View Full Version : Increasing MPG through head work...


Ghost Neon 2
05-16-2008, 10:03 AM
Made this post elsewhere a little over 1.5 yrs ago. Figured I might as well throw it back out there since it I'll be trying it out for real. Here is a bit of a story. Through internet deals and such, met a machinist in Pa named Mike Holler that does engine and head works for all types of heads. Mainly for the 80's turbo dodge cars. Says he could get the mpg to increase greatly though head work. I get his number, and we speak on several occasions regarding this topic. States that porting for max air flow, while obviously effective, can be damaging to mpg's. That was the main reason I never did it. Plus the cost. Says through some porting and shaping flow and mpg could be increased. Sounded nuts to me, but he told me of some 8v turbo heads he did for some guys running them at the time. Mpg's are normally around the mid to low 20's for high power 8v 2.2L, and these guys were up in the 40's hwy and 30's in the city. I have never seen a car with his heads on there, but he wsa doing them often until some company paid him big bucks to do this in NJ somewhere.

I know it sounds crazy, but since I have extra parts why not give it a try? He told me I could do this, and explained in intimate detail how it all work. He was not secretive at all about the head work he was trying, and this was not an invention of his. More an experiment, as race boats and motorbikes have been doing this for some time.

Check this out: http://www.allpar.com/fix/holler/turbo-interview.html


The head I did has about everything but the exhaust port biasing. Oops. Will be doing the valves this evening and hoping to have the head on next week. If all works as stated (crossed fingers), and provided I did it right, I may have some good news.

das2123
05-16-2008, 11:17 AM
My modded 97 highline got about 40 mpg on the freeway. It had every bolton you could put on there.

Ghost Neon 2
05-16-2008, 12:33 PM
What trans did it have? My r/t trans have got to go. Killing my mpg.

Neon_Fan
05-16-2008, 01:00 PM
What's wrong with the R/T trans, other then needing another gear?

das2123
05-16-2008, 01:22 PM
ORIGINAL: Ghost Neon 2

What trans did it have? My r/t trans have got to go. Killing my mpg.
It had the 3.55

ORIGINAL: Neon_Fan

What's wrong with the R/T trans, other then needing another gear?

The 0.81 5th gear burns more gas than the 3.55 transmissions that came on SOHC engines (excluding the ACR).

DOHCgarrett t3
05-17-2008, 12:53 AM
my R/t gets 27mpg city.

Ghost Neon 2
05-17-2008, 02:16 AM
The 3.55 .75 5th gets much better. Will have to find one.

Ghost Neon 2
05-17-2008, 02:18 AM
The 3.55 .72 5th gets much better. Will have to find one.

Just finished the valve for my "mpg saving" dohc head. Pics on the way.

das2123
05-17-2008, 10:09 AM
It's 0.72 5th gear;)

Ghost Neon 2
05-17-2008, 09:48 PM
ORIGINAL: das2123

It's 0.72 4th gear ;)

[sm=vader.gif] [sm=joke.gif]

Gotcha this time buddy!

Ghost Neon 2
05-19-2008, 09:34 PM
http://a968.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/6/l_cf30b90a3f022359c3808dade2fa4097.jpg

Some of my recent efforts.

das2123
05-20-2008, 09:28 AM
ORIGINAL: Ghost Neon 2

ORIGINAL: das2123

It's 0.72 4th gear ;)

[sm=vader.gif] [sm=joke.gif]

Gotcha this time buddy!

I meant 5th gear.

Ghost Neon 2
05-23-2008, 01:35 AM
Figured as much, but i said that already. Might have this had ready in the next few weeks.