I have a Dodge 3500 maxi van. One of several I have owned over the years. The 360 engine with an overdrive automatic will get 14+ around town and about the same on the highway. As soon as I hook up my car trailer I'm lucky to see 7mpg or less depending on driving style. The only way I've found to improve this is to backward convert the engine to a non-electronic set up. Parts cost is in the thousands.



Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

Let us not forget gas was 20 cents a gallon back than and most people wanted power

And the average working man wage was prolly around 10 to 15 grand/yr...

More like 5-7 grand. 10-15 would have been extraordinary. I'm 66, and I can't remember gas being less than 26-cent/gal. Maybe in the 50s? I remember my dad's take-home being $86/wk. in the early 60s.

Let us not forget gas was 20 cents a gallon back then

And you got free dishes ...

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My 57bird has an .80 over 312 with the Isky 300 series cam and an E manifold with dual throttle body injection and 2.73 rear. Highway mileage is 18/gallon, town is 13 or so. Has a super T10 with a 2.64 first gear to launch a little better. Has way more bottom end with the injection than it had with the dual teapots.

Mike, still lovin his 57 t'bird after 53 years!

To get better fuel mileage, there are several common sense things to think about.  Higher compression will help mileage if you can keep it out of detonation, weight of vehicle, gear ratio in differential, fresh differential lube, radial tires vs bias ply tires, tire pressure, front end alignment, wheel bearings packed and tightened correctly, brakes adjusted properly, driving technique for starts, tune-up, distributor re-curved,  clean air filter, good performance oil (10W-30), cubic inches always make a difference, headers, dual exhausts(even type of muffler will affect mileage), driving with lights on/off, AC, PS, alternator vs generator, clutch fan/flex fan, vehicle lowered and stabilized with good shocks/sway bars.  With carburetors, it is suggested to accelerate fairly briskly to the speed limit and back off, with fuel injection, a slow steady increase in speed gives best mileage.  Windows rolled up with AC on is best if you have it, for mileage.  And last of all, a clean car actually moves through the air easier at speed.  My brain is tired, so you may have some more you feel is important to good fuel mileage.   Joe-JDC   

JDC

While we’re on the subject of gas, just filling my 55’s tank is a crap shoot with lack of back pressure causing gas to overflow. Has anyone come up with a circumvention?

1955 312 T-Bird Warwick, NY

I've found that most of the time if I stick the nozzle in the filler neck as far as it will go the nozzle will click off before any gas spits back. This does however depend on how sensitive the nozzle's back pressure sensor is. If you want to get the tank completely full you'll need to squat down and watch. When you can see gas starting to come back up into the filler neck stop pumping.

Isn't that cam too big for 2.73 gears? What is its RPM range? I chose a cam/w 214 duration @ .050 because I have 2.72 gears behind a C4. The RPM range is 1800-5000, 2200 @ 65 mph. The wide-ratio Dynamic Racing Transmissions gear set has a 2.90 1st and 1.60 2nd. 3rd still 1:1.