Technical Chevrolet 283 build for fuel economy

Is that 0-60 ........... Just pokin some fun Johnny.
Like I mentioned above, with the Turbo 350 you have to decide whether you are going to look for mileage or some mild performance and gear accordingly. With my 4L60E and 3.73 Gears I get about 18 mpg and I drive a lot at 75-85 mph on the xway. Your 3.08 and non overdrive is in the same area but my overdrive has both a lower first gear and is coupled with 3:73 gears........so I have pulled some pretty heavy loads. Also, the road in front of my house is kinda steep and having lower gearing helps when I have a load.



Heres a 14 ft sheet metal brake I hauled from Michigan to Ky with a 6 cyl Blazer that had an overdrive trans.



All I'm trying to say is that planning for the times you need to pull a load and planning for the rest of the time when you just need to keep up with 75-85 mph traffic while cruising don't need to be mutually exclusive.

I agree wholeheartedly !

 

One more little caveat.

Its about 30 miles on I-65 each way to my son's house. A week ago, while coming home I decided to try something. I got in the middle lane as most of the drive back is 3 lanes. I held my speed at 70-75 mph the whole way and never left the center lane.

I p***ed only a few semis in the slow lane and one box truck. I DID NOT p*** even one car or pick up truck. However, I was p***ed often by cars and trucks in BOTH of the other lanes. Traffic was about medium that day.

I decided to try it again the other day on the way back. This time I p***ed a few cars and trucks in the right hand lane........maybe 10 in 30 miles. I did slowly approach from behind one vehicle that I had to go around. It was a truck pulling a loaded horse trailer. 4 horse I think. It had a sign painted on the back telling people they were too close and they could just go around or kiss his horses a** since they were so close. Guess he was used to people not liking his speed which was real similar to mine at 70-75.

Point is, we all have to drive on xways and being able to keep up with traffic is a lot better than having people constantly going around you.....especially when they are semis. That trailer above with the sheetmetal brake taught me a lesson. I couldn't put it any further forward so the trailer wanted to waggle at about 55-60. So I put my blinkers on and got in the right hand lane. Constant parade of semis going by me. It began pouring rain and difficult to see. A semi approached in the lane next to me and showered me with more water as it p***ed. Apparently a second semi was approaching him from behind at a higher speed and blew his horn as he swerved into my lane. I saw his wheel next to my window and whipped into the emergency lane. Couldn't hardly see anything and went about a 1000 feet in the Emergency Lane before the semi had cleared me and I could get back on the highway. I hoped no one was broke down in the emergency lane cause I couldn't see them.

So............I want whatever vehicle I may be driving to be able to flow with traffic. Amen!

 

Just some simple math,
$1000 in gas at $2.82 per gallon will go 6380 miles @ 18 miles per gallon ( 355 gallons )
$1300 in gas at $2.82 per gallon will go 6454 miles @ 14 miles per gallon ( 456 gallons )
You save 101 gallons of gas for every 6400 miles at 18mpg over 14 mpg.
Whats the cost of carburetor, intake, transmission, and gear ratio? How far will you need to drive to break even for what you spend?
Use what you have and optimize every part of it, a '57 truck is not anything like a modern truck aerodynamically, so a comparing to one is not accurate.

 

So for most that would be about $300 savings a year.
Overdrives cost around $1800.

 

Good gas mileage is overrated and makes for a boring drive!

 

I paid $600 for an add on OD for a th400.
Went from 6 to 7 mpg. Got 8 once or twice.

but it lets me cruise a little faster.

 

My parents bought a new 1965 Impala SS, 327 250hp with a powerslide. It got 25 mpg on a trip. Just sayin'.

 

Yes that is the engine that i have a 262 v8 is complete and is ready to install, i was told that they also came out in a few of some of other gm cars, only made 3 years. I need to sell it. Don

 

Is this the engine that was made with an aluminum 2-barrel intake ?

 

Overdrive transmissions have definitely had the largest effect on improving milage. The distant second placed reason would be EFI, but this only has marginal benefits. Both of these things became mainstream around the same time, and many people wrongly believe that it was the computer controlled EFI that made the most difference. Not so...

What a lot miss with running an overdrive is that it allows the use of shorter rear end gearing.
This increases the fun factor greatly. Fuel economy???.... meh. Aren't we supposed to be hot rodders?

 

8 bought a 2 year old 65 impala , 327 300 4speed 3:36 gear. Got about 15-16 ...

 

But you aren't factoring in that we generally try to build cars that perform better, and we spend money in order to do so..........not just gas money. If the OP only wants more gas mileage, thats pretty simple.
But he wants not only good gas mileage, he wants low end torque as well.

He is going to spend money to put a different engine in his truck. He is going to spend money for a cam and lifter upgrade and probably a few other improvements to ignition and exhaust. Why do any of that if he isn't going to get a performance improvement that makes driving enjoyable?

The way you get torque is to either increase displacement or with proper gearing. The way you improve gas mileage is with proper gearing. The way you improve both is with an overdrive transmission because it has gearing suitable for both needs. Its lower in first gear and higher in high gear. And it WILL increase performance as well as torque.