Well done Dale on the thread, rethinking the potential fuel mileage gains to be found.
As for fluid temps, there are different goals for different vehicles, drivers, and conditions. I want the most power and reliability, so I prefer the lowest temps possible.
The fluids need to heat up enough to cook off condensation, but that's more about being sure to avoid too short of trips. There should not be any significant condensation in an engine if it's driven a decent amount. I'd shoot for oil temps of 180-210.
The trans is different, I don't believe there is any need to raise ATF temps to 200, or 150 degrees. There is virtually no air space inside a transmission, condensation should be none, irrelevant. I think a trans and ATF should function perfectly fine at 100 degrees, so I'm planning to get mine as low as possible. I'm going to try to modify a thermostatic oil adapter to open much sooner than 160, say 100-110 degrees.
I think Al's best attribute for gas mileage was the timing of his engine. He never worked on his timing chains, so it was the stock timing. He always had an unusually high fuel mileage, even to start with. I think that was a random ideal timing his engine had. What that ideal timing is, that's debatable.
I'm sure though that to be productive in finding the best timing, you will have to use a more accurate TDC finding method. The TDC tool in the "kit" is not accurate at all, it's easily off by several degrees from one time to the next that you use it. The best method to set the crank to TDC, is to use a piston stop tool and a degree wheel attached to the crank. Doing that you can set timing and know that it's accurate compared to the last and next time it's done.
If you are going to alter the timing, first locate true DC with a degree wheel and piston stop. Do that first, and find out where the existing timing is set at. I bet each engine tested is different.
