morfing a 58 custom into a 57 custom 300

[Ford Blue blood]

The 66 Falcon Ranchero I built with a 302/5speed/3.23 gears made an honest 30MPG running 70 - 75 MPH.  It was a speed density EFI with no modifications.

[hiball3985]

The newer engines are so much more efficient. Even my wifes old 91 Crown Vic Boat would get 26-27 on the hiway and her newer Fusion ( 2008 ) doesn't do much better..

But I love my old Yblock and don't care about mileage really, the cost of having fun..

[Ford Blue blood]

I have always held the position that if you are worried about gas milage your hot rod/street rod/custom car gets you're in the wrong hobby!  But bragging rights are nice.....

[hiball3985]

I agree with you Bill but take a little different position. My 57 is my daily driver, I don't drive as much as I use to and only put 6000 miles on it in the last 12 months. I don't own a new car so the $30,000+ saved buys a lot of parts and gas 

[57 imposter]

I too have the aod with a 302 but have not had my fairlane out for any real drive time or pulling any inclines at all. Do you think the  .230 gear ratio is your final set up? I appreciate your post, it's been nice to follow your progress.
[/quote
Just went back and re-read my post on gear ratios I put in .320 gears not .230. and yes, they will be my final ratio win loose or draw. Tired of buying and installing gears. It gets to be an expensive experiment. I wanted to slow the engine down about 3 or 4 hundred RPM's and the new gears appear to have done that. I agree, to a point, with some guys that say mileage should not be a priority however i think when building a car you make your engine and transmission selection and setting that engine up so as to provide the maximum performance and efficiency is just part of doing the build right. Also there are a lot of these cars that are built that barely see 2000 miles a year. Fuel, no big deal. Ours will regularly see 5 to 10 thousand miles a year so, especially when gas was going past $4 per gallon, it can become an issue.     

[Ford Blue blood]

I agree with you Bill but take a little different position. My 57 is my daily driver, I don't drive as much as I use to and only put 6000 miles on it in the last 12 months. I don't own a new car so the $30,000+ saved buys a lot of parts and gas 

Understand....my job/jobs over the years (Navy & Director of Facilities at a museum) required reliable, instant start and go vehicles.  Then the wife gets a bunch of medical issues and the 300 plus mile trips are out in the street rods.  The F150 is now the "trip car" and with family scattered all over the US we are on the road some!  I did use the 36 for two years as a daily driver with no issues but then got married and deployed for 10 months.  Not a good idea to leave a wife and two kids with only a 36 street rod so the first "new car" came along.  A 73 F100 and it's been ongoing since.

[RICH MUISE]

Hey Doug, when you get back to filling us in with updates, could you post some info on the gps unit you bought? Was it made for your specific speedometer? Did you get that 180 mile trip done?

[57 imposter]

I have been trying to get side and front panels made for the trunk so I can get them to the upholstery shop. Got them done late this afternoon so will take them out to the shop tomorrow. Also didn't order enough carpet to do the trunk so I have to get more of that coming. We have been having some crappy weather so I haven't made the big loop yet maybe this weekend but the forecast isn't good and the Hawks are playing Carolina on Sunday morning. If the weather improves and the Hawks don't play any better than they did last weekend, I'll have plenty of time to do it on Sunday. Now to the GPS, I got it from VDO. They say it will convert any electronic speedometer. It will transmit either 16,000 or 200,000 pulses per mile. very simple to hook up with a power lead a ground lead and a wire that you hook to ground for 200,000 PPM or to a switched circuit for 16,000 PPM and one signal wire that you run to the signal input terminal on the speedometer. The case is water proof so you can mount it anywhere in or outside of the car. the unit measures about 2 1/2 by 1 by 3/4 thats not counting mounting tabs which I am going to take off as I just used mounting tape. I'm thinking about building a frenching bucket into the fresh air cowl vent close to the pass side wiper. I will mount it flush and paint it body color and I think it will be barely noticeable but it will give it a good clear shot at the satellites. I got it from Summit. 

[RICH MUISE]

Sounds neat. After I asked about it, I did some searching and found a number of different types and manufacturers. I saw them as seperate units not anything to do with the actual speedo, for as little as 30. They're just a digital readout. If I have trouble getting my speedometer to work, I'll eventually change out all the gages to a better brand., so that 30. one would fill in nicely until that happens. Some of the pricier heads up display ones were kinda cool, except you'd have the box sitting on top of the dash.

[57 imposter]

put about 160 miles on today, everything seems to be working as planned. Temp is running about 10 degrees hotter than it did before. This time I installed a 10" condenser fan and I suspect that the additional air restriction is the cause of my temp increase. Sure glad I made that grill easy to remove. I'm going to take the condenser fan off and see if it's causing any problems I didn't really need it as I have my regular engine cooling tied into my A/C compressor. About the only time the engine fan would run was when the A/C was on so I just figured that running a smaller condenser fan would be some less current draw. Probably just a bad idea.

[Ford Blue blood]

In dealing with street rods (very small frontal area compared to our 57s) and heat issues I have found that pushers cause more issues then solve problems.  If you have room for a good seven blade fan use it with a shroud.  If a mechanical fan will not work or fit look at a high end puller that comes with a shroud. 

Also before going out and spending for parts get an infrared heat gun ($19.00 at Lowes) and get the real water temp off the outlet neck and the real water temp at the bottom tank.  The placement of your temp sending unit plays a role as well.

And last but not least, if it ain't loosing water it ain't over heating.  With a seven pound cap running 210 - 220 will cause no problems at all, just makes ya nervous as heck!

[57 imposter]

In dealing with street rods (very small frontal area compared to our 57s) and heat issues I have found that pushers cause more issues then solve problems.  If you have room for a good seven blade fan use it with a shroud.  If a mechanical fan will not work or fit look at a high end puller that comes with a shroud. 

Also before going out and spending for parts get an infrared heat gun ($19.00 at Lowes) and get the real water temp off the outlet neck and the real water temp at the bottom tank.  The placement of your temp sending unit plays a role as well.

And last but not least, if it ain't loosing water it ain't over heating.  With a seven pound cap running 210 - 220 will cause no problems at all, just makes ya nervous as heck!

I agree with everything you have said. I run a 195 thermostat and a 215 fan stat. the car is not overheating, it is just running closer to the fan stat temp than usual. I have an infrared heat gun but haven't checked it as I can tell where the temp is by the gauge and the fact that the fan isn't coming on. running it 70 mph yesterday with about a 37 degree ambient the gauge was noticeably lower than running around town, To me That indicates an air flow problem that will probably get worse when the air temp gets into the 90's+ around here. I am going to remove the condenser fan and really believe that will return the engine temp to where it ran previously,

[RICH MUISE]

Doug, I just went back and read this thread in it's entirty. Lot's of stuff I had forgeten you did, so that was neat to read the whole thing thru. I did not find what I was looking for however. Must be somewhere else, so I'll just bring it up again...I know you ended up changing the front springs several times and was getting frustrated with the whole process. The last mention you had here was the Aerostar springs. Was that your final spring, and how have they worked out? I know you have R & P, but I also forgot if you had the Granada dropped spindles.

[57 imposter]

I ended up with the aerostar springs and a one inch spacer. that gave me 12 1/4" from the spindle to the fender lip and 7 1/2" from the front seam of the rocker panel to the ground. It could be a bit lower but this is a very drivable ride height. It rides like a town car around here but the real acid test will be some of those mid-west roads. The dirt is from my road test yesterday too cold to drag a hose out for a wash job.

[RICH MUISE]

Thanks, but also need to know what are you running for spindles?