Something different Building for MPG.

Someday (hopefully) when I have a family I'm thinking of getting an old B- or C-body wagon or sedan and building a mild 408 stroker or other smaller-bore longer-stroke torque engine for it. I'm pretty sure that built right, a 408 gives better gas mileage in a heavy-duty (truck, SUV, etc.) application than a stock-stroke 318 or 360 purely by means of mechanical advantage. Maybe some EQ Magnum heads, 10:1 compression, nice street roller cam, and maybe SMPI if I have the $$$ (I doubt it). Couple that with an OD 727 (forget the name of it) and a 3.23:1 rear end, I'd have one hell of a highway cruiser that could still smoke a few Rustwangs here and there.

Daily driver could be some A-body (maybe a Dart or Valiant) with a 170 /6 (for rev-ability), A-833 OD trans and 3.55:1 rear. Mildly ported head, custom turbo cam, SMPI from a Jeep/AMC 4.0L and a turbo probably a bit bigger than the factory turbo 4-banger cars, and I could probably get mid-20's gas mileage (if not better) and at least 275 HP.