283 w/overdrive

My dad bought a 66 chevelle brand new with a 283/4speed combo. Over the 18 years he had it, he averaged 18 mpg and he tracked every tank of fuel. Just the way he was. He wasn't a particularly agressive driver.

I have a (barely) hamb friendly 64 El Camino with a 427. I get 13 mpg out of it. I track every tank too 'cause it's what I learned from my dad.

I've been gathering the pieces to build a 283 for probably 20 years now. From everything I've seen, it's going to need some good heads, but not those designed for a larger bore 350. Trick Flow has some nice heads for 305s that are only 56cc's. I have a good standard bore block and crank, and some pop up pistons that i need to check the cc's on. I have come to understand that compression is my friend, so I'll take all I can get. I'm hoping for 12:1 static with what I have. My plan is to run a hydraulic roller cam less than 220@.050, a Holley dualplane I have laying around and probably a 600 or 650 double pumper for a mild street motor.

I plan to couple all this with the TKO600 that's in there, with .82 o/d and a 3.55 gear, it runs 2500 rpm at freeway speeds. With timing and carb properly set, I expect to pull an easy 20+ out of it.

My commute is mostly highway so I need to tune for that. I'll find out in time if I'm successful.

Devin