agree 100% with everything Hotrod Lincoln posts, he is 110% right-on, on this subject. Even his postscript "Ignorance can be fixed; stupid is forever!" is unfortunately dead on.
Fuel Economy:
The reality is that driving a 20 year old, 5000lb brick and expecting 15 mpg is expecting a miracle. Miracles do happen, but you need to do everything you can toward that miracle, instead of away from it. One example is that charcoal canister in the evaporator system. Your sub sits in your driveway on a hot day and the gas in the carb evaporates. It can go out into the air where your children breath it or it can go into the charcoal canister. The next time you start the motor, the vacuum source pulls that gas back out of the canister, into the carb and helps propel you down the road. Seems like a no brainer to me.
Split in Time:
Mid 80's emission systems were not junk. You may think that if you don't want to take the time to learn something. GM went about as far as it could with carburated systems. If you want to improve it, then move it into the 90's with fuel injection. Don't move back into the 70's that did have very primitive emission systems.
Educate Yourself:
Either buy a service manual for that sub or go to the public library. They will have manuals there that explain the different systems and you can make photo copies.
Jap Cars Uugh:
Don't get me started on that one. You want to drive a jap car, drive it in japan. If we were to go to war today, in the Pacific, are you going to ask Honda-America to start building trucks for us? Are you going to ask Daimler-Chrysler to make tanks for us so we can fight in Europe. We don't make cars here anymore because you don't buy cars from here.
New Slogan:
BUY AMERICAN; WHILE YOU STILL CAN
