360 cu inch or 318 for gas mileage?

[thallium]

I was thinking about putting a 318 in one of my chargers for the commute to work. Chryco was saying that the 360 would get better gas mileage than the 318.   If I were to purchase the lower horsepower crate engine 360 (320 horsepower), what kind of mileage could I expect to get with the 360 using 3:23 gearing or maybe 2:93 gearing?  From my understanding a stock 318 should get around 15 mpg, give or take.  What should I expect from a 320 horsepower 360?  If anyone has a 360 in their charger, could you post some mileage figures?  I'm just trying to get an idea of which engine to put into the car to make a great commuter car.

[Todd Wilson]

If you can get Chryco to tune it then the 360 might get better MPG!   


I've had good luck with 318's! They get better MPG then my 360 in my truck does.



Todd

[69charger2002]

i would NEVER doubt what chryco says. BUT how could a 360 get better fuel economy? especially a 320 hp one? the 360 in my cuda gets around 13 mpg, and my old 318 in my 69 charger got 15-16. driving it the same.. i don't know.. all i DO know is a 440 sucks for mileage.. i would never have one for a daily
trav

[Rolling_Thunder]

I had the Crate 360 in my Charger for about a year...    6 months i had 2.76 gears...     I averaged about 13mpg but that is with a VERY heavy foot....      when I tried to get the best gas milage I ended up getting an average (street and highway) of 19mpg...   

[hemihead]

By the numbers and with the weight factor of the Charger a 360 should be pretty good but my 360 and any 360 I ever had were Gasoline Addicts. 

[hotrod98]

Tabor,
We put a 95 5.9 liter engine with the A518 overdrive tranny out of a dodge truck into Sandra's 73 cuda. She gets 25 mpg on the highway and around 20 in town. We love driving that car. The engine runs so smooth, they must balance those motors when they build them. I think you could get a pull-out with the computer and harness for $1500 or less. Just a thought.
I've been looking for a 5.2 or 5.9 for my 74 charger. I may go a step further with this superbird clone and buy a 5.7 hemi 5-speed auto. They're coming down in price now that there's so many of them out there.
larry

[ramit]

In my opinion the 318 would be much better.  I had a 71 charger with a 318 2 barrel and I could get 22 mpg on the highway and about 17 on a regular basis.  With the 360 Cuda I had I was lucky if I got more than 13 mpg out of it.

[67_Dodge_Charger]

The 360 will not work as hard as the 318 to push your car down the road.  Meaning it will get better gas mileage.  That is provided you don't have a heavy foot.  Keep it stock and you will have less temptation to hammer the gas pedal.

IMO

-Robert

[ramit]

The 360 will not work as hard as the 318 to push your car down the road. Meaning it will get better gas mileage. That is provided you don't have a heavy foot. Keep it stock and you will have less temptation to hammer the gas pedal.

IMO

-Robert

Isn't that kind of like saying that you would be even better off with a 440 because it won't have to work as hard as a 360?

[thallium]

Both very good points. I have heard Chryco say the 360 would not have to work as hard too. He's made the same statement you just did.  I kinda understand that statement about the 360 not having to work as hard.  It would have more torque to get a heavy car like the charger down the road which would mean you wouldn't have to mash your foot into the gas to get it going.

Ramit does have a valid point though. If this were true, wouldn't it be better to just use a 440? and we all know a 440 is not known for killer gas mileage.

[PocketThunder]

Soon we'll be converting our Chargers to Hybrids!   

[THE CHARGER PUNK]

i know a 440 is a gas guzzling monster but if  u had the 6-pack would it get better? thats what ive been hearing and say if u added that fuel injected 6-pack on a 440 how much better would that get you???(sorry for jacking thread)-MATT

[BigBlackDodge]

Soon we'll be converting our Chargers to Hybrids!   

An 'electric' Charger...................sounds like they go together to me!


BBD

[Chryco Psycho]

there are a LOT of variables either can get better gas milage
- driver,  can make the Most difference if you have your foot on the floor all the time a 318 2 bbl will get better milage , if you drive very smoothly milage can be awesome
- gearing,  a 318 with 430 gears will never have to work hard & could get great milage around town , if you have 2,76 gear & do a lot of highway the 318 will work a lot harder than the 360
- weight ,  this is basically the same a s gearing , the lighter the car the more likely a 318 will make better milage , the heavier it si the more likely the 360 will not work as hard , a heavu truck  or pulling a treailer you will get better milage with a bigger , more torquey engine
- where you drive mostly at high speed on highways a biiger engine will usually do better , my 6500 lb power wagon towing a trailer & car would get 15 MPG steady at 70 mph
with any vehicle with perfect tuning & smooth driving yuo will be amazed what some engines will give for milage , I have seen more then a few 440 in the over 20 MPG range

[thallium]

Thanks, Neil. that makes a lot of sense.

[Todd Wilson]

It also helps to have Chryco lay his hands upon the engine and do his magic!     



Todd

[austinpalibroda]

I have a slightly hopped up 360 in my 69 roadrunner cloan.  i have 2.76 gears right now and get about 16mpg on the highway if i drive it nice, but for some reason i usually get about 13 

[Mike DC]

Virtually everyone I've ever known who's had a 360 has complained of the same thing:  Surprisingly bad mileage.  That even goes for when they were brand new EFI motors installed in brand new vehicles.

You don't hear it about the 318 though.  I'm not sure why any of this happens because 360 is not really that much displacement and it's mechanically very similar to the 318.

               

[694spdRT]

I am using a mildy worked 318 in the '72 Challenger because I want to use it on a fairly regular basis. I am putting a 833OD behind it with 3.23 or 3.55 gears. I drive over 40 miles a day to work so I am hoping for 16-18mpg with it.

I have never had a 360 in a car before. My experience with 360's has been with trucks. Most of the 360 trucks(9 total) over the last 15 years in my family would get between 12 and 16mpg overall.

The worst was a 1990 Dodge Ramcharger 360 pre Magnum with an automatic overdrive and 3.55 gears. This truck had 33" tires and was lifted 2" and would get 11 mpg on the highway and it had no power.

The best was a 1999 Ram 1500 Quad cab 4 x 4 360 Magnum with Automatic and 3.55's. With less than 5,000 miles that truck was getting 19-20 mpg on the highway. On one trip going 55mph we avaraged over 21mpg. No other truck was ever close to this.

I have had four 318 trucks all with automatics. A 1979 Ramcharger would get 12-14mpg(no power), a 1988 D150 2wd would get 16-18mpg highway with 2.90 gears(good power), a 1988 W250 with 3.54s and that got 12-13mpg(200K on it and tired), and a 1996 1500 4 x 4 with 3.55's that got 16mpg.

[Mike DC]

I keep waiting for one of the new Hemis to show up retrofitted into an old car with the factory's displacement-killing feature still operational.

[The Ghoul]

my oppinion...
swap a modern engine in.
I always thought it would be sweet to swap in a modern hemi with fule enjection. better fule echonomy, more power, and you would still be able to wipe the walls with all the new chargers (except the srt8's)