MPG experiment....1976 Dart Lite
My 360 crate motor with a 750 carb, 3.55 rear and 0.68 OD fifth gets 18 on the highway. The 225 should have a lot more potential. How much would EFI help? A hot spark with lots of advance is good (MSD). A front air dam would clean up the aerodynamics a little. K&N air filter is easy. Manual steering has to help. Aluminum wheels are a definite advantadge. How much power does a manual fuel pump use compared to an electric?
I agree, the 225 should be better.
--EFI would be nice, but not in the budget.
--Spark is definately an area for improvement, there is a common HEI modification that puts more spark energy to the distributor, it is coming as time allows.
--Air dam or belly pan is in the works, better chance when warmer weather comes around.
--Alum wheels would be nice, but with small bolt pattern, choices are ususally cast, and limited at that. I doubt cast aluminum is going to be much lighter then the 15" ralleye wheels that are on it, and not willing to spend hundreds of $$ for a couple lbs per corner of savings....
--electric pump...maybe down the road. I am on my 2nd mechanical pump.
I think the limiting factor right now is carb tune and ignition. The carb has basics rebuild, but jetting could help. Timing is stock, and I have not pulled distributor to see if advance weights are stuck, etc. I may be leaving a lot on the table here.
First is to get the gas tank sealed so I can see how the synthetic fluids, exhaust, etc helped. Then I will start with other stuff.
Thanks for the POSITIVE contribution!