Hot Rods modern hot rodder or dinosaur???

Naw I was going to use a 400+ hp 22 mile to the gallon SBC in my current project. Now that gas prices are going sky high I am going to use a 2x4 big inch dinosaur in front of a B&M Hydrostick.

Perhaps my last great act of defiance. Never give an inch I always say.

 

I rack up a lot of miles going anywhere from here and like to drive my cars so I tend to favor 305's with a cam and an overdrive automatic. Gives me high 20's for gas mileage.

 

The great thing about hot rods and the people that build them is flexibility. When fuel prices rise, a car can be changed to suit the need. If affordable high octane fuel comes around again, deep gears, high stall converters and tunnel rams may all the rage.

 

I don't like the high gas prices, but I'm certainly not going to let it destroy what I enjoy doing. That said, when I changed the plymouth from a 2400 stall converter and 727 tourque flight trans to a Tremac TKO600, My freeway milage went from about 11mpg to about 19mpg. Other side effects? How about much quicker E.T.s due to much inproved gearing and a much higher, lazier theoretical top speed (tested in real time several times!!!) due to the deep overdrive top gear! Not a bad trade off all together... Sometimes this stuff does go hand in hand!

 

running as hard as I can to use up all this lousy fossil fuel !

 

I'm lucky, at 62 years old I can't drive my 29 roadster far enough for gas to be the issue, the real issue is can my knees and back take it. I knew getting old would have its rewards.......

 

thaks for all the input

oldschool66::I'm lucky, at 62 years old I can't drive my 29 roadster far enough for gas to be the issue, the real issue is can my knees and back take it. I knew getting old would have its rewards.......

dad allways said gettin' old is for the tough or was is it gettin old is tough

 

Although I just posted on the thread about driving V8s with the price of gas (YES still driving) I have been thinking of changing transmissions. Stepping up to the 700R4, and my son is looking at one of the fuel injection systems for the F1. I have done the cost/benefit thing on the issue and am leaning to fuel injection with 700R4. Just not finding any real downfalls to this setup other than cost and it might pay for itself in the long run.

 

I changed from a TH350 to 700R4 in my '56 and it made it a much better car for cross country trips. Mileage went up and the decibels went down. It lost something going to the local burger stand but 400 mile road trips were much more pleasant, not to mention less expensive.

 

Modern generation V8s can have both astounding performance and great gas mileage - just look at the Corvette Z06 with the LS 7. 505hp and up to to 28 Hwy mpg. Use a multispeed automatic such as a 6L80E. Yep not traditional and not cheap, but....

 

I don't play golf, drink at the bar after work, or smoke so I figure I save more than enough money to pay for the gas to drive my coupe when and where I want to.

 

All I know is if I had known I was going to get this old I would have taken better care of myself when I was young.

I don't do any of those things and I can't drive your coupe when and where I want to. I been robbed.

 

Well even down here, Im having to economise too.

Gas is $7.80 per US (3.8 litre) gallon (way cheaper than Europe tho) so Im looking to remove the two 1095 Dominators off my bucket and get some 750s instead. 4.56 gears will be replaced with 3.0s and highway fuel eccomomy should get back up to 10mpg.

Its got 540 cubes and a 671 on it. Can anyone tell me if Im better to go to a bigger blower and underdrive it? I have a Bowers 1071 in the spare room that I was saving for a FED project.

I did 5000 miles in the bucket with the Edelbrock 750s and 3.0 gears, but the current set up does under 3mpg. So it spends too much time in the shed.

And I figure you can buy a power of a lot of gas for the price of a flash EFI setup.

My other hot rod project has a 700R4 in it, and a vortex supercharged 350 LT1 so Im figuring that will see 20mpg if I drive it gently. I think the o/d trans is the future (but I may be 40 years behind the times)

 

Its still cheaper here than Europe / UK and those guys pay through the nose for American parts so compared to them we can't bitch that much. When I have money I put gas in the car, when I don't I dont. Fuck it.

 

The 351-W in my 55 sunliner will be getting a torque cam and since the C-4 could use some attention I am thinking about a AOD if I can find one of those Lentech valve bodys that o/d can be turned on and off reasonbly priced.

 

if you can't afford to drive it you probably can't afford to build it.

 

fuel mileage doesnt mater it's a hotrod!.....unless you drive it! Please use overdrive in your next build... make it a hotrod that you drive..... alot

 

The price of fuel is one of the lowest costs of car ownership.

 

just Dont use an RV cam, your not towing.... Use a hot rod cam and use over drive. I would bet most hotrods can get close to 20 mpg on the road with overdrive. Doesnt matter much if all your doing is going to is an icecream social down the street. What if you go to get BBQ that is 300 miles away? you need over drive!

 

Driving a 31 Ford PU with a 239" flathead. Got a 39 tans behind it w/3:27 gear .Running 2 deuces right now but have been planning on TBI in near futue. Get 20 on hwy now. Going to TBI for bette perrformance & easier on engine.
Butch

 

My kinda guy!

 

Does it really matter what u pay for gas when it takes u years to build a car I think not it's more of the rush of driving your car down the road. If we really cared about gas prices we would be building electric cars, not hot rods. You wanna drive 700 miles a week buy a smart car. They can save some money on gas.

 

as others have touched on, a well-built engine and drivetrain will get decent mileage. If you're getting under 5mpg in something that weighs less than a new Mini, there are probably issues with your setup that are hurting more than fuel economy.

 

Residents in Dubai pay around 1$ a gallon

 

My first Falcon was a Futura with a fresh 302 /2bbl / C4. Ran circles around most cars on the road and got 22-25 mpg doing it.

Today I'm still geared for balance= fun and affordability. My recent move to Wyoming has thrown another spanner wrench into the works though. WINTER !! My current little Falcon sits most of the time because it cant buck the drifts. Sooooo if I want a daily driver here, it needs to be a 4x4, and I found that carbs dont like to start when its -20 out. So I found a 59 Dodge 1/2 ton AND an 89 Dodge Ramcharger....almost a bolt in swap. Should get 16-20 mpg as well.

On the other hand, the 46 Chev PU will either get a 348/powerglide or a 235/3spd. Haven't made up my mind yet.

59 Biscayne is getting a 350/350 with hiway gears. Family cruiser.

I think the use of each project dictates how it will be built.

I remember in the early '80s my mom, dad, and myself went on a road trip with our 52 Merc. All original, flathead V8/three on a tree. We drove it from Salem,OR to Cheyenne Wy and back. It got 22+ and all Dad did was grumble it didn't have O.D....lol

 

It has changed for some, but not me. I'm still trying to achieve great fuel economy.....

 

all my cars have been converted to run on bullshit.

 

What is the exchange rate?

 

My rod gets just over twice the mileage as my OT/DD. The rod is fast and fun (the OT/DD just can't be tuned any better, I have tried).

If bad tuning and setup is traditional, we need to leave that tradition behind.

Every vehicle that I build is built for maximum fuel economy for the setup that it has, with the setup that it has properly chosen for its intended usage patterns.

There is no reason whatsoever for waste. The equation between poor fuel economy and high performance is a specious one. It seems to be a myth perpetuated by those who do not have the ability to properly select parts or tune an engine.

If anything, those who perpetuate this myth, and refuse to improve their skills will do us all a disfavor. There are may people in power that would see our hobby removed from the face of the Earth. Why give them ammunition to do so? There is no good reason our rides cannot be clean, fast, fun, and traditional.