Besides mine, there is another
1977 Dodge B200 van, original owner, in
these parts that claims he gets 15 MPG at
75 MPH through the Cascades on I90 and I
was wondering if it was possible.
It toured the West Coast van runs as
“Woody’s Whiskey Wagon” complete with
an all-around mural from 1977 until it was
garaged for “extensive” drivetrain mods
in 1980.
When it finally reappeared under its
own power in May 2013, the 318 had been
swapped for a 1954 354 CID Hemi with 11:1
a 354 Hemi swap, achieves 15 MPH
at 75 MPH. Yeah. I was on the planet
Zalagrfria the other day, and they told
me the same thing, so it must be right.
Then I woke up in a cold sweat.
CR and a Carter AFB. So rare is the engine
that the intake manifold and cam had to be
made special. The A727 was swapped for a
GM Turbo 400 and the Mopar rear end was
swapped for a Corvette.
Surprisingly the mural looks just as
good as it did in 1977.
When pigs fly.
A 2002 B2 van, more aerodynamic, 360
with overdrive automatic transmission,
driven by a wuss on level ground, supposedly
got an EPA-rated 17 MPG highway,
which meant 55 MPH. And we all know
what a crock all the fuel economy ratings
were until very recently. And the 360 had
SMPI, a tuned-runner intake, roller cam,
and so on. I have found that a similar
vehicle can get a real-world 14-15 MPG
@ 65 MPH if you drive with a raw egg
between your foot and the pedal. Again:
On level ground.
I won’t even get into how retarded the
spark would need to be on an iron-head
Hemi at 11.0:1 to run on pump gas at
lower elevations. And for decent fuel
economy plenty of spark lead is key.
Yup, a 1954 354 Hemi is rare. Very. One
of none built.
The ’Vette IRS is awesome for load carrying
capacity, no doubt.
As I said: When pigs fly. Woody must
have been sampling plenty of his product.