I just drove my 63 Dart to Las Vegas from Los Angeles while it's not my first distance drive with the car it is the first with the new tires. For the record I'm totally blown away and thoroughly pleased that I got 30 mpg and here's what I'm running.
The car engine is stock, I replaced the rebuilt carbuerator with a 1962 Lancer high performace carb which is one barrel sitting on the slant six. I've got synthetic oil in the crank and a three core radiator. A 2.25 inch exhaust pipe going into a turbo muffler from Midas. As for the tires, I've bumped up from the original 13 inch wheels to 14 inch while not changing anything but the rims with 180/75/14 Dunlop tires which have a 1,290 max weight each. I'm still running with drums all the way around which are lighter in weight than discs and a A-833 OD transmission from a 1976 Dodge Aspen. I changed the air filter before I left and checked air pressure in tires. I was looking at old brochures on the 63 Dart and they advertised 30 mpg in 1963 and felt it should still be possible. I just wanted to share my experience with other slant sixers to show it is still possible and to laugh at others for thinking it takes a new car to achieve good gas mileage.
Good luck too all and happy holidays.
Brian

Briam that's great to hear!

After you changed to the 14" tires and changed the tranny did you check to see if the Speedo gear in the tranny matches your tire size and Axle Ratio out back.

Best thing is to check the speedo tenths with the tenths on the freeway.


Greg

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http://www.youtube.com/hyperpack

Greg,
Yes I synced the speedo once bumping up wheel and tire size and my rear ratio is original which I believe is 2.93, it's really cool passing up the brand new gas hogs on the road with a 45 year old car. I just wanted to pass on what I had done so maybe to help anyone else who might be looking for economy, this combination seems to do me good.

The drums offer less drag/rolling resisteance. Maybe they are lighter too.

What is a HP Lancer 1bbl?

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'72 Duster 198 stock cam, 3:23's Hookers on jack stands for 8 years in the driveway
'79 Maxivan 360 Offy Qjet Comp RV cam/rusting in the driveway.
93 D350 160HP Cummins Auto Dually Clubcab needs a injector pump
2005 Golden Couch Buick

Discs weigh less.
The 225 was considered the "high performance" package (sometimes "power package") vs. the 170. The "High Performance" notation is found in some carburetor application tables for the early cars; it means the ordinary carburetor factory installed on regular production 225s that were not destined for fleet or taxi service (those got smaller, leaner carburetors to maximise economy at the expense of some performance).

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Calipers weigh more................

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

Nothing weighs less than 9" drums, I've weighed everything. Not my favorite setup to drive around, but very light.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

30 MPG is very good. However, It just proves my theory that a properly set up and well tuned slant six can compete with modern engines and cars in the fuel economy department, and wins hands down in the reliability and cost of operation department. Heck, I got my brother's 83 Dodge van with a slant six/727 to get 20-21 MPG on the highway doing 65.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

but the van definitely has an aerodynamic advantage over the modern vehicles...

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for profiles and pictures of my mopars--> http://www.fquick.com/dietz_diggler

Riiiiiight.... Lets just bolt a 4x8 sheet of plywood to the front of a Dart and then test it in a windtunnel.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

OK, so why does my '74 dart only get around 20mpg?
Is it heavy, shaped like a brick , whats the deal? It should get as good as a early '60s car shouldn't it? Or at least be able to.

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Grandpa's 1974 Dart Custom 4 door 225 auto, Aluminum Radiator, 1920 Holley.

I think you hit the nail n the head! Early A Bodies weighed considerably less than the 70s A Bodies and were probably more aerodynamic as well.

Combination of state of tune of the motor, adjustments to the carb and timing curve, transmission adjustments. 20+ MPG in a Dart or Valiant is still very good. In an auto I would expect more gains if you ran a lockup tranny or some low (numerically) rear gears, like 2.9 or 3.2. A light foot on a one barrel carb would really help.

Then again, my brother's van is roughly 3,500 pounds...

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

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Welcome!

Did you keep mileage and fuel records on your travels? I would find it interesting to compare and contrast the old American interpretation of an economy car with the old German one. Actually, I may be assuming too much. When most folks say they are VW fan I still think air cooled although my VWs were biased toward the water cooled varieties.

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Joshua