318 MAX fuel economy builds?

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As much as I can do. I focus on the wet flow areas, so with PFI I usually just work the head ports. On carb applications, as much of the manifold as I can reach.
 
autopar3000 said:
This is a ton of great information. I don't mind reading a long post, but to @rumblefish360's point, proper paragraphs are key for me.

The one thing I think most guys don't consider enough with fuel economy is the bit about parasitic losses. Over the years I have put some thought into efficiency for power and fuel economy, but never considered casting flash in the oil and coolant passages. That's definitely not nothing.

Here are a couple more things to consider, not necessarily directly related to the engine:

Electric fan. I know some guys hate them, but in 20+ years the electric fan I've had on my car has done the job and I'm sure saved a ton of fuel.

Synthetic fluids everywhere at the lowest viscosity you can get away with. I won't open the can of worms on engine oil, but the ATF+4 is a good choice for efficiency in an automatic transmission. And a synthetic 75w-90 gear oil for the differential will also help. Even synthetic wheel bearing grease might do something, if only a little bit.

Also, 4 wheel drum brakes are probably better than older disc brakes. Many old disc brake setups tended to have a slight bit of contact between the pads and rotors all the time.

Finally, an air dam at the front of the car. Not just a chin spoiler, but a dam that curves around to keep oncoming air off the front tires. The 91 Ford Ranger piece seems to work well on A bodies. You can search this site for examples of guys doing it.
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Paragraphs and punctuation definitely help. lol
 
Stay far away from the 360, my 01 ram van with the magnum gets 12.3 no matter how I drive it. On a good day sitting in driveway without it running I can get 17-18 mpg
 
Reading through these posts have given me an idea, I have the TQ carb and sp2p intake, so I remove the TBI and intake on my pickup, maybe I’m in the 20 plus range!
 
@Ceedawg - What’s your gear ratio and tire size? What engine? That SP2P is a very low and restrictive intake. It’ll help get mileage if the rest is up or it.
 
rumblefish360 said:
@Ceedawg - What’s your gear ratio and tire size? What engine? That SP2P is a very low and restrictive intake. It’ll help get mileage if the rest is up or it.
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Maybe 2.94 904 lock up 318 TBI engine, the intake is like the one pictured in the first couple posts only it’s a 4 barrel type. Not a race truck!
 
Whew…. This could be a little tough considering the weight and awesome aerodynamics of a moving brick sitting high up vs a car.

If you’re like me, enjoy tinkering around with it!
On my sons ‘91 FI W150 4X4, I used a Edelbrock fuel pressure regulator with the electric in tank pump. Dumbed that pressure right down to a carb friendly level right quick.
 
Ceedawg said:
Stay far away from the 360, my 01 ram van with the magnum gets 12.3 no matter how I drive it. On a good day sitting in driveway without it running I can get 17-18 mpg
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Sounds just like my old 84 D350 pickup. 360/727, 4.10 Dana.

Around town - 12mpg

Interstate at 55- 70 mph - 12mpg

Pushed out of the back of a C130 at 30K feet - 12mpg

:rofl:
 
JDMopar said:
Sounds just like my old 84 D350 pickup. 360/727, 4.10 Dana.

Around town - 12mpg

Interstate at 55- 70 mph - 12mpg

Pushed out of the back of a C130 at 30K feet - 12mpg

:rofl:
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Sounds like my 97 v10 2500 Dodge.
 
rumblefish360 said:
Whew…. This could be a little tough considering the weight and awesome aerodynamics of a moving brick sitting high up vs a car.

If you’re like me, enjoy tinkering around with it!
On my sons ‘91 FI W150 4X4, I used a Edelbrock fuel pressure regulator with the electric in tank pump. Dumbed that pressure right down to a carb friendly level right quick.
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Mine is 2x4 way down on the ground, what’s the # on that regulator?
 
Ceedawg said:
Mine is 2x4 way down on the ground, what’s the # on that regulator?
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A fresh photo from under the hood!

380D21E6-BB39-4E7A-BD01-8875B214162F.jpeg
 
Ceedawg said:
Stay far away from the 360, my 01 ram van with the magnum gets 12.3 no matter how I drive it. On a good day sitting in driveway without it running I can get 17-18 mpg
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You must have purchased the "lean sip" version. My 2002 Van with 5.9 is 11mpg. Foot in it, foot out, around town, on the hwy, stock clapped out engine, new rebuild with goodies, rolling down the backside of a mountain...

High top doesn't help matters at all.
 
I was thinking about adding the Mallory Hy Fire pro 695 to my Edelbrock distributor and Promaster coil. Does anyone have input on the Hy Fire? Will it do the job? Does it work the same fashion as an MSD box? Will it even help my MPG let alone hp over the basic dist and coil That I'm currently running?
 
Dmopower said:
I was thinking about adding the Mallory Hy Fire pro 695 to my Edelbrock distributor and Promaster coil. Does anyone have input on the Hy Fire? Will it do the job? Does it work the same fashion as an MSD box? Will it even help my MPG let alone hp over the basic dist and coil That I'm currently running?
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If it’s the MSD/Mallory box I’d pass on it. If it’s an actual Mallory ignition I’d use it.
 
It would be fun to do a mpg comparison with stock ignition, a basic Pertronix, and MSD to see if the high dollar set up is really worth it.
 
mgoblue9798 said:
And that is the tradeoff. But those that are looking for fuel efficiency aren't turning their v8 engines to 5k rpms.
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That was sarcasm.......The reason I posted that article is that that manifold is claimed to be too small to support any sort of power by the usual an engine is just an air pomp crowd but was only 17 hp down at maximum air flow demand. Vacuum is what vaporizes fuel so you can actually use it so if a so called "restrictive" manifold can improve vaporization then your making more power because you're actually burning more of the fuel.

There's a big difference between quantity of mixture and quality of mixture. Just because your carb meters a hypothetically correct AFR of 14.7 doesn't mean that's what the cylinder actually sees at ignition time.
 
Hysteric said:
That was sarcasm.......The reason I posted that article is that that manifold is claimed to be too small to support any sort of power by the usual an engine is just an air pomp crowd but was only 17 hp down at maximum air flow demand. Vacuum is what vaporizes fuel so you can actually use it so if a so called "restrictive" manifold can improve vaporization then your making more power because you're actually burning more of the fuel.

There's a big difference between quantity of mixture and quality of mixture. Just because your carb meters a hypothetically correct AFR of 14.7 doesn't mean that's what the cylinder actually sees at ignition time.
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Almost got it right. So close…

The PLUG may not see 14.7 because you are look at an average.
 
Rat Bastid said:
Almost got it right. So close…

The PLUG may not see 14.7 because you are look at an average.
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Average of what? Average of what leaves the booster on that particular induction stroke? Average of what the charge is distributed to adjoining cylinders? Average of what is impinged on the manifoold walls? Average of what the cylinder actually gets? Average of what actually converts to a burnable afr?

Almost, so close.........:rofl:
 
Dmopower said:
How do you tell the difference?
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By when it’s made. If it’s after whatever the date was that MSD bought out Mallory then it’s an MSD box with a Mallory sticker on it.

It’s sad, because MSD could have kept just two Mallory boxes (the 685 digital 6 box and the 667C and S boxes which are 7 boxes) and scrapped all the MSD line except for the grid.

That would have made sense. And, when Holley came in and jacked everything up, they could have killed every Holley pump and regulator and just used the Mallory stuff and they would have been far, far better off.
 
Hysteric said:
Average of what? Average of what leaves the booster on that particular induction stroke? Average of what the charge is distributed to adjoining cylinders? Average of what is impinged on the manifoold walls? Average of what the cylinder actually gets? Average of what actually converts to a burnable afr?

Almost, so close.........
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Because fuel is heavier than air, on the compression stroke the fuel gets pushed to the surface of the piston -- the liquid is closest to the piston as it is the heaviest, the aerosols will constitute the next laminar layer, then the dry fuel vapors, and at the top of the CC you have air.

I designed and milled a custom piston with a spark plug pocket to trap the heavier fuels. Honda recognized the most burnable AFR mix is around 13:1. They capitalized on that with their CVCC engine back in the 70's.

Piston_with_description.jpg


map1.jpg
 
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