Building an economical 351C

That sounds like a box stock CJ. I personally would use closed chambered heads on it rather then the open chamber and use port stuffers to crispen it up some.
Other then that it shouldn't be any kind of a problem at all.

Dear Mr. Rapier. I think I may be running pretty close to that right now. At least I was before my timing moved on me. I bought a brand new CJ spec Cleveland. I already had an Edlebrock performer intake, which is probably ten or fiveteen bucks used on ebay, I used the stock (for my car) 650 cfm Holley double Pumper. 4777-4. I have always had Hall big bore headers and exaust on my car, for which I am truly greatfull to some previous wowner, and an Accel distributer. Oh and a K&N air filter. When I was first breaking in the engine I was getting just over 15 miles per gallon. I was babying it pretty much though so that may explain it. And I think the timing has gotten slightly retarded because the mechanic wouldn't listen to me and the timing chain may have streached just a little bit. So I think if I am not at 300 HP I am just off a skoosh. The rating from the factory was something like 235 or something, I can't remember now and they have changed the way they do that now, but I have a highly calibrated ass, and it tells me pretty darn close what Horsepower a car has. I would say I am right around 300 to maybe 330. I did have an almost 400 Hp engine though and it wasn't just my ass that said so. It was other peoples asses too.

DT, how often do you have your ass recalibrated?
That must hurt?

Guys have been doing $6000 strokers around here with about 400HP. For a little bit extra you get whole lot more.

I have an Edelbrock Performer 4V an a Holley 600CFM with vacuum secondaries. This is an 1850 though I've change the secondaries from a metering plate to a jet block so I can change the jetting. I have 64 primaries and 66 (maybe 68) secondaries.
I get less than 10mpg regardless of how fast or slow I drive. A short afternoon cruise of say 100 miles costs me $70, which is a lot of beer.

I'm heading the rolling road for some diagnostics as soon as I got some spare cash because there may be something wrong that I have yet to find.

I've noticed that the UK magazines quote the standard GTS at 13-14mpg imperial which is 10.8 to 11.6mpg US which isn't much better than I get, hence the question.

I was thinking about manifolds, timing, vacuum advance distributor, porting, cam etc. My ass hasn't got the hang of Ford V8's yet it's still calibrated for Sunbeam engines.

Yes that seems about right. When I had my old GTS engine the best I could get was twelve miles per gallon. But it was almost one hundred horsepower more too, so I didn't complain. Most times I was only getting eight with it.
You nay want to check your distributor timing. Especialy if your engine is running hot. There is a thread here where I asked about the car dieseling or running on after I turned the switch off. George said it may be timing and by golly I am betting almost anything he is right. Because my milage has fallen way off again and it is not running nearly as good as it did. I am going to check it this weekend. Unfortunetly to check the timing you have to remove the interior of the car. Most of it anyway. So it is not as easy as on your Sunbeam.

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DT, how often do you have your ass recalibrated?
That must hurt?

Doug, it took about thirty years of driving like an idiot, so I don't like to mess too much with the calibration. Why mess with something that ain't broke???

Yup been there done that (and found that my garage isn't wide enough to get the firewall trim out the door).
I've had the dizzy off and set the points gaps on the Mallory Dual Point. They are now set by the book - and to the same setting.
This improved the running and stopped it pinging at 120mph (on the rolling road, obviously, ahem ).
I've got the static timing at 10 degrees BTDC - though after reading George's post I'm thinking of increasing this to 16.
Very interesting being inside the car with alternator fan spinning a few inches from your nose whilst you point a timing light at the crank pulley.

Would a vacuum advance dizzy be worthwhile?

I would say that it is possible to get it into the 13-15mpg territory on a cruise.
I would think that if you can average 12mpg you are dialed in correctly.
I am in NY state. I just paid $3.119. For you guys in Europe that is cheap I understand. This is up from 2.899 just last week.
NY State required the use of ethanol in pump gas since 1/1/04.
Since that date milage on all of my vehicles has dropped 20%.
10mpg on the Pantera is good. The Webers are actually better on gas then the Holley. They average about 11mpg.
As an "interesting aside", I do recall that the first time that "we" got a big increase in electric charges, the local supplier ConEd petitioned the Energy Commision to raise the rates a corresponding amount equal to what people had cut back on thier electrical usage.
They claimed that they could not stay in business with the gross drop in revenue.
OK, allright you say? They were granted the rate increase by the NY State energy commision for that reason.
Bottom line, energy costs what it costs. I think that if you are getting 8-10mpg on the Pantera, you must adjust your outlook and say that is the price of glory.
If the sun and the air could be taxed they would do it. Just be glad that you can still drive the car at all. I assure you that Green Peace would not appreciate your Pantera in the slightest.

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Very interesting being inside the car with alternator fan spinning a few inches from your nose whilst you point a timing light at the crank pulley.

Would a vacuum advance dizzy be worthwhile?

I have heard of guys driving with the cover off while another cranks the distrubutor to dial in more advance for them. So while it is scary standing still, I imagine it is much worse while driving.
I think you are supposed to unhook the vacum line to your distributer while you set your static timing.

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I assure you that Green Peace would not appreciate your Pantera in the slightest.

But of course. Panteras and SUVs are the only things that can cause global warming.

i don't use a timing light. I just twist the distributor untill i get the fastest idle and test run it. Calibrated ass as Dethom calls it. Then if it runs on or desiels, I twist a little more. if it spark knocks under load. go back the other way. When you get it good lock it down. george talked about static timing this way.

...properly calibrated, a 'Vacumn Advance Distributor' will increase MPG on a Street Driven Engine...

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Originally posted by DeTom:

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I assure you that Green Peace would not appreciate your Pantera in the slightest.

But of course. Panteras and SUVs are the only things that can cause global warming.

The bigest threat to our planet is population. The charts show we run out of food and water long before we destroy the earth. Leading threat to earth is the grean peace parents with 14 kids!

That is self correcting though Gary. Too many people, they starve or have a war, die off a little, then start screweing again and it all just keeps going. That is of course until the whole planet gets smashed into little microscopic pieces when we get hit by a humongous ball of frozen methane on December 21st, 2012.

DT are you having premonitions now? It isn't about feelings in your ass or anything is it? Are you sure it's going to be methane?

Well it isn't pure metane. It has a few dust specs in it, but mostly methane. About the size of Jupiter, but not nearly as dense. It is on a colision course with our sun and we will get in the way. Oh well, fun while it lasted.

Methane,huh DT? Isn't that "swamp gas"? Isn't swamp gas associated with certain types of people getting dillusional? Aren't those the types of stories that we hear from the mobil home people and read about them in the National Inquirer, such as "Aliens came and stole my husbands skin"?
DT, is there a swamp close to you?

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Originally posted by DeTom:
Oh well, fun while it lasted.

You damn right. Drive these things now. Who knows how long the good times will last!

G