I am toying with transforming my 69 into a daily driver - something fun but reliable for daily grind. Commute total of about 60 miles per day.

Currently running 427 with 840 heads and old hydraulic cam. Thinking about moving to AFR 305's as they leave room for future expansion and should easily make more power than old iron. Was planning to use existing short block parts including 11:1 TRW's and have heads milled to 114 cc's to not loose all compression but work on pump gas.

I've had experience with solid and hydraulic cams in past and was thinking about hydraulic roller this time. Being daily driver, thought this would be best idea for reliability and performance. Goal is to get high teens for gas mileage on highway and around 500 flywheel hp.

Will re-use 4 speed but cut back from 4.56 to 3.55 gears. Giving Keisler OD transmission consideration as well.

Open to suggestions and comments - expecially from guys driving cars every day.

I drive my 69 dam near every day from spring thru fall. It has a 327 so i cant really compare with your extra 100 cubes lol. My trans is a built 200r4 and a 3:55 posi.

with the overdrive the 3:55 is perfect imho for the road. the longest trip i took was about 100 miles 1 way to our cottage. Cruising around 70 mph was very comfortable. I dont have a tach installed yet but i can say the rpms were not high at all.

I was getting around 18ish for that trip, but the motor needed alot of work to be honest. I just put a set of performer rpm heads on this and a new cam. Once i get this tuned right i expect to pick up some mpg. I plan on installing an electric fan next, then the big swap for an efi system.

My goal is mid 20's hwy. I have heard a few guys in the low 20's with a well tuned carb.

My first suggestion would be to put alot of thought into your seats. My stock seat look to have been restuffed once upon a time. Lemme tell ya they are fine for around town, but sit in them for 2 hours straight and its a whole different story lol..

Best of luck to ya, trust me you will enjoy the hell out of driving it daily.

Only thing I'd worry about is somebody steeling it.

pdq67

I am toying with transforming my 69 into a daily driver - something fun but reliable for daily grind. Commute total of about 60 miles per day.

Currently running 427 with 840 heads and old hydraulic cam. Thinking about moving to AFR 305's as they leave room for future expansion and should easily make more power than old iron. Was planning to use existing short block parts including 11:1 TRW's and have heads milled to 114 cc's to not loose all compression but work on pump gas.

I've had experience with solid and hydraulic cams in past and was thinking about hydraulic roller this time. Being daily driver, thought this would be best idea for reliability and performance. Goal is to get high teens for gas mileage on highway and around 500 flywheel hp.

Will re-use 4 speed but cut back from 4.56 to 3.55 gears. Giving Keisler OD transmission consideration as well.

Open to suggestions and comments - expecially from guys driving cars every day.

Feel free to call me directly with any questions. I can run through rpm scenarios in o/d as well as rpms you will see in any gear at a given mph. Good luck!

my Chevelle is a daily driver-383 Afr 195's CC Hyd rlr cam- no probs
Richmond 5 3.31 13/15 city 19+ hywy
Great heads+ reasonable cam spec(Go roller)=:hurray:in a street car
Be smart on comp-Mine is at the edge-Quench is the key(I always shoot for .038to.040)-helps a bit with MPG also
One point to add-I get bad Carb iceing with my E air gap(the idle?trasition circit freezes) and thats a royal pain as that's all the motor need sexcept when going up a pass or the like