Back when the Mustang launched in 1964, you could fill up a tank full of gasoline for about a buck. These days, the same Mustang running high octane fuel could cost $50 or more to fill up, and with the fuel economy of old engines being kinda sorta’ terrible, that $50 may only get you a couple hundred miles before you need to fill up again.

But what if you could increase your fuel economy using hydrogen gas? Christopher “the Doc” Ingrassia, host of the Operation Mustang YouTube channel, has built himself a homemade hydrogen fuel cell that he says increases his fuel economy by 20% to 25%. Not too shabby…if it’s true.

The Doc put his fuel cell together after some Internet research and a trip to Bed Bath & Beyond (watch out for that Beyond section). For his project car he used a 1986 Mustang V6, which has aluminum heads and internals, which won’t easily rust from the fuel cells only byproduct, water.

The fuel cell is made out of spun aluminum flour containers and contains a positive and negative electrical tabs. Adding distilled water and baking soda to the fuel cell and running an electric current through it produces electrolysis, turning the distilled water into hydrogen gas. The gas, when mixed with regular gasoline vapor, can be run in a standard combustion engine, with the hydrogen gas offsetting up to 25% of the gasoline, resulting in better fuel economy.

All that said, if you’re really worried about fuel economy…buy a hybrid.