I have an honest 50K mile 63 T-bird with the tiny 14" wheels and tires and floorboarded won't go past 80 MPH. I drove it to and from work for a while and gets about 8-9 MPG. Not fun these days. My ultimate goal is a 4.6 Mark VIII drive train swap. But I am also considering either an AOD or 700R4 trans and some nice new 225/70-15 tires around some fancy new T-bird wires. I would ***ume the drop in RPM from both the overdrive and the taller tire would net me at least a 30% or better increase in mileage. Just these upgrades are going to be $4/6,000.00. Figure this: Trans adapter Trans Driveshaft Cooler plumbing Speedo conversion of some sort Wheels Tires That's more than I would spend in a years time on fuel alone. I fear that no matter what, I'm not going to do much better than 12-15 MPG until I drop some serious cash on this thing in the form of a top end and EFI. Keeping it OG just isnt' going to make it the car I really want. I bet I could make you Ford guy's skin crawl if I put a GM LS series in it
My 360 in a 72 Ford 1/2 ton with a 3 on the tree was pretty good on gas - I had tall tires and it ran low rpm though. It was a while ago but it was at least 16 mpg (us). Paid $200 dollars - put in rear wheel bearings and drove it for a long time. Surprised everyone got poor mileage with these engines.
Under load? Keep your eyes open for one of the last EFI 460's. I've seen them go dirt cheap and they typically last forever. The EFI models get surprisingly good mileage.
I was going to put a 390 in my 62 econoline but changed my mind and going with 5.3 LS and overdrive for shop truck.
Yep. I have also been looking into the LS series. I know the math doesn't add up for an occasional driver, but I am looking at something I can put 25,000 miles per year on. We want to tour the US once my kids are off to college. I plan on covering some serious ground. I am debating on whether I can actually bring myself out of the dark ages and learn new tricks........
The only way you are going to get as little as 7 MPG with the big Fords under normal driving conditions is to leave the Holley on the top! Of all of the ones we have had, a 360 with 2 barrel Holley in a pickup with automatic transmission and a bug screen was the worst; and it still got 9 MPG. Removing the bug screen alone was good for an additional 2 MPG. Jon.
Stick with the Y-Block. I still get 12mpg hauling my 1900lb Alaskan on the F-100 @ 65 mph. Although I have a T-5 not a Ford-O. I also have a '03 Silverado with an LS, it's a nice truck but if you use one of those engines in your '57 I'll tell all the guys over on y-blocksforever and you will get skinned alive.
Yes, MPG can be had from an FE...but FE's are F riggin E xpensive to build and you need to have a good block (prone to core shift and thin walls as the castings got newer)...i did not want to get back into this motor, so I went for the good parts. Had around $5500 by the time I finished ...not too crazy, but the PITA factor is pretty high. I built a "towing motor" i.e. , low lift flow, high vacuum, low-mid range RPM for torque, etc for my 73 F100... 9.5CR, Big valve heads mild seat blend/rebuilt, 220@.050 .500" lift custom Solid flat tappet super stock roundy round profile cam, Dove adjustable rockers, custom length pushrods, 750 Qjet from a 72 Delta 88, MSD ignition, O^2 gauge for tuning, got 24in vacuum at idle and around 18mpg highway around 10-12 towing, if my foot was not on the floor Here is the adapter I made for the Qjet...can be bought but I made my own...
FE motors have never been noted for their gas milage, except as heavy drinkers. If your wanting to stay all Ford and tow a 19 foot trailer,(that thing will be pushing a lot of air), I would be thinking more like a 351 Windsor. The 351 would probably get better milage when towing than a 302. Overdrive transmission will be the only way to pull that much trailer with any economy. Chevy LS motors are great, I love 'em, but there is some thing just wrong about one in a '57 Ford.
As long as you're changing engines, might as well change trans too and go to one with overdrive to help highway mileage.
Root for what you want to do with the car Id say its time to leave the old tech behind. A 3 valve 4.6 or 4 valve 5.4 would be the cats ***. I mean come on a Fairlane with a cammer. And while youre at it through a super charger on it
A few years ago (when gas was about what it is now) I drove my 63 T-bird from central Va to Asheville NC (330 mi all hi-way) and got 17 and 18mpg on the tank 'n a half that i used. Of course the next two tanks of driving around town i calculated a whopping 7mpg. The car had a fresh 300hp 390 with an edelbrock RV cam and lifter kit, a 45000v points coil, a holley 600 vac secondary carb and 10-1 compression. Stock 3.00 rear and a dying cruise-O. With the stock Autolite quad and decent trans, i feel that my around town would have been a bit better, maybe 9 or 10, and i might have seen some improvement on the road too. I looked into the Aod/700r4 adaptors, but soon came up against the fact that either of these transmissions are going to need some significant beefing up to survive behind a FE. I am going with a C-6 when my t-bird goes back together, and am going with 3.26 or 3.55 gears in the rear in the hopes of better intown driveability and mileage at the expense of some highway miles ( i really shouldn't run 90 anymore anyways). If I were building a tow wagon, i would use a manual trans with an overdrive (the Orion 3sp OD comes to mind) and set the 390 up 9-9.5 to 1 compression, a stout electronic ignition, aluminum intake with the larger 4100 autolite carb and some small primary headers. Do the math for the rear end and aim for 1600-1900 rpm at cruising speed, and keep your tires skinny and aired up and you should be able to stay in the low teens for mileage towing. Should give you a bit more pep than a sissy little 5.0 too....
Had 360's, 390's and 428 - all fresh builds, mild stuff. Never saw over 9mpg empty or loaded. If you're gonna tow a trailer forget the 302 (did that in a 68 F-100 and it got great mileage but couldn't get out of its own way towing. I'd go with a complete 351 truck takeout - WITH FI and all. It should give you 16-18 all day long.
FE always ment Fuel Eaters , to me I suppose you could get one running real clean, and do the overdrive, and a good choice of rear gear, or 2 speed rear axle? probably couldnt hurt lighten the load too..make the vehicle as light as possible? propane..? natural gas?
Had a 65 galaxie with a 390/300 & automatic that got 14.5 on the hiway. Got to have the Autolite carb for mileage, the Holleys ****. Want really bad mileage, I had a 427/425 4 speed powered 57, but gas was 31.9 a gallon so who cared
If you were already looking at EFI, I'd go with the 302 EFI with the AOD. A 302 is just a larger 289. Using the factory EFI insures the ability to get parts. The AOD will do more for your mileage than the EFI will. Of course the 302 will shave about 100lbs off the front of the car (if not more). With towing, I'd still use a 3.55 or 3.73. My '01 Ranger gets about 20 hwy and it weighs 3800lbs. It has the towing package with 3.73's. While it has a V6, the little 6 is a little strained by all the weight. A buddy had damn near the same truck but with a 4.0L and 3.55's and he got 22-23 mpg.
My bone stock '60 Thunderbird with the 82K miles 352 gets 14-16 mpg, depends on how fast I'm driving .
Chris....just remember, no one cared what our old engines got for gas mileage, it's now up to us to use our heads and tune our way into it. Jon ( Carb King here on the HAMB ) can offer alot of great advice. I, and many others, use the great Q-Jet, it will work on anything. Proper intake manifold choice and a gear gearing must be correct. Let's get Fred (RaceFab) in on this, I'm sure he can shed some light !
My '62 Tbird got mid teens until i had the trans rebuilt, now 9. I like the FE's but wish i had done a AOD. Putting a 390 in the Edsel wagon with a COM, so we'll see how that works out MPG wise.
My Galaxie came with a 2bbl 352 with the cruise-o trans, on the highway she got about 11, it's now a 390 with Edelbrock intake & 4bbl, upgraded plug wires, ignitor II distributor mods and an AOD, at 55mph she does 22mpg, at 70mph it's 16.5. The data plate says the car has a 3.00 rear end but I've never checked.
Root I was getting about 12-15 in the '65 Galaxie i had when I first joined the HAMB. 390 single 750 CFM Edelbrock on an Edelbrock Streetmaster (not a good manifold BTW) edelbrock cam shaft and a mallory dual point. I drove it dailey and kept it tunned. It had a C-6 and I have no idea what gear but I'm sure if was designed for running on the salt. No help I'm sure.
A fried has a '59 Ford station wagon, 352 with the original three speed stick. 13 mpg average when stock and in good tune. Edelbrock Performer intake from a swap meet combined with a swap meet 500 cfm AFB, stock manifolds with dual exhausts and turbo style mufflers, and a 2.79:1 center section squeezed it up to 18 mpg on the highway.
It will be interesting to see what mileage I can get from my 66 352 truck engine. It has a Comp cams cam, 3sp w/OD and obviously it will be cruising on a Rochester 2 bbl. I'm getting close to starting it up. I'm getting nervous. I'm keeping the stock OD rear, probably 4.11?, to start with. I may drop it down to a 3.50 if I up grade to a 9". I'm expecting more than 10 but less than 20 MPGs We'll see.
I'd go that way too. I don't see much of a difference in power with the FE over a 460. I used to drive a couple of cube vans. One had a 351w the other a 460. The 460 powered cube van got the same mileage as the 351w, way more power, plus it hauled an extra couple of tons worth of product. They both got about 10 mpg. The difference was the 460 powered van got the same mileage no matter if it was loaded or empty. I also had a 3/4 ton truck powered by a 400. Decent power and fuel economy wasn't too bad. Empty it got about 16-17 mpg, with 2800 pounds worth of stuff in the bed it got 14.7 mpg. My experience with FE's has all been the same, horrible mileage. I ran a 72 F250 with a 360. Was using to to haul garbage from the back of the property to the dumpster. Since the fuel tank was rusty I used a little half gallon gas can. That truck would burn up that half gallon in under 2 minutes just trying to warm it up
My old 66 GTA Fairlane convertible had 390BBF with C6 auto and 3.25:1 9". It was bored 30 thou and fitted with a mild cam, tube headers (Tri-Y) and 600 Vac Secondary Holley. I got 14mpg on the highway and a little less around town.
For pulling a load the FE is way superior to the 292 motor. I went with a aluminum intake,headers, a RV cam, a holley 650,good ignition and complete overhaul and got 20 mpg on the hiway.Pulling a 19 ft. trailer you need the torque it can and will produce.
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