Going to look at a 55 2 door sedan with a six and thinking about using it to drive to work if I could get about 20 on the highway (100 miles a day) so I was wondering if that engine ever got a distributor that has cemtrifical advance or were they all va***n only.
Jeff, you're starting to scare me. Everyone else here is itching to bore-and-stroke, slap in a bigger cam, send the compression to the moon in an endless pursuit of two strips of rubber on clean dry pavement while you say you want to do what?, "save gas"? Jeff, that's crazy talk.
I'd say the key is figuring out ahead of time what later six in that same family of sixes has a point style distributor that is designed with a better advance system. From Wikipedia It looks like that engine was used up into the early 60's and some of the later ones would seeming have a better distributor.
64 was the last year that engine was made and know where some are and will have look,from what I have read that engine family kept that load o matic distributor like the early Y blocks to the end. If I were to get that 55 I want to tune it to get the best gas mileage it can get and would think a distributor with mechanical advance would be better.
Probably will be forced to buy a modern econo box but if I could find a old car powered by a six that I can get 20 to 25 I would be happy and drive it in the summer and use the modern econo box in the winter.
20 mpg...? Ehh. Maybe. Your best bet for that goal is a well tuned stock engine and driving it like grand-paw. You may can get close to that. The LOM was not that bad and was really good for a stock engine and stock oriented driving.
Yes, all 223's had lodamatics. Not really a problem if you keep it bone stock, in tune, and drive 1955 speeds. Given that, I think 20 mpg is possible...
Check this thread https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ibutor-in-a-223-ford-six-will-it-work.995797/
You can swap for a later 240/300 distributor, but it will require swapping gears and shortening the later style shaft: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/ford-223-distributor-drive-gear.1228812/#post-14047967
If your commute includes immediately getting on a road where you can run a constant 50-55 mph with few stops, 20+ mpg might be possible. If there is a lot of stop and go, you are probably closer to a 15 mpg.
It will be all highway driving except fot two blocks getting on the highway and a mile off the highway to the shop.
My first 53 Olds would get around 25 on the highway with a 303 V8 but was back when we had better gas and my next 53 with a 59 371 would get around 20.
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