Looking for overdrive trani advice for /6, please help
I already have the Clifford 4bbl set up with a 390 carb. The car gets about 16-mpg while driving like Miss Daisy.
16mpg with a 4bbl setup driven as though you're a grandma going to church is quite good. You'd do quite a bit better with a more realistically/sensibly-chosen carburetor and intake manifold, such as a well-chosen 2bbl setup.
It's sounding more and more to me like you have a great deal of adjusting and repairing to do before you can establish a realistic baseline from which to improve your fuel economy. That's if you're really doing a science project and have lots of money and time to spend on upgrading and re-engineering one thing at a time and carefully recording the effect on economy and performance.
If what you really meant was that you want your car to give better fuel economy, then all this talk about fuel injection and overdrive transmissions and turbochargers and such should be put on hold for the time being. What indications do you have that the engine is whipped or that the transmission is due for replacement?
I don't know how to mess with the carb to get it right
As quickly as you can, get the three books described in
this thread and start reading.
or the carb it just too big
Yes. And since you're running a Clifford intake without provisions for manifold heat, that's reducing your fuel mileage, too. And what's the exhaust setup? Not a stock manifold, which is open at the top where there's a connection to a stock or Offenhauser or Weiand intake, but not to the Clifford. What do you have, headers or something? What other modifications have been made to this engine/car?
when I have the /6 freshioned up, that will probably be my only chance to change the transmission if its ever going to get done.
Don't see why. Beware: feature creep kills projects (and bank accounts) dead!