Ok I was thinking of buying a new car, the kind that gets high miles per gallon as my full size truck only gets around 15mpg. I got to thinking instead of spending thousands of dollars on a new car why not take one of my stock model A's and take the body and install on a new complete ch***is ( like from TCI or some other ch***is maker) and install either a small block v8 or a 6 clyinder. would I be out of my mind to think I could get at least 30 mpg or more? Or am I way off base?
Ive heard you can get around 22 with a nearly stock flattie v8 and overdrive....If you were to go vintage motor thats what I would have.... I'm sure it could be done, just depends on the motor, gears etc......
If you're looking for mileage, put a four banger in, heck, they're traditional! Newer fours have as much or more power than the average Chevy V8 from the Seventies (no mean feat, I know). Less weight, simplicity, and ease of fit. Can you get 30 MPG? No idea, but you'd have a nice unique car rather than an electric easter egg.
my old RPU with a pretty built SBC, 5spd overdrive, 3.73 rear and tall radials got near 30mpg on the freeway very consistently, on so-cal freeways (so at 80mph). it's been said many a time... doesn't take a modern motor, just one that's built right with the right cam/compression/tune to have peak torque (and peak efficiency) at your cruise speed, and you can do pretty well. won't compare to a little civic on the highway, but way more grins per mile. i'm expecting similar mileage out of my '31 coupe, with a reasonably warmed over small block mopar... if i can keep my foot out of it
Built a 50 Willys and it got better mileage with the 350/350 Chevy I put in than with its' stock Hurricane I6 and the 3 speed stick. Granted, not much better, but if I would have went with fuel injection it would have kicked it up 2mpg or so I think and another mpg with a locking converter. I'm sure you can get that mileage figure with the right parts and keeping it in tune. Are you sure you want to use a real steel car though? I like your last sentence daddylama. =D
yeah... if my foot was in it, the mileage was pretty bad. still... even driving it hard, it was way better than my 11mpg daily driver suburban i have now
A mid sixties straight six with one carb would get you into the mid 20's,put a later model 4 cyl from a ranger or (B2300 mazda) pickup(2.3 litre) you get fuel injection,transmission,rear axle,good fuel mileage and a reliable neat old car. Can even make those ztec engines look pretty retro.
On one long highway trip to Salina, we figured my 53 chevy with the stock full pressure 235, t5 and a 55 chevy rear got around 23 mpg. I did have a holley/weber on it, but single exhaust.
My wife has a Prowler, it has a relatively small engine with that efi ohc aod **** in it, and gets no where near 30 mpg. Aerodynamics becomes important when you're trying to get more than 20 mpg.
my A to B beater ranger with carb 2.0 4 banger only gets 24-25 mpg and that's if I go real easy on it and keep it 60 mph or less. Not great mileage considering what a piece of **** you have to look like driving it around, and it couldn't pull a stiff ***** out of a lard bucket. If you were to try and make a hypermiler Model A, I think you would really have to concentrate on making it as light as possible and put in a fuel injected, computer controlled engine to maximize efficiencies. But then what would you have? A cool looking body wrapped around a rather complicated powerplant, heavily laden with wiring harnesses and sensors, and you might still be lucky to get 30 mpg, after alot of time and expense of it all. Hard to justify the payback on that investment. You might be better off considering some other type of car you could buy and pull those mpg numbers in stock, unmolested form. Perhaps the aforementioned Falcon 6, or maybe a Nash Metro, or ??
Weight and rotating m*** is a big consideration, esp in stop and go traffic. Trucks that weigh 3 tons and have 36 inch tires are not going to get great mileage no matter how small the engine. It just simply take a lot of energy to get those kinds of things moving. A lightweight 2500lb RPU with a Vortec headed 350, mild cam, and OD should be capable of 30 mpg with either a carb or EFI.
My '73 Mercedes 220 diesel gets about 35. If I really wanted to hypermile an old car, I'd use a Volkswagen 4 cyl. diesel out of an 80's Rabbit, they can get 50+ mpg. But I wouldn't put it in a Model A body, they have the aerodynamics of a barn door. You need something light and swoopy. I don't see how you're going to get 30mpg with a small block or a 6 cylinder in a Model A.
Maybe not at 75mph, but at 45-55 you should be able to do that easily. Early cars are about as aerodynamic as a parachute, but up to those speeds its not as big a factor as weight and engine efficiency. A late model Vette can get nearly that with the OD turning the engine only 1500 rpm at cruise.....
my wife had a '66 stang with a 200 six averaged 22 mpg. my '33 chevy 283 3 speed '57 chevy rear with 3.36 gears would get 25 mpg.
buddy had a model a with a toyota sr22 motor in it, we made alot of fun of him but it got good gas mileage
My ultimate daily driver would be an early falcon 3 speed with the 2.80:1 axle ( I think thats one of the stock ratios, maybe for the 64-65's...) with a VW TDI motor. I'm getting 52.5 MPG out of my '98 jetta. A stock falcon weighs 100 pounds less than my stock jetta, almost exactly the same RPM in high gear for both cars considering stock tire sizes- I've done the math! This is on my short list of cars to build, hopefully in the next year. I'm a huge fan of the VW diesels but I refuse to buy anything but a 1960's or older car from now on. Quality of EVERYTHING from the 70's on up to today is just made to be disposable.
Alittle different direction than the origonal question, but my 54 210 with a warmed over 235 gets me 25 mpg on long trips cruising at around 2500rpms.. Slightly lower around town, but still 20+. This kinda suprised me since stock you'd be around 16 with one of these. higher compression, cam, HEI, 2 one barrel Rochesters, Fentons. Sag 4 speed and a 2.93 rear. In a lighter car these old inlines would do even better.
This is a very timely thread for me, I have been wondering the same if I should just build my model A coupe with a modern 5.3 and five speed instead of the blown flathead I am building. Either way, they would get better mileage than the 15mpg I get on the way to work with my Tahoe... Way off topic, but I also considered some 'kit' bodies as a daily commuter as they can be aerodynamic and obviously light with fibergl***... much more fun to take to work than the 'tanker' at $4 a gallon ($3640 per year by my calcs!!!).
I built a '41 chevy coupe 283, cam, duals, 4 speed, '57 rear. It could get 20mpg all day at highway speeds. Headers and a manual overdrive trans would gain you some more and you still have a V8. I'm going to build a '62 unibody PU hoping to get over 20 mpg with it and be alot more fun to drive then a newer Ranger. You can always add Nitros if you want to still have alittle stop light action once in awhile. Carb vs injection doesn't alwasys matter as much as some would think.To hit 30mpg gallon its going to have to be light and slippery tho. Good luck, TomCat 1
Whenever I fantasize about building a vintage looking “hypermiler”, I always find myself drawn to the Speedway Track T kit. A modern, fuel-injected four-cylinder and manual transmission in one of those, along with skinny tires, removable headlights, a tonneau cover, and Moon discs, and I’d bet you could crack 30 mpg and look good doing it. -Dave
My Avatar gets about 23-25 crusing along at 70 on the highway, but good luck finding one... Some of the more interesting period imports do well on gas, that's why people bought em back then. There was a Vauxhall Victor on Craigslist in decent shape for $2,500 or so out in So Cal a few weeks ago, if you can live with 0-60 in 25+ seconds and a max cruising speed of 65-70 it gets 30mpg and they look like baby tri five Chevys.
got to love the mileage claims some people make. I had a buddy who claimed 22 MPG from a 48 Chevy coupe with a 350. car didn't even have a working speedometer/odometer... must be some sort of math wizz.
I know two guys with 40's Dodge pick up trucks, they have fitted Vauxhall Omega diesel engines and gear boxes, and get close to 40 m.p.g. The Omega is a G.M. Europe product I don't know if they are sold in the States.
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