Next, is that dreaded rats nest of rubbish. I have had vacuum leaks before with my '84 and paid to have it fixed, only to discover now that there were a few hoses that needed to be replaced, one or two which were cracked. I've replaced just about all the hoses. As these cars age, this seems to be more of a problem. I'm getting decent MPG - 24 in metropolitan hair-ripping traffic and up to 33 on the highway. Not bad I suppose. I'm happy with the car, but still, there are other stuff to be replaced and to be crossed off my list. The best I have gotten in the '86 was 30.5 with Marvel Mystery Oil in the tank.
The '86 I bought is a mess. I remember having problems with pinging and such and finally figured out that there is a massive vacuum leak at the manifold. Since it's a major job, I have just parked it. Before I came to that conclusion, I replaced ALL the vacuum hoses and one of the manifold bolts was loose, so I tightened that, but when I spray carb cleaner it idles higher. Also, if I hold my hand over the carb throat it idles higher and smoothes out. As you can see vacuum leaks are a nuisance. I'd like to sort everything out but purchasing the car drained all of my funds and because of that, it must now sit. Future plans include swapping a J-Spec 4A-E with new clutch set. I'm also thinking of using a 4A-C carb as well. The J-Spec engine is cheaper than rebuilding the current engine. After this I want to go through everything and make sure there are no vacuum leaks!
I'm going to try and save the current 3A-C and make it the core of my performance engine rebuild in the future.