Taking the friction off to improve power and MPG

I've been trying to get answers from Hotrod for about 2 or 3 days, and have had plenty of people look at my post, but no advice and no discussion..really no discussion across the pit stop at all, so I decided to ask here among the Chevy crowd, people that share the passion for Chevy's like myself.  Any help with be thankful!  

Let me begin by saying that I like the 305.  There, I said it.  Now that is out in the open, let me continue by introducing myself and later getting to my question and my plan.  I'm a soldier that is deployed over seas and I'm new to the site.  I am a Driver of the M-1 A-1 Abrams, so obviously I enjoy lots of power, however, I understand that with great power comes great fuel consumption.

About 9 years ago I met my wife at the mall in Washington State by where she lived, I however lived in California and her in Washington, so we exchanged phone numbers and addresses and called or wrote back and forth to eachother till we lost contact.  Note I was 14 and she was 13 when I met her.  Once I got internet, we started talking over AOL and then on MSN, till I moved out and moved to Tennessee with a friend of mine over my junior/Senior year.  I lost contact with her and after summer was over, I moved back with my parents.  My father having retired wanted to move back to his home town of Moses Lake Washington.  I spent some time there and then joined the Army National Guard.  I completed Basic Training and came back to finish up my Senior year.  I regained contact with her after being back for about a month, within that time I had bought my 77 Chevy Nova from my brother for $1200.  I was talking to her on AOL and she made a statement that started it all "You're only 120 miles from where I live, maybe we should meet up at the Mall."  At the time, I was really getting into cars, I had rebuilt my first engine, with the help of my Father and Uncle.  My wife LOVED the Nova, she thought it was hot.  I came up and visited her and even stayed with her for 2 weeks before moving in with her, though, sadly, here comes the sad part.  I started getting bubbles in my radiator and the engine was over heating all the time or wasn't holding any liquid in the radiator.  I had become so close to my Nova and it upset me to not beable to fix her, but, so had my wife.  I put her in the back of the shop and started asking around to see how I could fix her.  My uncle and father suggested the head gasket... that didn't work, then the heads might have been cracked... that wasn't it... I poured alot of time and effort into trying to figure out what was wrong with my little Nova.  My wife suggest after my uncle suggested it might be the block being cracked that I should take a break from it and work on it later that year, so I did right after I tore the whole engine down to bare block.  The Nova sat for about 8 months, me working on it time to time when my wife was gone... after a while, it had no front clip, most of the parts where in storage and the only thing left on it was the windows, doors, gas tank and axle.  

about 2 months ago my wife suggested (always the suggestive type) that I should start on "Our Nova" this time when I come back from Iraq.  So as I always have, I listened to my wife and I am in the process of researching for parts, plans and ideas.  So far, I have mostly been looking at the new catolog from Classic Industries and some other sites or sources.  So, now to my question:  How do I make my 305 more efficient for power, but also more efficient for fuel economy. so far what I've come up with is:

-Aluminum heads for weight reduction and disapate heat, and run a 10:1 compression ratio on regular gas.
-Edelbrock Carb, not sure what CFM though or what kind just know electric choke is a must and EGR
-High Output Distributor and coil(note: HEI)
-Platium Sparkplugs to help with spark
-Roller Rocker Arms
-Those Roller Lifters (Not sure what kind yet, any suggestions for the lightest?)
-Stock axle gear ratio (or different if anyone has any suggests?)
-Suggestions for the Cam and Exhaust please
-Tubular suspension for weight reduction
-Cold Air intake
-Electric Fan (Scrapping the one off the water pump and putting a toggle switch up so when I hit 60mph I can shut it off.)
-High rise/Air gapped Aluminum Manifold
-16inch Aluminum Rims
-All wheel disk brakes
-I don't know if I should destroke, because I don't know if that will help with MPG at 60MPH?
-Headers are a must to let it breath better and disapate heat
-Good air filter
-Carb Spacer
-and finally perhaps a 700R4 or 200R4 or another suggested one

Oh yeah, Does a serpentine belt improve MPG?

Mostly what I'm trying to do is take the friction off the engine and make it run smoother, you know, going for Volumetric Efficiency.

Well, thats it, any suggestions on how to improve my MPG without making it a gutless wonder?

Thank you for your time, Superchevy and anyone else that can help!  Have a great day from Iraq!  
77'Chevy Nova 2dr Hatchback 305ci
Heartbeat of America  

I had a 77 nova 2 door coupe for my first car is was great, 250 L6 350 thm, Unfortunatly it had to go. I sold it to a friend for $1200 how about that! well he totaled it out and all I have left is the sunpro super tach that I installed when I was 16, anyway about your car. Ok, this is my suggestion, I know you probably want to keep the 305 but a 350 is gonna be better. Stock blocks are not that hard to find, then bore it .030 over with flat top pistons of your choice, stock 350 heads are ok but I recommend a set of the summit fuelie heads these are a (economical) cast iron HP head better than camel humps if you know what these are. Headers with a good flowing exhaust (of course) A cam to go with these will be around .224 duration @.050 and up to .480 lift with a 110 LSA this would not require a stall converter and you can keep the high gear which if you still have the stock one will be a 3.08, You can go with a roller but for no less than $800 on an old block, Peformer intake if you are staying carburated. Now I love quadrajets because they can offer great! gas mileage and plenty of peformance (and that is properly calibrated). I have one on my 70 Chevelle and it gets 15 mpg all the time, and would be better if I kept my foot out of it (impossible) so far. An engine that met this criteria would be a good budget built 350 and pull the nova well. Oh and any quality aftermarket iginition will work fine. Also if your wife allows you could put a overdrive trans behind all that with lockup converter and drop the gear a little for some better redlight launches. Getting the compression around 9.5 will increase the volumetric efficiency any higher is pushing pump gas to its limit. Serpentine systems dont help mileage but look good and it is almost impossible to throw the belt off.  

Serpentine belts don't improve MPG at all, they just simplify the belt and pulley system for factory assembly.

You're only gonna get some much reduced friction on an engine without spending a on of money. For example, on the cam and main bearings, you can use a roller bearing insert like they do with high end NASCAR engines. But this costs a lot.

There are also special coatings for the piston skirts, true roller rockers for the valvetrain, etc.

The best thing to improve your MPG right off the bat is an overdrive trans like you mentioned, with a lockup torque converter. You'll see a major MPG gain with just that move.  

Well, Cheevelle83, thanks for the suggestion, but I have a 350 to drop in the Nova that has been built up... kinda just missing a spare front clip, suspension and nose pieces for it.  BTW, that 350 is NOT made for milage  But seriously, My wife agrees with the Overdrive, and the input into the serpentine belt helps, that frees up some money on my budget

Question on the overdrive with Torque Converter though, how does the torque converter work exactly?  does it work like cruise control or does it work more like something that keeps your RPMs about the same?  Realizing that the Cruise control pretty much just uses a magnet to look the transmission up, I know that much...atleast on the older cars I think...er...but roller rockers and roller lifters with an Electric Fan will help aswell, right 55Guy?  I mean, it's not going to make me gain 3 more MPG, but it would still help, correct?  Atleast alittle maybe???  

hmm... the cooling system not holding pressure allowing the engine to overheat...

i would start at the radiator cap...  pull it off... examine it...  look at the little metal disc in the middle of the rubber seal...  see if it is spring loaded to stay up tight against the rubber ... if it is not...  replace it with one that does have tension...

i have run into that problem over the last decade or so... somebody put the caps together wrong...    it has been a few years since i saw one..  but i just saw a brand new cap like that yesterday... i forgot to send the cap  manufacturer an email...  that goes out next...

invest in a non contact temp gun..  20 to 70 bucks...  check the various parts of the cooling system... including scanning  across the radiator...  look for cooler spots...  that would indicate a clogged tube.. or restricted radiator core...

how much air does your cooling fan pull... do you have a shroud???

do you have a flex fan.. fixed blade, fan clutch,   thermostatic fan clutches can really save some power.. as they only cycle on when there is hot air coming off the radiator... the little bimetalic spring changes the flow of the silicone oil in the clutch to make it transfer power to the fan blade...

how big is the radiator???     check out the various auto parts web sites.. some of them list sizes... so you might have just too small a radiator..

and i hope that you have a thermostat in...  probably a 180 in that model.. it allows the engine to reach an operating temp and stay there.. letting out hot coolant and bringing in cooler coolant from the radiator to keep everything close to the same temp inside the motor...   the thermostat also lets the hot coolant in the radiator  stop or almost stop so the cooling fan or ram air through the radiator can cool it..

on some later model cars.. there are flaps of rubber between the core support and the lower valance ... those keep the air coming though the grill in front of the radiator and force it through the radiator..

hope this helps... do test the cap...  i have solved too many overheating problems with that failure.