better gas mileage

What if I told you you could have 330hp, and 28.5 MPG in the same 2400lb. vehicle (with the aerodynamics of a tool shed)?

Hey are you talking about my COE behind my back...oh wait, you said a 2400lb vehicle,...sorry my bad.

ha!

 

I said tool shed, not small garage.

 

ANY overdrive should help with range.

As several have said a thorough tune up is bound to help.

If the engine is tired a performance build will help (compression, head port work, lump port mod, fugly as it is- HEI with a recurve...).

On the other hand, a warmed up 283 would be a good engine too.

 

My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it.

 

Hmmm

40 rods ~ 1/8th mile

1 Hogshead ~ 63 US Gallons

Sooooo, 63/.125= 504 Gallons per mile, got a tanker trailer do ya?

 

Like many on this site, I prefer the sound of a V8 over a six but that said swapping out a 155 HP six for a 160 HP V8 isn't going to change the equation that much. Yes, an overdrive tranny would help but it would help in either case. If the old stove bolt is giving you those kind of mileage numbers, I'd seriously consider looking at the rear axle ratio. 1961 Chevy PU's had three ratios 4:11, 3:90, and 3:38. If the 250/350 combo was a later conversion and they were hooked up to either the 4:11 or 3:90, it would suck a lotta gas. Do a little more research on the truck. Anything you can do to lower the RPM's on the road will help. Just trowing a V8 at it won't.

 

Can you read pictures??? http://www.webrodder.com/article.php?AID=426&SID=6

 

You tell him. Since he has owned the car for over 30 years I don't think there is much chance of convincing him. He will probably tell you it is his fucking car and you can fuck off and die.

Around here high test costs $1.50 a liter (quart). That means it costs him about $200 to fill the tank including the octane boost. A full tank is good for about 300 miles of driving.

That's his choice. He can afford that much driving, plus insurance and general upkeep without depriving his family and that's it.

It wouldn't be my choice and evidently to a rich bastard like you, the problem would never come up. But some people have to make hard choices every day.

 

What astonishes me is the number of participants on this board who can afford to spend $200 a week or more on gas. At least they give that impression with their offhand statements about driving their 500 HP big block cars and never giving a damn about mileage.

 

I finally got around to calculating my MPG's in my C10. I did about a 50 mile log with a mix of 2 lane highway and stop/go. I average right at 17 MPG's. I am confident I could get 20 mpg on the highway. I was surprised by the results.

I am running the factory 3:73 rear, 29" tire, S10 5-speed, turbocharged inline 250.

Truck:


Engine:

 

I'm in a bad situation too, but I find a way. It's part of the game I signed up for. THAT'S what I was getting at. If I couldn't afford to drive my car when I want to, I'd sell the mother fucker. I wouldn't tease myself by taking it out one tankful a year. That's MY choice. And I have a friend who used to do almost the same thing and I did suggest that maybe he needed to find a more economical hobby. He's into bikes now and never looked back. Now, when I DO become a rich BASTARD, I'll send you a PM for his address, so I can send him some fucking gas money.

 

If you have any extra money send it to me. I promise I will spend it all on gasoline, whiskey and hot rods. None will be wasted.

 

Diggin' it!

 

What??... None on the ladies???..

 

Could someone tell me how I should spend money please.

 

I racked up 5000 total miles this past year driving almost everyday. why would I care what my gas mileage is?

 

You wouldn't be interested in being able to drive say, 10k miles for the same amount of cash?

It's not about how much gasoline you consume per mile. It's about the cash.
Therefore maybe 'MPG' should be written as 'MPM'... Money per Mile.

 

Your right -
I'm going to drill a whole in my gas tank. 0.002 to start maybe 0.02 if I need to catch you heavy hitters.

I may just throw a nickel or two out the window every tenth mile click on the odometer for bragging rights.

Then I can be like you guys except my stuff will run better.

 

i understand both sides of this argument. we want to drive our old cars hotrods whatever it is. but then there is the questions of how mpg and horsepower. the perfect anwser would be we can have both we cant. some dont care how much gas it usesas long as its super fast on the street.thats is traditional.but this also 2012 and gas is at a all time high .i have a couple cars that hardly ever leave the shop one is ot nova with a sbc tunnelram 2 600 edelbrock carbs. 350 super strre fighter trans with a 4000 stall and a 411. i get about 4-5 miles to the gallon.thats the car i take to a streetrace if they want to run for big bucks. i have the car you see in the avatar. 383sbc . 2 -4barells and a 350 trans with around a 3500 stall with a 4.11 rearend. it gets about 8-10 mpg. and its a heaver car.no tunnelram and a smaller cam. but it runs hard and strong.my 62 galaxie gets about 10-12 with a stock 2barrel 352 and a crus-a matic.i dont think ive ever owned a car that gets more than 15 mpg. ever.but my wife does. she drive a ot chrysler 300 with the hemi. gets close to 25. she also has a 2005 doge daytona pu with a hemi gets about 16.now with the price of gas today i dont drive around lookin for somewhere to go. i know just where i want to go and thats about it.almost got to save up to put gas in a car to drive around on the weekend.and it hurts. but this is the life i chose so i deal with it. i really havent tried to up the mpg on any car but im going to cause gas aintt going to get much cheaper if at all.getting the best mpg without loosing power is what im gonna aim for and with luck i will pickup some lost ponies.we quessed it would cost about 1000. to fill up the tanks of our cars all at once. aint gonna happen.so if i want to drive them they have to be givin me the most mpg i can get and have what i want.i might not be able to go far but i will get there quick.these gas prices have made me re-think about how i build my engines and what parts to use.but i keep telling myself its a hotrod so gas be-damned.and that aint right if you want to do more than just own it,like maybe drivin it more.if i wanted good mpg id drive a ot shitbox.for all those that get close to or better than 20 mpg i commend you, and you done great but id also love to race you.lol

 

OT car but the drive train could go into anything here.
66 GTO , 400 tripower, 4spd and a 308 gear. 17 city and 21 highway all day long.
Big lumpy cam with Rhodes lifters.
It would put down a 350' 4 gear burnout, pass anything on the road with great road manners. Did parade duty every Fourth of July, Ohio to Florida, Ohio to south Carolina, drive it to the drag strip, always place at a show, 125 MPH was the fastest I had it up to nut there was more.

Favorite thing to do was just take it out to kill bugs and burn dinosaurs.

My buddies with 4:56 gears would beat me down the on ramp sure, but I could run 55 70MPH for hours on end without any problems. Those guys wouldn't think about heading 15 miles down the highway. How often did they go to the track ? Once a year. How often did they take it out? Once or twice a month if it wasn't raining on Tuesday night.

Yes they were faster, but I had 2000% more enjoyment out of my car.

 

You mention the Chrysler 300 with the hemi that has over 300HP and is one of the best performing cars on the road, and gets 25MPG.

I wouldn't feel a bit underprivileged driving a car like that and could afford the gas to boot. The one that gets 4-5 MPG to me, does not offer enough thrills to offset the expense.

In other words if I can only afford to buy 20 gallons of gas I would rather drive a 300HP car 500 miles than a 500HP car 100 miles.

I know not everybody agrees. But come on, would it really be such a hardship?

Of course the other question is, if you have such contempt for cars that get more than 10MPG why are you even reading this thread? The title plainly states it's about better gas mileage. If you don't care why are you even reading it?

 

So, what happened to the "stock" 389 out of that '66 Goat????.....

 

Don't know, when I got it that's what was in it. And the block #s were for some 71 low HP application. Heads and cam fixed that

 

When I first came to the "States" back in March of '71, My Uncle Joe drove us to Grandma's in his gold '65 droptop GTO from the airport... That was my first ride in the back seat of that car... At the time, I thought it was the coolest thing on the road... It was 389 4-speed car also with triple carbs... Man, what a ride!....

 

Besides the gas savings that some don't seem to care about....

Many of you are also forgetting that an overdrive saves on engine wear & tear. At a crusing speed of around 65 mph an overdrive will knock off around 900-1100 rpm. Therefore an engine's internal parts last a lot longer and the money saved on a rebuild alone is worth going to an O.D. tranny in itself. Unless you don't give a shit about your engine either.

 

Works well as long as you build it so that sweet spot moves down the rpm band too. Otherwise you are pissing up a rope

 

Nice.