[rohrt]

How the heck was did the duster get 36mpg?

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2014/...ntcmp=features

[Zimtok]

I remember working at a gas station (i actually pumped the gas) back in the late 70's. the price of gas (and cigarettes) were just over $0.50. My Sister and my Mom both had a Duster with the slant six and got great gas millage.

I have been thinking over the past few years to find a 67-72 Chevy/GM truck with a 6-cylinder engine and manual transmission.

Replace the transmission with a 6-speed and then I could get great fuel economy.


.

[Bob Dillon]

I had an '82 Dodge 1/2 ton pickup with a slant six and 3 speed with overdrive. It routinely got 20-22 MPG. That was a pleasant surprise-I was expecting 15-16.

[Bob Dillon]

A Crosley Hotshot! Cool! My sophomore science teacher owned one. Built in my hometown, Cincinnati, by the way. They also built tiny little station wagons.

['ol Pinion head]

Originally Posted by Zimtok

I remember working at a gas station (i actually pumped the gas) back in the late 70's. the price of gas (and cigarettes) were just over $0.50. My Sister and my Mom both had a Duster with the slant six and got great gas millage.

I have been thinking over the past few years to find a 67-72 Chevy/GM truck with a 6-cylinder engine and manual transmission.

Replace the transmission with a 6-speed and then I could get great fuel economy.


.

Behind a 230 or 250 6 cyl, it can be done a TON cheaper & with factory parts. Performed the "factory" OD addition mod twice on '66 & '69 6 cyl/3 on the tree Chevy shortbeds in the late 80's.

Chevy, in the early to mid 60's, offered a 3 speed manual with an electric solenoid activated overdrive in its car lines. Have one such 3 speed, currently, that I removed from a '65 Biscayne. Ford & Rambler also had a similar deal, though their solenoid is different & input shaft, believe, is also different. Swapping out the original 3 speed trans to one with the electrically activated OD knocks the rpms with the 3.73's in the 12 bolt truck rear down to a very manageable amount. Am not sure the exact OD ratio, we did not have a tach on the '66, but I'm betting it was between .64 & .70.

[Keith Seymore]

My daily driver is an '87 C10 with the fuel injected V6 and manual overdrive trans.

I routinely get 20-22 mpg.

K

[David Jones]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

My daily driver is an '87 C10 with the fuel injected V6 and manual overdrive trans.

I routinely get 20-22 mpg.

K

My daily driver is a 157" WB 2012 F150 super crew with a fuel injected 5.0 V8 with 365hp and an auto trans. I also routinely get 20-22mpg and the current average for 36000 miles is 19.

We've come a looooong way..........

[hurryinhoosier62]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

My daily driver is an '87 C10 with the fuel injected V6 and manual overdrive trans.

I routinely get 20-22 mpg.

K

Same here Keith. My '03 gets 21-24mpg (depending on speed). Same powertrain: 4.3 fuel injected V-6 and 5-speed manual transmission.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by David Jones

My daily driver is a 157" WB 2012 F150 super crew with a fuel injected 5.0 V8 with 365hp and an auto trans. I also routinely get 20-22mpg and the current average for 36000 miles is 19.

We've come a looooong way..........

Originally Posted by hurryinhoosier62

Same here Keith. My '03 gets 21-24mpg (depending on speed). Same powertrain: 4.3 fuel injected V-6 and 5-speed manual transmission.

Sidebar: Speaking of which....

I was just reading in the society of automotive engineers (SAE) member magazine about the most recent Supermileage competition held at the Eaton Proving Ground in Marshall Michigan.

They showed that the winning team, Quebec's Universite' Laval, won the event with an average of 1145 mpg.

If I remember correctly, back when I was doing this with GMI (in the early 1980's) the University of Saskatchewan dominated the event year after year with fuel enonomy numbers just over the 1000 mpg range.

So - thirty years later and the identical fuel economy numbers?

Perhaps there is only so much energy you can squeeze from a gallon of gas...

:shrug:

Back to topic -

K

[rohrt]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Sidebar: Speaking of which....

I was just reading in the society of automotive engineers (SAE) member magazine about the most recent Supermileage competition held at the Eaton Proving Ground in Marshall Michigan.

They showed that the winning team, Quebec's Universite' Laval, won the event with an average of 1145 mpg.

If I remember correctly, back when I was doing this with GMI (in the early 1980's) the University of Saskatchewan dominated the event year after year with fuel enonomy numbers just over the 1000 mpg range.

So - thirty years later and the identical fuel economy numbers?

Perhaps there is only so much energy you can squeeze from a gallon of gas...

:shrug:

Back to topic -

K

Those competitions are interesting but far from any type of real world driving.

The competition should be hauling a family of 4 1200 miles in 16 hours.

[zeebo]

Originally Posted by 'ol Pinion head

Behind a 230 or 250 6 cyl, it can be done a TON cheaper & with factory parts. Performed the "factory" OD addition mod twice on '66 & '69 6 cyl/3 on the tree Chevy shortbeds in the late 80's.

Chevy, in the early to mid 60's, offered a 3 speed manual with an electric solenoid activated overdrive in its car lines. Have one such 3 speed, currently, that I removed from a '65 Biscayne. Ford & Rambler also had a similar deal, though their solenoid is different & input shaft, believe, is also different. Swapping out the original 3 speed trans to one with the electrically activated OD knocks the rpms with the 3.73's in the 12 bolt truck rear down to a very manageable amount. Am not sure the exact OD ratio, we did not have a tach on the '66, but I'm betting it was between .64 & .70.

something very few folks know. i saw a 63 bel air for sale as a kid in college in northern michigan and it had the 3 on the tree with i think was a lever under the dash and it said "overdrive" on it..i was floored to say the least.

[69goatboy]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

They showed that the winning team, Quebec's Universite' Laval, won the event with an average of 1145 mpg.

If I remember correctly, back when I was doing this with GMI (in the early 1980's) the University of Saskatchewan dominated the event year after year with fuel enonomy numbers just over the 1000 mpg range.

K

Let me guess, it was achieved with an experimental carb that was mistakenly sold, but big oil offered 7 figures to get it back?

Sorry, I just had to.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by rohrt

Those competitions are interesting but far from any type of real world driving.

The competition should be hauling a family of 4 1200 miles in 16 hours.

C'mon. You don't think you could get 4 people in this?



True story time: back when we were doing this the minimum driver weight was 150 lbs.

We had one team member (happened to be my college room mate and best man in my wedding) weighed in about 149 lbs and a few ounces. We ballasted him down with all the pocket change we could muster.

Plus, we didn't let him pee until after he passed tech...



By the way, the prevailing strategy (then, and now it seems) was to accelerate up to a given speed, shut the engine off and coast (forever) until the desired minimum speed was reached. Repeat.

There was one team that attempted to run steady state at a given engine rpm but they weren't even competitive with a fuel economy in the 200 mpg range.

The bottom line is that you are not burning any gasoline when the engine is off. It becomes primarily an exercise in controlling mass and aerodynamics and reduced rolling resistance.

K

[hurryinhoosier62]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

C'mon. You don't think you could get 4 people in this?



True story time: back when we were doing this the minimum driver weight was 150 lbs.

We had one team member (happened to be my college room mate and best man in my wedding) weighed in about 149 lbs and a few ounces. We ballasted him down with all the pocket change we could muster.

Plus, we didn't let him pee until after he passed tech...



By the way, the prevailing strategy (then, and now it seems) was to accelerate up to a given speed, shut the engine off and coast (forever) until the desired minimum speed was reached. Repeat.

There was one team that attempted to run steady state at a given engine rpm but they weren't even competitive with a fuel economy in the 200 mpg range.

The bottom line is that you are not burning any gasoline when the engine is off. It becomes primarily an exercise in controlling mass and aerodynamics and reduced rolling resistance.

K

In reality, it wouldn't hold ONE of my big feet!

[njsteve]

Originally Posted by rohrt

How the heck was did the duster get 36mpg?

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2014/...ntcmp=features

That was the Feather Duster and as you can imagine, the vast majority of them were highly sought after to make race cars, given all the aluminum panels they carried.

[rohrt]

Originally Posted by njsteve

That was the Feather Duster and as you can imagine, the vast majority of them were highly sought after to make race cars, given all the aluminum panels they carried.

2700lbs is pretty light. What was the rear gear ratio?

I wonder what the 67 bird HT cars got for mpg with the OHC6 motors? Those car if I remember are pretty darn light like 3100lbs. I would guess in they were in the 20s but 36 mpg is darn impressive.

This was about all I could find from Wiki

The Feather Duster featured lightweight aluminum parts including the intake manifold, bumper brackets, hood and trunk bracing, and manual transmission housing, for a weight savings of about 187 lb (84.8 kg)—5% lighter than a standard Duster similarly equipped. It came with a 225 Slant Six with its distributor and single-barrel carburetor calibrated for economy, a low-restriction exhaust system, an extra-high rear axle ratio, and was offered with either the Torqueflite 3-speed automatic or A833 overdrive 4-speed manual transmission. It was the most fuel-efficient car in its size class, achieving up to 36 mpg highway and 24 in the city with the manual transmission option. (along with Dodge's version, the Dart Lite).

As a result, they were getting as much as 20 mpg in town and 36 mpg on the highway, numbers comparable to today's economy cars

Read more: http://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/f...#ixzz37TaWs0U1

[Overkillphil]

Originally Posted by 69goatboy

Let me guess, it was achieved with an experimental carb that was mistakenly sold, but big oil offered 7 figures to get it back?
Sorry, I just had to.

Lmao! I haven't heard that one in a while but there are so many versions of the same tale, usually referring to it achieving 100 mpg! And the guys that have told it are all convinced its true. That "old classic" is only believed by those who know nothing or very little about carbs or how they actually work.

[BlueGTO]

The funny thing about the Duster is they picked a photo where it is clearly spelling gas out of the fill hole.

[camerjeff]

Originally Posted by rohrt

How the heck was did the duster get 36mpg?

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2014/...ntcmp=features

My Older sister owned a Bright Yellow Feather Duster and she did get over 30mpg highway with it. 190 CI Slant 6, 4-speed Manual, Manual Steering and Brakes, no A/C or other Power options. It even had Pop out rear windows (not Roll down ones) Remember the speed limit was 55mph,
We did not even know it had Aluminum Front Fenders until they did not RUST OUT like the rest of the car. I hated driving that car. It had some low 2 series rear axle and was a danger trying to get it up to free way speed if the on ramp was uphill.

But it really did get over 30mpg on the high way.

[Radman]

You guys are disappointing me, this is a Pontiac forum and after 19 posts the Pontiac Tempest has not been mentioned. The stock slant 4 with the 2 speed automatic got 23 MPG while I drove it in college. I bet the 3 and 4 speed got even better.