Re: Did Chevy consider Packard V8 BB Design?

Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2008/10/4 9:06:16

While gas mileage isn't all that important to me as I only drive my Packards 500-1000 miles a year, I'm reasonably satisified the my 56 Caribbean mileage, considering a high mileage (90,000) original engine. I don't do jack-rabbit starts and normally cruise at about the speed limits on Interstates (65 mph or so) and get, give or take, 15 mpg on today's ethanol-laden gasoline, which is perhaps closer to 16 with the good old juice. I'd guess that 55 Caribbeans, despite fewer cubic inches, don't do as well all other things being equal because of 55 dual 4GCs have larger primary jets than secondaries (reversed for 56) and don't have the air velocity dampers in the secondaries. Given the weight of the car, I think that's decent mileage. It's a lot better than my 34 Eight which has all the aerodynamics of a brick, it gets about 10-11 pretty much regardless of the speed (highway speeds of 45-50 tops). That's with the standard 4.69 rear axle ratio.