Money being tight, and mileage being the goal, I'm trying to gather as much knowledge as I can so I can modify systems slowly and economically.

Here's what I have:

-- 2-owner '62 Lancer, original, unopened 170, mated to an a-903. About 106k miles. Sat essentially unused for several years, save for bi-weekly starts and basic maintenance.

First things done after hauling it to the shop (not mine -- I can turn screws on a carb, swap out alternators and fix shift linkages, and I've swapped out a starter or two, but that ends my technical hands-on) were:

-- oil change
-- pertronix drop-in EI
-- new plugs; the recommended NGKs
-- tires
-- front brakes
-- radiator rodded out, block flushed several times
-- rear differential seal
-- flushed fuel lines and tank, installed primary and secondary fuel filters to catch tank sediment
-- alignment

Then I ran it for about 800 miles. After roughly 500, the oil was shot and had burned about two quarts. Oil change, and a little more aggressive driving, and don't seem to have burned any substantial oil, and the oil on the dipstick looks clean.

Acceleration is smooth, power better than either my old 170 ('62 Valiant) or my old 225 ('68 Dart). Mileage is unknown, as the speedo cable is caput (and poppped the speedo gauge itself!), but I don't think it's particularly good. Maybe mid-teens.

Runs cool in city driving, but at highway speed, goes to over half the gauge. When I return to lower-speed driving, the temp goes back down. Never experienced that before. What causes that?

Now to the overall plan: the goal is to bump the power up, increase breathing, smooth idle, low noise, and highest mpg possible. Stock appearance. A car that can scoot when necessary, stop well, steer right, stay slant six reliable, and get in the mid 20s. Here we go --

Exhaust -- plan to keep, for now, the original manifold, but have it ported to either 2.25" or 2.5", and run a 2.25" or 2.5" pipe to the bumper. I'm thinking the two muffler system will work best, but am certainly open to spending less by using one!

Intake -- used offenhauser intake. Using a 4bbl to 2bbl adapter, I could buy a Holley 350 cfm, but, without internal mods to the engine, I fear I'd be pouring way too much fuel into a small engine ill-equipped to handle it, and end up with an engine that can't function at idle with awful mileage. Second possibility -- a Carter bbd. It's what drove the Super Six, but it still seems like, being synchronized, it pours fuel too much without adjusting to fuel demand nuances. So, after reading, it seems that the best option is using a staged 2bbl -- one main venturi, and the second opens only when the first is at 70% open. They were used on 2.2 litre engines. Has anyone done this on a slant six? Does it work? If so, what are the issues? What carb do I go for?

Engine -- eventually, I WILL have the engine rebuilt. I'll target compression to between 8.5 and 9 to 1, have the head ported, 3-angle valve seats, mild cam to flatten the torque curve up to about 5000-5500 rpm and bore about .30 over. Does that sound like the right recipe? Do I need a higher volume oil pump?

I also plan on adding front disc brakes, and either a a-833od transmission, or a 5-speed (T5, likely), but that's going to be a little further down the road, as the a-903 is holding fine, and both are costly moves -- the brakes aren't just the brakes, there's the new wheels to find and tires and hubcaps (any suggestions there are welcome, too), and the transmission swap is so involved.

So, order of systems built will be:

Exhaust
Intake
Front-end rebuild (including stronger torsion bars in aticipation of more power)
Disc Brakes
Engine rebuild
Transmission swap

Anyone see any glaring problems here? Seems to me like it can all be done bit by bit as funds are available, and each component would have an expected impact that wouldn't suffer from its being done sequentially as opposed to all-at-once.

And, thanks -- I read this forum now all the time. Much of the technical jargon flies over my head, but I'm learning a great deal, and it's fun.

At this point.....you get several different opinions....
Go to the Engine FAQ section, and read through there......a lot of good advice on how to fix carbs, build torque/mileage engines, do distributor recurves, etc., all which will help mileage.

I came to this site asking the same questions.......and over time did a lot of experimenting to find the answers. A lot of folks have contributed to the Engine FAQ and it represents a lot of hard work.

You can click on the red link below my name to view photos of a work in progress, changes documented step by step. Bump them up into slide show mode.

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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

Oh, I've been reading! Including your suggestions about the 2.5" h2 and FM70...

Are/were you using the stock exhaust manifold with that pipe/muffler set?

Yes, I hogged out the exhaust manifold to 2.25" inside to about 6" up and bought a 2.25" heavy duty exhaust flange. I only run a few feet of the 2.25" then to 2.5" into the 2.5" cone muffler 18" (HP2). Then 2.5" back to the FM 70 is 2.5" and them 2.5" out to the back. Super quiet system and it flows good.

Take a look at the photos. It was done after the front pump in the 904 blew......so it is a little dark on the underside. I drove home 12 miles after it blew. Just kept adding oil on the way. Tough tranny!

_________________
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

Went through the pics -- stellar documention!!

There's a LOT there, and quite a bit I have no idea what it's for! The oil/air separator? The Perma-Cool fuel water separator? The pertronix ballast resistor thing... so many questions... so much new

LOVE the snow plow-derived air dam, btw -- spectacular.

Where does one buy the 2.25 flange? Is this something that I go to a shop with all the main parts purchased and say "go ahead and weld" or do I say what I want and have them order and build?

And thanks, man -- your pics are great. Almost as fun as guitar porn!

Any good quality muffler shop has them.....however, some of the cheap shops carry the thin ones.......go to a shop that has the thick ones. The thick ones will insure that there will be no exhaust leaks in the future.

There are a lot more pics yet to come.....

_________________
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

The first thing to do is adjust the valves ......

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

Been getting prices on the exhaust system -- yikes! Not including pocket-porting the manifold, I'm hearing $700-800. Does this sound right? If not, any suggestions?

The block is full of rust and debris. I tried flushing mine but it may not get everything out. When I finally had it rebuilt we got 3 1/2 coffee cans full of debris out of the block after running it through the block washer. You need to pop the 3/8" drain plug back by the oil filter to see if anything will trickle out. If not then you need to dig it out until it flow freely. That is the condition around all the cylinders.....causing blockage where it should have good flow....especially in the back. When you make the engine work a little, it will heat up. Your heater core and radiator are probably partially blocked by the rust from the block too! So your not getting the full benefit from the radiator cooling the extra heat. You can install a filter to reduce the contamination. Use the search function to view posts and pictures on these filters.

_________________
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