hey all, got the dart running good, now i need to get it running cheaper ... looking for practical tips here, not taking off the bumpers or seats, well, maybe the passenger seat got a job about 40 min away, mostly highway driving, heres what i have so far:
1. super six/ 2.25 pipe, planning on taking it to a guy near here once i get my first check, he helped me with the carter rebuild, he ran them on 318s all the time back in the day, and have him help me fine tune it for economy
2. i try to not stomp it too much
3. converted to hei/el ig, gapped plugs to .45, getting the better cap and rotor with my first check
4. today i took out unneccesary fluids/sprays/tools from the trunk, and my 20+ ft log chain that i got from my last summer job throwing trash, and my subs, i had a wimpy amp in the dart, and between the cherry bomb and the windows all down it didnt make much of a difference, leaving the jack, spare tire and fire extinguisher
5. tires are all at equal and correct levels, replacing the one thats going bald, asap
what else can i do? dont want to spend all my hard earned money on gas to get to work, thats just sad...had orientation tonight and went to walmart on the way back and came out to find this guy checking out my car, he told me that if i put on a 4 bbl and a better cam in it i could beat a chevy 350, he was impressed anyway...
thanks guys!

2. Keep it under 70 (get vacuum gauge)
3. maximize timing (recurve it if you can)
5. 32 psi in tires

_________________
Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

70 mph? what do you mean vaccuum gauge? and i did set it to about 30 total advance, its a stock 73 dist thanks!

something like:

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetai ... toview=sku


Drive so that you have maximum vacuum. (or at least keep it above the point the power valve kicks in (5-10))

_________________
Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

thanks! im trying to not spend much more, how exactly do you drive so as to be above that point? wouldnt 62ish cruising do that?

Not stomping on it is a good starting point..

A cheapy gauge is fine (run a vacuum line to a manifold source and use any old vacuum gauge)

Watch what happens under different conditions and throttle foot conditions and you get a feel for it.

http://www.earlycuda.org/tech/vacuum1.htm

_________________
Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

So what kinda MPG does it get right now?



Jess

What gears are in the diff?

_________________
Excuse me, does this smell like chloroform to you?

its a stock 7 1/4, im not sure about the ratio, but thats what the parts dart i have has on it too, im not sure what its getting at the moment, about out of gas so ill write the mileage down and calculate it with this next tank, its about 30 miles back from work, and before i put in 2 gallons, it was about one needle width lower then the 1/4 tank line, 2 gallons put it right above that, and 30ish miles later it was right on the line, so from that i have deduced im getting better then 15mpg dad thinks he might have a cheap vaccuum gauge sitting around, so ill look into that, thanks guys

I run 120 miles a day and get fair mileage. I have several intake manifold gasket leaks from the rebuild however, (still waiting on my Aussie gaskets) and have the carb jetted rich, with a #57 jet. I am hopping to go lower like a #55 like in the Feather Duster setup (36 mpg).

I try to keep the vacuum gauge between 15 and 20 pounds. Timing is at 43 degrees total. I am in the process of trying to find springs to recurve my distributor. Mid grade gas seems to produce better mileage because I can keep my foot out of it and maintain a higher vacuum. Get a tach with the vacuum gauge. I try to keep it at 2200 to 2500 rpm on the freeway, 2000 on the back roads.

Hope this helps!

_________________
Aggressive Ted

http://cid-32f1e50ddb40a03c.photos.live ... %20Swinger


74 Swinger, 9.5 comp 254/.435 lift cam, 904, ram air, electric fans, 2.5" HP2 & FM70 ex, 1920 Holley#56jet, 2.76 8 3/4 Sure-Grip, 26" tires, 25+MPG

found a vaccuum gauge and line sitting around, picked up the fittings at napa, gonna hook that up later, also i have a tach but i bought it used and been having issues getting it to cooperate with me even after the company sent me a wiring diagram...so i might tinker with that once it cools down a bit later tonight, thanks guys

Feather Duster used a #612 jet in a Holley 1945...it gain it's mileage by using an extreme amount of spark advance and knocking it back with a fair amount of EGR all the time.... (if you look at it the Vacc. Advance is almost always in no matter what with that distributor... if you could get it to limit out on the governor *yeah right*, the spark advance would be in the 60 degree category...).... (other advances that helped were manual transmission, economy rear gears, aluminum components, bigger head pipe...


-D.Idiot

i thought it was running pretty good at about 30 deg advance, would it benefit from more? got the vaccuum gauge hooked up, looks good, have to check it out at highway speeds later, tach isnt cooperating really still, i was testing it out and had alligator clips hooked up to a switch bracket on the dash for the ground, on mine the green wire is grounded, and the red wire goes to the neg coil terminal, when i went to unhook the ground, i got shocked, so, im not sure whats up with this thing, anybody got any ideas? i tried grounding it at the battery tonight, the diagram i got says good ground for the light, and battery ground for the tach, so i tried that, but didnt check to see if it would shock me, it wasnt really working, thanks guys

30 degrees adv is great for city driving and drag racing (real lack of ping there)...for highway the number to shoot for is 48-52 depending on your build and carb settings....(the stock super six distributor would get 52 if you could get the carter and stock mill to pull you up to 4400 rpm....LOL)...

If you are running a stock EI distributor from 1973-1975 with the 15R governor in it, set it to 5 BTDC initial and see what happens (this is a 'leg up'/ cheat for the very poor advance curve it has....I have actually set this particular distributor up to 8 BTDC with no ill effects on a lo-po engine...).

-D.Idiot

im not sure i follow you DI, i do have a super six but the dist isnt from a super six car, im getting 30 from about idle, dad and i arent that good on timing, at idle should i be shooting for as high as possible or?