I think it's hilarious that you bought an old beater car that is only going to get worse, AND are planning to swap the engine and the trans out, AND dangerously inflating your tires, AND driving like an asshole 100% of the time, all to gain at most 5 mpg on average (if that).
Hypermiling FTMFL.
Ok, we'll see about that.. In winter I average 25mpg in the Volvo S60 I drive so if I can't beat that by at least 5mpg, something is seriously wrong.. Also I'd rather "be an asshole" who is trying to minimize their impact on the environment than be an asshole at the
cost of the environment.
Wouldn't you rather have someone who accelerates slow and drives slow but does nothing else wrong than someone who drives with their highbeams or fog lights on when inappropriate, or who weaves in and out of traffic, who guns the throttle only to end up at the same stop light, or who is so oblivious to the inflation of their tires or the maintenance of their car that when something goes wrong it's "unexpected" when it's really just them being careless...
Fuck everybody who thinks they need to get to that red light as quickly as possible, I don't give a shit if it hurts your feelings because in reality you're being as much of a tard as you THINK I am for "going slow". It's funny how everyone talks about how slow I drive yet somehow I manage to arrive around the same time as everybody else, I wonder how that works...
You'd be better putting a low-to-medium-boost turbo kit on your existing engine, and running a fairly lean tune (but not too lean, else you will blow up your engine).
The result is the same: More torque, similar gas mileage.
The cost of the engine isn't going to be too high (as I won't let it!) but I am thinking about adding on a light pressure turbo which may or may not be necessary. I might take it a step further and have the turbo only spool when the car is under heavy load in order to prevent me from having to downshift.
Oh and for the "dangerously inflating tires" bit... It's FAR more dangerous to have your tires under-inflated by 3psi (which I can guarantee your tires are) than to have them inflated to sidewall. My tires wear evenly and I have much better handling performance than before I inflated them to sidewall so no, inflating them to sidewall is NOT less safe. Tires inflated to the sidewall rating run cooler than tires that are not.