Almost 40 mpg in my 1966 Chevelle !!!

[67-ls1]

Originally Posted by MeteorGray

Outstanding performance! Congratulations!

And that car is beautiful. It reminds me of a '63 Pontiac Tempest I had. It was powered by a 326CID V8, if I remember correctly, with a three-speed manual transaxle located in the rear. It ran very well, but got nowhere near your mileage.

The only application I have ever seen of that transaxle used in a swap was in a Jaguar V12 into the front of a Corsair Monza.

If you want a fascinating read about a fascinating car and an even more fascinating guy, check out the build. Make sure you go through all of the pages...

https://www.corvaircorsa.com/V-12-01.html

I was lucky enough to meet Jay and drool over this car years ago.

[MeteorGray]

Unbelievable, a 12 cylinder Jag engine installed in the front of a Corvair! Wow!

The fact is, my family also bought a '60 Corvair when they first came out, but it had the air-cooled opposing-six that developed all of 80HP. It was a two-door stripper model and didn't even have a heater! But it was a snazzy little car. I still have a Franklin Mint model of it on my shelf "just for the memories."

Our Corvair was a great car for this Class-of-61 Senior in high school, that's for sure. I'll tell Ralph Nader one thing: if that car had been the dangerous roll-over killer he claimed it to be, I must have been an outstanding driver. I used to run that little Corvair at pretty good speeds on curvy roads pretending to be Graham Hill, stiff-arming the steering wheel and all. The car gave no hint of being dangerous, and if it were really treacherous enough to warrant the abuse Nader gave it in his "Dangerous at Any Speed" book, I wouldn't be typing this today.

The only accidents I ever had in our Corvair were when a girl rear-ended me at a stop light on a wet day, and when I missed double-clutching it going into first gear while rolling around a corner, because the car didn't have synchronizers in the first gear. The only damage was a broken shear pin on the stick shift connection.

Incidentally, our very next car after we sold the Corvair was that transaxle Tempest I mentioned earlier. Both of those cars were kind of odd birds at the time. I talked my parents into buying the Corvair with threats that if they didn't, I would use my paper-route money on a second-hand, 500cc, single-cylinder Triumph motorcycle I was eyeing at the time and rode home for them to gasp over.

They probably saved my life, getting me four wheels instead of the two I wanted, even if it was Dangerous at Any Speed.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

There was a Brazilian SUV named Gurgel Carajás which resorted to a transaxle setup similar to the early Tempest, but instead of some unique design it relied on a repurposed Volkswagen transaxle not meant to be mounted remotely from the engine.

[elhigh]

Because Brazil. Their import laws and domestic production laws necessitated some weird tech evolutions (convolutions? contortions?) but you gotta admit, it was pretty cool seeing how they worked around the limitations.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...raj%C3%A1s.jpg

I'm digging nearly 40mph out of a decades-old muscle car. Modernize the muscle and the results are pretty trick. And the all-disc conversion for getting the whoa on the ponies, that's just smart.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by elhigh

Because Brazil. Their import laws and domestic production laws necessitated some weird tech evolutions (convolutions? contortions?) but you gotta admit, it was pretty cool seeing how they worked around the limitations.

Brazil is still quite strange sometimes. On a sidenote, I have already seen some Gurgel Carajás converted to a more conventional solid rear axle, usually sourced from local Chevrolets such as the Chevette or the Opala. There were some complaints about the torque tube system fitted to the Carajás, but I never remember the reason.

[freebeard]

Originally Posted by MeteorGray

And that car is beautiful. It reminds me of a '63 Pontiac Tempest I had. It was powered by a 326CID V8, if I remember correctly, with a three-speed manual transaxle located in the rear. It ran very well,

justacarguy.blogspot.com/2016/09/have-you-ever-seen-tires-this-angled

Ralph Nader is no hero. He used politics to force General Motors back to the center of their lane. This is typical of the staged photos they used. Lifted suspension over a hill crest with an off-camber curve.

[Silent Blood]

This is just great for that speed. For example: My 1997 BMW 523i E39 (2,5 r6 petrol engine with 170 hp, runs with E10) did about the same mpg at this speed - only changing the 3.15 rear axle to a 2.64 axle. Considering, it´s a fuel injected, relatively modern engine, this isn´t pretty low, compared to your chevelle.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Ralph Nader is no hero. He used politics to force General Motors back to the center of their lane.

Hadn't been for his defamatory campaign against the Corvair, I believe GM and even Ford and Chrysler would've had the chance to try different approaches in order to not only retain competitive in overseas markets, but also to get rid of that mindset stuck in the Model T era.

[Tahoe_Hybrid]

Originally Posted by 67-ls1

Today I did a mileage run in my 66 Chevelle and demolished my pre-project goal of 35 mpg.
I filled my tank at a gas station near my shop and drove to the marina where we keep our boat. I make this trip a lot from home.
My GPS speedo said I drive 74.54 miles round trip back to the same gas station. This is compared to a Google map that shows 37 miles each way so pretty darn close.
I refilled to the point of spillage when I got back and it took 1.891 gallons.
That’s 39.94 mpg!
Granted the drive was probably 90% highway at speeds between 65-70, but I’ll take it.


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Build thread, more pics: https://ecomodder.com/forum/showthre...lle-30678.html

same gas station and pump correct? other wise it's not valid

[67-ls1]

Originally Posted by Tahoe_Hybrid

same gas station and pump correct? other wise it's not valid

Same station, same pump, about 6 hours apart. Still, it was a pretty short test.