i have a 1960 buick lesabre i would like to know what car i do to get the car not to run so high gas mileage. is there anything to do with the trans or do i just have to work on the engine.
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i have a 1960 buick lesabre i would like to know what car i do to get the car not to run so high gas mileage. is there anything to do with the trans or do i just have to work on the engine.
an overdrive transmission would always be helpful. unfortunately, the Nailhead uses its own bellhousing pattern and isn't compatible with any of the more modern OD transmissions you'd want to use. you'd need an adapter plate.
if you have an auto, a manual transmission will get better mileage. it's also probably easier to get a Nailhead bell and then bolt up an OD man trans.
taller gear ratio in the rear and taller tires would also help, but both of these solutions would require a speedo gear change and would hurt your launches if you try to drag race at all.
tune up for the engine is always a good idea.
i would like to knw where i could get the plate also which trans ould be good for jut driving around.
My feedback is:a car like you have,if you want to drive it,deal with the gas mileage...the thumbs up & smiles are worth it:thumbsup:
which trans would be good for just driving around.
a 1960 Le Sabre should have a 364ci in it from the factory. a 200r4 should be able to stand up to that and they're fairly common and cheap.
i would like to knw where i could get the plate
Bendtsen's has man and auto bells:
http://www.transmissionadapters.com/...ellhousing.htm
http://www.transmissionadapters.com/53-66_nailhead.htm
www.TAPerformance.com would be a good place to look.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bob k. mando
one thing for sure you would spend a lot of money to change your car to one of them modern overdive transmissions, especially if you have it done. You would have to drive the car for 10 years to recoupe the money spent on the gas difference. And right now we are paying about as much for gas 'relatively' as we were in 1957. If gas was hard to get that would be a different story. If you really need to, go for bigger tires or find a higher rear, gear ratio, that would be easier and less expensive.
what gear ratio should i use and would it be really hard for someone to do at home or would a shop have to do it.
if you swap an entire rear end housing, that's pretty simple. just be careful of the springs if it's got a coil rear end. and highway gear rear ends are normally not in very high demand.
if you want to swap ring and pinions and you've never done it before you should let a professional handle it. you've got to set the proper torque on the crush sleeve, set the depth of the pinion and shim the carrier. if you get either of the last two wrong you'll destroy the gear set. if you get the first one wrong you'll burn up your bearings.