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Post Info TOPIC: Ratio Rocket Scientists Requested.


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Ratio Rocket Scientists Requested.


OK here's a question for you highly technical engineers to ponder.

 

Whats the best engine/ignition/carb,inject/trans/rearend combination to achieve the highest fuel economy?

 

Please bare in mind these factors.

62-64 4 door Acadian.  Limit your answers to V6 or V8, no inline 4 or 6cyl.

 

Hopeful answer is - power to pass on highway, cruise comfortably, achieve better than 17 to 25 mpg if that's possible.

 

Your the teacher I'm the student confuse

 

Any and all answers and insights greatly appreciated.  Ted

P.S. I shouldn't rule out or exclude the inline 6 members in the group. Maybe there's ideas to be investigated for old engines, and possibly newer modern inline 6 cyl.



-- Edited by 4 DOOR FIX UP on Friday 28th of October 2016 10:06:05 AM

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A Poncho Legend!

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Boy, are you gonna get a variety of answers! I can't wait to see this...

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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles 

1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars



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5.3 LS, 4L60e, 3.73 gears. Enough power to rip the tires off, mellow enough to be a dead reliable daily driver, should easily hit 25+ mpg on the highway. Cheap and plentiful. The only con is it will not look period correct when you lift the hood.

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A Poncho Legend!

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I agree with Pathfinder. Keep the fuel injection setup. With a laptop you'll be able to play around with the fuel map to achieve the best mpg.

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Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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57 Pathfinder wrote:

5.3 LS, 4L60e, 3.73 gears. Enough power to rip the tires off, mellow enough to be a dead reliable daily driver, should easily hit 25+ mpg on the highway. Cheap and plentiful. The only con is it will not look period correct when you lift the hood.


 x3  My setup,410 hp and 25.7 mpg smile



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Poncho Master!

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Cheap and easy ,any small block with a performer cam, edelbrock intake and edelbrock carb, rams horn exhaust manifolds with a 700r4 with 3:55 or 3:73gears. My good friends 56 Nomad with a 265 Powerpak, 700r4 with 3:55 original diff achieved 27 mpg with 3 adults on a trip From Timmins to Detroit. This include our luggage spare parts and a full cooler of beer. We travelled at the speed limits most of the time and cruised easily at 70-75 mph on the interstate highways. No need to change gas tank, fuel lines motor mounts nothing major.
I agree the 5.3 LS 4L60E combinations are getting really cheap to buy. I bought a running but rusty 2004 Silverado with that combination and drove it home for $500.Sold the tranny for $500 the transfer case for $250 and have the rest of it for free. Just to buy a gas tank set up to run the LS engine will cost you $500 plus computer wiring etc.

The cheapest way to do any swap is to buy a complete running vehicle. For your swap a two wheel drive pickup from the mid 80.s with a 350 and 700r4 combination or an impala or caprice with the same combination.

Al

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My 2¢

Modern fuel injection cannot be beat for mileage, performance and driveability. But swapping them into our old cars is not trivial.

I agree with Taylor55 that the cheapest way to do it is buy a running vehicle and steal the engine, transmission, plus all the wiring, fuel pumps, sensors, computer etc from it.

Small things can still cause you grief. Such as: The newer transmissions (like the 4L60E) do not have mechanical speedometer gears, so connecting your speedo becomes another obstacle.

I've owned several cars with respectable power and, driven conservatively, managed over 24 mpg. That's with carburetor and a non-overdrive transmission (but rear end ratios in the 3.08 to 3.23:1 range). I had a '65 GTO years ago with a '69 Pontiac 400, 4 bbl, muncie. I was always surprised when I checked fuel mileage. Always averaged mid-20's mpg, even with some "energetic" driving. I had a '64 Olds Cutlass with 330 CID, 4 bbl, T400 and got about 25 mpg. My Beaumont, with 330 HP 350 CID, 700R4, 3.73:1 gears does over 20 mpg in combined driving. Around town, my mileage varies depending on how often the secondaries are opening up. The gears and engine combination should allow you to cruise along at highway speed without the secondaries opening. If the engine is under-powered, or if the RPM's are too high, causing the secondaries to be open all the time, your mileage will be dismal (at least that's been my experience).

Your Acadian is pretty light. As an alternative to the V8 swap, you could look at swapping a v-6 out of a Buick GN, or possibly a mid-'80's Monte Carlo. Personally, I'd go for the V8 options. More power, likely mileage would be just as good, resale would be better, and the parts will be easier to find (and likely cheaper).

If you are electronically inclined, like testing wiring harnesses and tweaking ECU's, then fuel injection is the way to go, and the 5.3 LS is perfect. If you're like me and prefer mechanical linkages and carburetors, get a mild 350, gear it so you're doing about 1800 to 2000 RPM at highway speed.


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A Poncho Legend!

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I'm old school.

327, quadrajet, maybe a later model with overdrive. Keep it simple.

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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles 

1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars



Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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Cost wise...if you have to rebuild a sb,buy all the add on's headers/carb/intake etc and then buy a od trans think it would come out close to the same as an LS if you can buy a complete vehicle and do some of the work youself. Just a matter of what you really want old school or new? Rough idea of what it cost (motor/trans) and a sh$t load of work! If keeping the stock front end you'll need the GTO pan kit to clear stock steering linkage.

1000- complete 2000 GMC truck
200- rad
150- fuse panel,relays,wire
500- GTO pan kit
900- CBR headers
80- air box setup (astrovan and truck)
0- throtle linkcage (Stock truck and car)
20- trans cross member material ( made)
100- engine mounts
80- new waterpump
450- cam
120- Intake cover
45- rad/heater hoses
250- fuel pump/filter/lines
240- trans cooler/lines/pan/filter
0- Cooling (stock truck fan)
20- shifter linkage and detent (made)
140- ecm program
180- plugs/wires
60- paint/clear
40- drive shaft (wreckers)
60- u joints
200-fluids/clamps etc
130- gauges
260-shift kit/fluids
----------------------------------------
5225.00


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Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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Carl Stevenson wrote:

I'm old school.

327, quadrajet, maybe a later model with overdrive. Keep it simple.


 I run a 327 glide , rv style cam . Big q jet . And a glide.  3.36 gear . Tall tire 27.5".  And do 23 mpg..   4000 lb car . 

Simple ... 



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later...rog

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I'm a collector...not a builder!!Located in sunny central Saskatchewan at the lakehead!
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