I got 27 mpg in my 51 chevy on the drive to the mooneyes show last month. I have a 235 with the stock tranny, 3.55 gears and L78-15 tires. I drove at about 50 mph because of the rain.
my 41 coupe, 305, crane cam, 600 webber, 3 speed saggy, 3.73 gears with a 28 tall tire, gets around 23 on the hiway. When i romp on it though, it gets about 3
i think my daily driver gas hog does around between 8-12 depending on how i mash the pedal on the right and how many times i clutch it before it get up to 55 mph. less than two clutch touches and it's more like 7. bbc on 3.25's and dn 5 spd, not very savy with the mpg's but very fun to drive, would be better with 2.73's or overdrive richmond. the 350 with 2.73's i had did like 15 on the freeway, too bad i had to run 91 octane at 4 dollars a gallon at the time, it still had a little get up and go.
Just another idiotic post. There were and are plenty of hot rods with straight 6's. Where do these guys come from?
The wife gets 32mpg at 70mph out of her 215 Buick in a 29A RP. Its took a fair bit of tuning to get there but its really good considering fuel is $9 a gallon here.
My 52 Pontiac with the 268 Flathead straight eight averaged 22-24mpg when I took it to Charleston back in October. It's nothing special though, just bored .060 over, Hydramatic car... Plan to change it to straight drive this winter sometime if I get a chance to.
I read an article in a recent Chevy High Perf. magazine . Some dude put a dura max diesel in a 70 chevelle. It makes almost 1,000 h.p. and 1,700 ft. lbs and gets somewhere around 35 mpg (according to the owner.) He guesses it's a 9 second ride. This is based on my memory of what I read. If someone calls bullshit, I can scan the article if necessary. I'm getting ready to put a 2002 LS1 in my 65 cadillac. I'm expecting at least 18 mpg with a 300 hp motor.
I would definitely believe that just knowing how diesel technology has advanced over the past few years!
I've got a 69 vette 427 BB with holly 650 and 400 turbo and 3:08 gears,running 32 inch tall tires on back.I drove to chattanooga and back from sweetwater and used a 1/2 a tank of gas.Thats about 200 miles.I thought that was damb good.Considering that I turn 16 when I'm looking that windshield.Truck is 67 C-10,not sure what it weighs.
Gas mileage claims are always interesting.If you're bored do some reading on the old Mobil Economy run contest.They used to loosen up engine clearances,mess with timing and jets, overinflate the tires,roll down hills in neutral,all usually done by professional drivers.So..it seems 50 years later some guys get better mileage out of some cars that were used in the economy runs back then.
Good mileage is an engineering challenge like any other. For many years (don't know about now) Indy cars only had so much fuel to run the 500 miles. Getting good mileage was just another facet of the problem. The car / driver could be rocket fast, but if the team ran the tank dry at lap 195, everyone looked like idiots. I put a V6 in my little truck, and it should scoot pretty good. But when I get it all tuned-up, I'm hoping (praying even) for every MPG I can get. Remember when the bottom hit last year and fuel got down to around 2 bucks a gallon again? Where's it going lately? Gary
Why does love of high-performance automobiles have to equate with a love of waste? I thought performance was about efficiency. Certainly if your car gets 30mpg at the expense of worse-than-stock performance, its no hot rod, but if its performing better, Id say that it is - even if its no 8-second terror on the strip. I would love to see the article about the diesel-engined Chevelle. I have a buddy whos dying to do something similar with a Cummins and a Road Runner, and Ive always wanted a Powerstroke-motivated 59 Country Squire. -Dave
There was a duramax powered Mustang on Dragweek that averaged 38.5mpg over their entire trip (to the event, the event and then back home). It ran a best of 9.71@147
heres the chevelle...... http://www.popularhotrodding.com/features/0906phr_1970_chevy_chevelle_turbo_diesel/index.html
I dont know I owned one of those GM converted deisel engine trucks back in 81. One of the biggest tolits ive ever owned.
my dad remember's about a college professor at WSU that had a 4 barrel carb on his GTO w/389 that burn rubber and then cruise on the highway. he was getting 45mpg. he sold the carb to a company and never saw it again. my dad had a 79 chevy pickup with a 305 he built with a high rise intake, 3/4 race cam, headers, straight pipes, no cats or smog pump. got 12mpg in the city and @ 70mph. same when he had the six in there to begin with. when he was doing 80-90mph, he would get 18mpg. I think it's all about where the power band is set to get optimum mileage than just keeping the rpm for cruising set low. just my opinion.
well here is how the fuel economy works out in my brain.. a more powerful engine is a more efficient engine which means it doesn't have to work as hard to motivate the vehicle. like this tip i got from a long time engine builder. put a RV cam in it and don't tell em. cause if you tell em its got an extra 50hp there gonna wanna use all of it. my old neighbor had an early 80's chevy truck, it had a 8-71 blown 454 light throttle driving it got arround 20mpg, hotrod the daymn thing and ya got like 4 lol. and then there was a guy that claimed he got 20mpg in a 71 coupe deville that had the 700r4 swapped in. idunno about that one tho.
I have been working with Diesels for years, and even ones powered by alternative fuels. Performance and mileage are both out there if you want them. It is not traditional, nor is it appropriate for this site, not to mention that the mere mention of what I have built would make many here pretty stabby. 33MPG, 500hp, 140MPH, all in 5000+ lb., all with the same tune, in a classic sedan. It can be done.
56 ford fairlane victoria 292 with tri power stock automatic and stock rear end 19.5 40 Ford panel delivery 69 351 W 2 barrell engine stock with performer intake and autolite 4100 carb with home made headers 4 speed with 3.0 gears 22 mpg 51 Mercury coupe Custom 95 Lincoln Mark 8 32 Valve 4.6 with auto overdrive and stock 3.08 Mark 8 rear end assy cruise all day at 27 mpg (has all factory computer /fuel injection) of course out here in New Mexico most driving is hiway
i've been thinking about this a little with the 60 f250 i just picked up. i'd love to do a small isuzu 4cyl diesel but my diesel knowledge is on the low side so i'll probably let that pass. theres a coupla bumpsides on the fte boards doing those conversions but i'm not sure if theres one on the road yet. i do have a little idea in my head about a ford 300 6, backed by a AOD, with maybe something like low 3's or high 2's for rear gears, tires i'm considering are only around 27" but i can't find any that fit the specifics i'm looking for without dropping big money with having them made(16' skinny whitewalls and so far i'm limited to 235/60/16 in a standard production tire but i haven't completed my search) but having a set made could be an option. but even running that size in theory it should pull just fine around town with the torque the 300 gives and with the AOD should get decent mileage...ken....
every once in a while hot rod does that article 30+ mpg hot rods. i have it somwhere there were a bunch. iirc there were alot of diesels.
Weight has nothing to do with gas mileage at a constant speed.(getting to that speed is a different story but then your talking about acceleration not fuel mileage). The things you need to look at are Volumetric efficiency, combustion chamber shape, displacement, overall final drive ratio. and drag force on the car(coeffiecent of drag X frontal area). For those that think you can't get low drag out of a hot rod - shut up and go to Bonneville. I'll bet $100 to a box of doughnuts the Studebaker cars have a lower drag force then any new car under $75,000(and probably less than a new corvette). You don't need a 6 speed to get a low overall final ratio, but it helps. lets look at a C6 for a second: Rear end gear: 3.42 Overdrive: .50 Tire: 245/45/17 (i know thats not right its just an arbitrary size) 75 Mph engine rpm = 1678.6 Now lets say you got a '50 ford with a T-5 what would it take to get that cruising rpm? Over drive .71 same tire as above same mph A 2.42 rear end gear will pull 1686.69 rpm. thats a pretty high gear but thats not totally out of the realm of possibility and if your trying to get gas mileage thats what your going to have to due short of getting a 6 speed.
The Jalopy Journal
