Hot Rods modern hot rodder or dinosaur???

QUESTION FOR THE BOARD:

with fuel prices going nuts and oil prices doing the "who knows high it'll go" thing, is it changing how your'e projects/ builds/redo/ plans on your'e rod/rods?


for me it started in 1999 when l was still working for the BN RR. having to drive 300-700 miles a week or more [ya, a week, lots of driving involved with that job]. my 1965 chevelle wagon was built with a stock 350 chevy, headers, low restriction mufflers, 2 1 /2" exhaust, aluminum intake, small holley econono master 550cfm, 2OOR4, 3:08 gears and 26" tall tires she pulled 22 mpg.
since then all my builds get OD and fairly stock motors. the excption to the rule is the 1933 plymouth with a 385hp ZZ4 motor and 3:50 gears and a 7OOr4,, she is a fair weather car only so l figure 15 mpg [max] on this car won't be all that bad.
my other 3 builds get mild 350's and OD's with tall gears.
18-26 is mpg is the goal for all 3 of the other hot rods.
Later

 

I figure any and all tricks are fair game. Most important is the pleasure of driving something you've created, and fine tuned or evolved. Whether the Pebble-beach Hispano-Suisa owners association approves, or doesn't is okay with me.

 

for a true hot rod, mileage isn't in the equation

 

I have to disagree to some extent on that. The vehicle does no good if you can't afford to drive it. Depends on how much you drive it though. If its a "only comes out once a week/month" type of car then yeah, it doesn't matter. But if your planning to do cross country trips in the car or drive it pretty regularly you'd be crazy not to take some consideration of getting the best mileage out of it you can. Even with a multi carb setup you can take steps to make the car more fuel efficient. It doesn't mean you have to cut back on your plans, just making sure it running correctly will do wonders for MPG, even if your only getting 8 or 9mpg.

Personally I'm planning to at least run an overdrive transmission with a properly sized 4 barrel for the engine build. I'm also planning on 2 wideband oxygen sensors to help get the car properly tuned in. Eventually i hope to go to EFI. I want to drive my car a lot, and that 22gallon tank is not cheap to fill :\

 

If you drive in a pretty limited area it doesn't matter so much but for a lot of miles on the road the cost really adds up.

Hey skull, I just retired a couple of years ago from the BNSF in western Washington.

 

yea, my tunnel ram is coming off in favor of a offenhauser Port-o-sonic and a single 600 to try and get some miliage with my performance.

That tunnel ram and 2 650s would get about 8 mpg, but would sing to 7500.

 

I think the fuel prices will change a lot of people's builds. Maybe not drasticly, but I think there will be a lot more builds focused on mileage with more conservative engines, overdrive units/transmissions, and highway friendly gear ratios.

Besides, once gas prices come back down, you can swap it all out for the fun stuff anyway!

 

Didn't we go through this before in the early 1970s? The magazines like Rod and Custom were full of articles on building/tuning for mpg in the 1972-1974 period. I am too young to remember, but weren't some of the very early hot rod events (1950 or so) reliability runs instead of racing? Times change and the styles change but the overall goal is to drive the car you built!

 

the idea is great but to drive a rod to work but at 700 miles a week that is a lot, try a 4.3 v6 with a 5speed from a chevy truck, but if work is not paying for the gas, then i would probally go with a newer 4 cyl car or 4 cyl chevy truck. doller paybacks are tough to get when building your own car to save gas.

 

I don't smoke, don't drink much, and don't really spend a lot of money on much unless it comes to cars. I don't give a fuck about gas prices I will always drive the car I want to drive. I don't plan on getting a Smart car or putting an LS1 in a custom, I just want to go Low & Sow!!

 

Fuel prices ?? this shit happens every year ,,it's nothing new,,,do what you can when ya can and enjoy..Worst thing about the internet people over think everything

 

Since I already get less than 10 mpg in my present car and my spare motor gets south of that.....I'm destined to go broke....

 

There are two different types of people:

(1.)Those who think the sky is falling.

(2.)Those who think the sky is the limit.

I'm a glass "half-full" type of guy.

 

Are gas prices even a consideration in Dubai?

 

i just figure you have to pay to play. we have no control over it anyway so might as well just bend over and take it up the tailpipe.

 

i wouldn't drive a car that didn't scare me - fuel mileage is secondary

 

Just on the high side of $10 US gallon over here at the moment. Fuck'em in the ear, I'm with these guys. The journey is usually more fun than reaching the destination, and I wanna do it in something that puts a grin on my face.
Paul

 

Well, been living in California and driving old iron everyday. I do about eight hour one way drives. I should probably change my location But when I lived in Dubai it was waaaaaay cheaper than the States thats for sure

 

I have built two hot rods first was in '90s and miles per gallon mattered to me then, the first car was a '54 Ford mordor 350/350 combo 4:10 rear gear drove the car everyday for close to 6 years and got about 15 in the city and close to 21 on the hiway. I drove this car every where for my work also to, Texas, Florida, Michican and Ohio. all this with stock 350 and a 2bbl carb. The next one is the wifes '41 International pick up, again the 350 combo has a mild cam, headers, and 600 Edelbrock carb and intake. it has a 10 bolt rear with 3:08 rears and 29" tall tires, she drove it everyday for a few years also, we take this on long trips as it gete about 16 in town and around 22, 23 on the hiway. I also have a T-Bucket that gets 9 mpg on a good day, the gas tank only holds 6 gal. I drove it to Dayton Ohio last fall, spent as much time getting gas as driving. I thuoght about gas milage way back then.

 

Well, it is a hobby. I'm in a position to not give much of a hoot about gas prices (at least not until they top $5/gal). The hotrods we build/love/drive are mostly about shoving you back in the seat upon any application of the loud pedal. That takes gas-sucking horsepower....so be it. It now costs me nearly $250 to fill up the tanks on my C-185....AvGas is getting very expensive...and that's with no road tax. I agree that we go through this from time to time. In the 70s, I was making less income, everything goes up in price...now gas is getting a bit wild, and with the situation in some of the source countries in constant turmoil - there's no guarantee it's going to stabilize anytime soon. We will either have to drive less (or, I suppose, not at all) or as previously stated...make some economy-driven decision on our current engine combos.

dj

 

Will always drive.. Sure maybe next project rod will be geared towards fuel economy and long distance cruising.. but really.. It's my only "vice". I also plan to reap some $$ rewards from it via buying/selling. I like the guy that says he's a 1/2 full type guy.. I think I am too. You can look at it as.. "hey, maybe more stuff will be available / cheap because people are shying away from the big engine stuff.."... I'm not paying big $$$ for insurance, car payments or anything else.. so really.. even if it is a gas guzzler.. you're still ahead.

 

Yeah we said the same thing in 73? when they had to change all the gas pumps to 3 digit numbers!!! over a dollar a gallon!!! Were are doooooomed!!! Real hot rods with big motors were a thing of the past!!! Yeah right!

Relax it will come back down but not all the way. We'll get used to it and keep on strokin'. I keep rooting for the Volt to take over the commuter car market so that the real gas can be used on the weekends.

We can't control it so why bitch about it? Just roll with the flow and do the best you can with what you've got.

 

And keep in mind that the American dollar is worth about fifty-cents, so
we're only paying half as much!

 

on my 33 pickup the only time i think about gas mileage is when I fill it up. However on my A sedan I am going to be running a stock 302 with a small 4 barrel carb. hoping to get decent highway mileage so I can go to a few shows with my wife and son.

 

I remember how to siphon gas!

 

I have a $500 beater for commuting that gets 28 mpg and hauls plenty of parts. Then again, the 53 gets almost 20 now with a q-jet and 700r4.

 

Well, fuel economy is a concern for me, family of five, single income...but don't want to give up driving old cars and don't want to go broke doing so. Plans for my 50 Plymouth Suburban are to TBI the 276 Desoto and run a 2004r with decent gears. Hoping I can achieve 20 out of it if I drive it nice. This will also allow my wife to drive it much easier. For what it is worth, these were the plans before the recent gas spike, not in panic mode, just trying to be smart with our money while enjoying the cars as much as I can.

 

Why is this an issue?

Where is is written that a hotrod MUST get poor fuel economy???

The worst mileage on any performance car that I have owned in the last 52 years was a 1963 327/340 Corvette that pulled down 17 on the highway.

Hodrodding used to be about working on, tuning, and improving the vehicle. Has this changed?

Jon.

 

I think hotrodding is changing. Not that I'm one to talk about saving money when it comes to fuel. But hotrodding is certainly growing in popularity, bringing more and more people into the hobby or culture or whatever you wanna call it....and we're seeing alot of "regular Joes" wanting to get on the road now too.

The economy is the shits, wages are going up at a much slower rate than consumables and alot of people are holding down shitty low paying jobs, but still dream of being able to afford a hotrod, and also looking to be able to afford to drive it....ie. insurance, maintenance, fuel.

I think we're gonna see alot of 4 cyl fuel savers start popping up. The lack of H.P. would seem to defeat the purpose for most of us, but for some of us that's the only way it's gonna be possible to have a hotrod on the road.

Why not fire a zippy little 4 banger in a small t roadster or something lightweight...probably be fun....

at least until you rolled up alongside me on the highway!

 

X2

Problem is, most don't tune their automobile. It's mostly plug and play for a good lot of people. The thought of the car as a whole and how it will operate together is seldom given any thought.

Form follows function.