You gotta pick yer poison. What do I consider 1st? Kool. Proper (very vague on that, very subjective). Reality (like budget, availability). Power. Transmissions. In my book you pick the car or get an idea. Then you decide what you can really do with it. Dreams can come true...for a price! Sometimes easy and cheap is perfect. Sometimes nothing but the best will do. Sometimes (restoration) you have no choices and you simply have to use what's in it to begin with. That applies to old kustoms and racers too. If wanted an old 30s car to try to use daily, it would most likely be a typical boring Ford coupe, a typical chassis, and something as simple as the SBC. The most loved AND hated of all hot rod powerplants. I'd get mileage, power, light wt, kool factor, ease of maintainence, parts availability (same as maint.), and some resale value for my trouble when I get bored with it. I'd guess a warmed up SBC in an A cpe on the right driveline could score MPG numbers in the mid to high 20s cruising and terrorize any cruise night hang at will. Best of all worlds. My 61 bubbletop gets a SBC and OD. Too easy, proper, good MPG numbers again, and 1/3 the cost of trying to put a 6MPG fire-breathing 409 in it. I live a minimum of 35-40 miles from any good gathering. If I want to drive it I have to be realistic. And yeah, I know, I could do blah, blah, blah and get better numbers from a W motor. Save it. I'll pass.
When gas is kicking my ass I get on my bike for a bit. My 66 F100 got 18k put on it last year and thats with a worn 352 and a c-6 with 3.55s out back. Id see 12-15 MPG on the highway depeding on the speed. We will see how it does with a fresh 390 in the next year. Just have everything work together, I see people dump 2.79s in a 9 inch and think less rpms on the highway= more MPG. It doesnt always work that way.
Unfortunately, being on SS my main controling factor is $$$. But I still wanted something cool, and a little different with a bit of an attitude. It took almost 18 months to complete, but I am very happy with what have with the $$$ I had to spend. And PorkB'nr is correct. Do NOT COMPRIMISE!! Good luck, and Cheers...
I start with the engine that came in the vehicle, and go from there. I always figured that power, economy, and reliability are possible; and all from the same engine. It just depends on how much homework I do BEFORE I start. Jon.
It all depends....on what ya plan to do with a car. For me, daily driver priority is good fuel economy. For my pickup, will it pull anything I need moved. Recreational driver, gotta look good, sound good, have reasonable performance (350 hp or better). Race car, another thing 1.5 gal of alky to the eighth mile. It all depends.....compromise is more than one vehicle. (wait is that a compromise?)
I guess if i had to have one vehicle it would be a 41 Dodge, 1 ton with a Cummins/auto trans and extended cab, 20 mpg, hwy, looks good, can tow about anything.
I was at a stop light one day and an older lady next to me, rols down her window and asked me what kind of mileage I was getting. I was driving my T bucket. I told her that I didn't build it for that. I built it for fun. Hondas are for MPG ratings. Hot Rods are for going fast.
Nothin' like a big bad-assed fire-breathing V8. But especially with a car that's driven a lot, mileage is important. Less fun, if you're dumping all your $ into the gas tank. Overdrive trans helps. A relatively short-stroke engine helps. And who needs 500+hp on the street? 300hp will smoke 'em, especially in a light coupe or roadster. This caught my attention. MerCruiser 4cyl. Crossflow head. Good power. American-made. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=256713
It's all about balance. It can be too tempting to use the biggest most powerful motor. But if the car can't handle it, it will be no fun to drive and maybe even dangerous. In other words, do not overmatch the size of the car, the brakes, suspension etc. I think we have all done this when we were young and stupid, and wound up with a car that was almost undrivable, or fun for a 1/4 mile at a time lol. Today it is possible to get a lot of power out of a small block engine. In a light car and have plenty of power and not bad mileage.
As I read these responses I feel a little spoiled and a bit like an ass. I work less than 3 miles from home, an live less than 2 miles from any store I go to. No highway just city. I have grown so used to even a 10 mile a gallon vehicle having a tank last a whole week I honestly don't even blink when I have to stop and fill up on a long trip. I suppose if I was making cross country instead of cross state trips I would think more about mileage, but for me I just want a drivetrain that starts and idles great, and has no overheating or idling issues in city type traffic.
cake and eat it too! I've had 6 cars running 331 Cad motors. the only one that didn't get over 20 mpg highway was a 53 coupe de ville with dual quads at 17 mpg. My 48 Plymouth sedan running a hydro and 2.91 rear would pull 24 with the AC running. My current build is a tri-power equipped 331 cad powered 54 GMC with a granny geared 4 speed and 3.0 rear. it's my first stick cad and I'm expecting great mpg and smiles per mile. if it doesn't work I have a rebuilt 3 speed O.D. standing by. I've increased the aerodynamics a bit. the roof of the truck is 16 inches lower than stock.
Gimpy, I must be tuned to your wavelength, because I saw this thread and said " I gotta say something". Lo and behold, the last person to say something was the guy I talked at length about it not a year ago. Too funny.
Just in the for what its worth category, I rarely stop with the engine. I look at the entire vehicle, and sometimes go a little overboard in reducing mass (weight). As an example, my 1974 GTO (yes, I know, not a conventional hot rod) weighs a little more than 800 pounds less than it did when it came off the assembly line. Double the power output of the original engine, make a few mods to the suspension, and the car is fun to drive. It also beats 20 MPG at 70. Jon.
Yeah, I took my wife's Dodge for a drive a few nights ago. Then I ordered a new speedometer for it ($200, ouch!).
It's all about carbs for me... I love having more than one. I have a J2 setup on my early Olds Rocket 303 in the 40, a 2x2 on my early olds Rocket 324 in the 32, and a kinda rare mech secondary "over the counter/offroad use only- Direct Connection" tri power on the 69 Dart 340 4sp conv. ....and a spare 348 with a tripower manifold..
Actually, a tripower with progressive linkage on a 303 should be capable of pretty decent mpg, although you still may want to replace that fuel tank if you want to have any sort of cruising range........
My last four builds I installed overdrives in: Ford 302/AOD, 350/TKO600, 350/200R4, 390/TKO500. Why not take advantage of longer lasting engine, better off the line acceleration with higher top end, quieter ride,and much better mpg! See photo album. The engines I had before that were: 383/4-spd, 454/4-spd, 455 H.O./M22 4-spd, 402/TH400, 390/toploader 4-spd. ALL these engines struggled to get up to 12 mpg or less. Two of these muscle cars I could watch the gas gauge move as I drove to the grocery store! I'm glad overdrive transmissions are available that can handled over 500 ft lbs tq. When I installed the overdrive transmissions in my cars the whole driving experience change and the cars seemed like they had gained 100 more hp, and get 30% better mpg!