I just did a long trip with my 223

6

62uni

Well-known member
I just got back from Knoxville ,Tenn. ,from the F-100 super nats, 1300 mile roundtrip. No mechanical failure and used no oil. I averaged about 16 MPG w/3.70 rear gear. I thought I would do better than that but oh well it ran great and I had a great time. I got alot of positive comments on having a stock 223 under the hood of my truck. I counted approx. 63 of my vintage trucks (61'-66') seen no other with a stock 223 or 240, I may have missed one but 390's seem to be the norm. Does my gas mileage seem OK? Would going to a 3.25 be feasible? My truck does not do any work any only hauls coolers and lawn chairs, Any input on tweaking any mpg would welcomed. Thanks.
Charlie
 
How fast were you driving? Those front ends push alot of air out of the way, and a 3.70 rear gear will have the engine spinning pretty good after 60-65 mph.
 
I was cruising about 60-65 it was happier at 60, I don't have a tach so I don't know what RPMs I was running. I know over 65 it was screaming pretty good though.
 
The 3.25 gear set would help to lower the cruising rpm and gain some (not sure how much) mileage improvement, but 16 mpg while not fabulous, is not horrible either. I think the biggest hinderance to improving the mileage is the inherantly bad aerodynamics of the front end. You cant really do to much about that, and wouldnt want to anyway. We like these trucks for their unique appearance and character.

I owned a 1960 Full size ford sedan with a 223 and 3 spd manual and IIRC it had a 3.50 or 3.70 gear in it. I could get as much as 20 (sometimes 22) mpg on occasion but the wind had to be neutral or behind me. But I'm guessing it had a lot less or more streamlined frontal area than the Uni.

I'm thinking that unless you want to spend a bunch of money, just do the standard stuff ( Tuned to the max, tire pressure, synthetic lube in the trans & axle, drive "easy" etc.) and enjoy your ride.
 
My '55 Ford Courier has 223/medium case Fordomatic and 3.25 posi rear. Abosulutely wide open on the highway gets about 19mpg and top speed is about 70mph.
I have not fine tuned the dwell yet so I might be able to improve it slightly, but it runs like a sowing machine wide open, but throws a quart of oil a week (350 miles all hiway at top speed) out the crankcase breather (road pipe).
Still cant get used to only being able to go 70mph. I'm used to driving my Y-block '55 Victoria sedan 80mph left lane all the way.
Last week, I left the 223 sit at home and drove the car so I can stay in the left lane and go 80mph all the way.
I'm thinking about going to a lower ratio like maybe 3.10, or 2.91 if I can find the gears. But 60mph. No way. Theyll run you off the road around here.
223eng4.jpg
 
Daves 55, I think you may be losing alot to slippage in the "Fordomatic". Also that much oil coming past the rings indicates you may be way down on compression/power. The 223 I had in the 60 fullsize 4 door with 3 spd manual would cruise at 85-90 with no problems and hit 100 if I wanted it too. (Back in the day when the speed limit here in MT was "reasonable & prudent" or somesuch guideline) What a car. I should have kept that one too.
 
My 55 customline is revving hard at 70-75 as it has the stock 4.11 gearing that comes with the 3 spd OD tranny. Does anyone know which rear ends from different years will switch out without moving the shock mounts and spring perches?
I'm looking to change to 3.25 or thereabouts.
 
Keefer. I am running a 57 Ford 9" in my '55. It is the identical width as the original '55 rearend. I also currently have 3.25 posi-trac setup. You will need to use the rear '57 brake drums, cylinders and shoes. The banjo housing sits on the '55 spring perches like its made for it. Its a perfect bolt on, no-hassle swap.

Have you noticed if you are throwing a lot of oil out the roadpipe at high rpm ? I'm about a quart low at the end of the week driving at max rpm about 350 mile a week. I can just see the crankshaft counterweight throwing it right at that roadpipe going that fast for that distance.
 
Luckyman":2y26ohc1 said:
Daves 55, I think you may be losing alot to slippage in the "Fordomatic". Also that much oil coming past the rings indicates you may be way down on compression/power. The 223 I had in the 60 fullsize 4 door with 3 spd manual would cruise at 85-90 with no problems and hit 100 if I wanted it too. (Back in the day when the speed limit here in MT was "reasonable & prudent" or somesuch guideline) What a car. I should have kept that one too.
Click to expand...

The Ford-O-matic stays no matter what.
There is no oil coming past the rings. It would burn oil if that were the case. Its not burning oil. The oil is all over along the undercarriage due to being thrown out the roadpipe. Remember this is all highway driving at max RPM, 70 miles a day. My plugs are clean and dry and the engine runs smoother than anything Ive ever owned, idling and high rpm. What rearend ratio did you have in the 60 Galaxie? Thats what I would like so I could cut down on hiway rpms and get a little more speed. 85mph would be nice. Also my compression has to be higher than the engine had originally due to the milled head, so I doubt theres a compression problem. It wouldnt run this smooth is there was low compression in one of the cylinders.
 
Daves 55, I was not advocating changing the transmission, only suggesting the possibility of some power loss at the rear wheels due to slippage. As you already know there is no lockup torque converter or direct connection only a fluid connection.

There has to be some reason the crank case is being pressurized enough to blow that much oil out. Either that, or a baffle/shield missing from the oil sump that allows normal pressure to push oil out the tube.

It was a long time ago that I had my 60 but IIRC it had either a 3.50 or 3.70 open rear gear. I'm pretty sure it was the 3.50, but it was no lower than 3.70 for sure. It was wound out at 90 and by 100 it was done (if there was no wind) but it didnt seem too un-happy at 85. Much more like a sewing machine for smoothness than my current 300 W/3.00 rear gear.
 
Well, I dont know why its throwing out oil. Its definitely not been overfilled, so thats not it. My guess was due to the high rpms. I have another 223 on the garage floor that I can tear into to see if it has something in there that I dont have in mine to block oil being thrown at that hole where the road pipe goes. Also theres ALWAYS an oil slick on the garage floor right under that road pipe. I tied a sock around that pipe and it just gets soaked with oil.
I'm not worried about the efficiency loss in the Ford-o-matic. The loss cant be that much running constantly at that high rpm.
 
when you guys are saying high rpm's. what do you mean. like 4-5 grand?
 
My 60 was all in and all done at 100mph which was approx 4500 rpm. But I would never cruise there for several reasons. It would however cruise at 85mph which was about 3800 rpm which is still spinning pretty fast.
 
Maybe he sold me a higher ratio than I asked for. Never thought to count the teeth on the gears and divide after I got the parts. I just assumed he gave me what I asked for.
Looks like I'll have to lift the rearend off the garage floor and count the rotations of the driveshaft while turning the rear tire one revolution to see what it is. I have no idea what the rpms are at 70mph, but its spinning really fast. My 223 was bored, balanced, milled & built with all primo stuff, so its like a racing engine block and it can probably stand a few more rpms than the stock built engine could.
 
I don't have a tach on my truck, I would like to know what I'm turning but don't want to put nothing too far from stock looking though.
Charlie
 
The road draft tube may have a little drain back tube inside it to drain the oil thrown up into the tube. The tube on our '54 Y-block did. Take the road draft tube off and make sure everything is clean inside it; just a thought.

I advocate adding an overdrive tranny instead of changing rear axle ratios. They arn't that hard to find or install except some of the wierd controls that you really don't need. If you are interested pm me and I will discuss it further.
 
62 Uni, I bought a inexpensive tach at Autozone for about $40. It works rather well for what our purposes are. Its called a "Sunpro II". It comes with either a white or black face, only 2-5/8ths dial so not too big and obtrusive. I clamped it to the steering column and adjusted so that it does not obscure the original instruments. Wires are covered to point where they follow the column under the instrument panel. Its a neat/tidy install.
 
Fred":ukqnj5i2 said:
I advocate adding an overdrive tranny instead of changing rear axle ratios. They arn't that hard to find or install except some of the wierd controls that you really don't need. If you are interested pm me and I will discuss it further.
Click to expand...
To an automatic?
 
Fred":17tt2ll8 said:
The road draft tube may have a little drain back tube inside it to drain the oil thrown up into the tube. The tube on our '54 Y-block did.
Click to expand...

Yeah the 55 Y-block has the road pipe with a filter canister on top and little drain tube like that, but the sixes dont have that. Its just a pipe that goes into a hole and elbows down to just below the bottom of the oil pan and has a long bolt thru it to bolt it to the block. Its completely different.

Incidently, I Drove the Y-block this entire week to work 350miles at speeds mostly exceeding 80mph. It lost about 1/2 quart of oil out the road pipe. It always did lose a little, and Im not complaining about it at that speed. But if I just drive it in town, it doesnt seem to lose any, and niether does the six. Only on hiway due to the higher rpms.
 
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