My new project

[rayfinseats]

Starting in the spring. I am building an 83 chevy 1/2 ton 4x4 shop truck. The goal is good gas milage. Weight is a big factor. See interior... I will make my own box out of angle iron, probably 2x2x3/8. The inner fenders will be aluminum or plastic. Not much lift so I don't have to climb up and down so much. Now it has ramhorn exhaust and a 75ish 350 with performer intake and 600 edelbrock. I also have a quadrajet I can use. NP208,Tubo350 and 273 gears. I may add a roll cage because I do interiors and metal fab. The steering wheel is leather wrapped speedway stock car wheel. 1.4 pounds. Made my own shifter. Bought aluminum water pump cheap. Maybe electric fan?

I got the truck cheap as it had a blown rearend which I have already replaced. It will be flat black with red cloth interior. Glove box in the floor between the seats. All new wiring with toggle switches, etc. Making my own aluminum dash, white aftermarket gauges. Already purchased.

Any suggestions are welcome.

[Zoomad75]

Sounds like a cool project. Might want to rethink the roll cage if weight savings is your goal to better mileage. Then again, it's a uphill battle to try to get great mileage from one of these trucks.

[Plunkett]

You might consider swapping in a 700r4 tranny if fuel mileage is what you're looking for.

[rayfinseats]

Originally had 700r4 but someone swapped it out. I've been thinking the same.

[rayfinseats]

Also wondering if a 305 or 307 (cough) might be better on gas than a 350. Hard to say I guess.

Has anyone on here tried to strip a steering column down to just the shaft and just used a couple bearings to hold it in place??? Got the steering wheel mounted today.

[Zoomad75]

I hate to say it but moving down to a 305/307 is not going to give you better fuel economy. Sometimes going to a smaller engine in a large truck like this ends up using more fuel than a 350 in the same truck. Why? Due to the lack of power to the larger engine you need to run the smaller engine harder to get up to speed and move around. This ends up flushing more fuel down the drain.

Besides the barn door aerodynamics, the heavy weight are just a pain to really squeeze out every last mpg out of. The ones that get the best mileage are running 6.2 or 6.5L diesels with 700r4 transmissions a highway gearing.

[thirdstreettito]

Get a 6.2 diesel. The burb in my signature gets 25mpg.

[rayfinseats]

I hate to say it but moving down to a 305/307 is not going to give you better fuel economy.

Thats what I was thinking too. Doubt I'll go to the expense of diesel conversion. My 90 efi 350 1500 700r4 sucks on gas milage. I should have just started with an s10 but it'll be fun...

[rayfinseats]

Got the seats done and the dash but have to finish wiring it. Seats have a total of 3" of foam rubber. I have five 2" gauges and enough switches to install just about anything. Will post dash picture later.

[Altec]

Hope you like those seats more then I do. If I had to be in them seats for more then ten seconds () I'd flip...

Diesel...

[rayfinseats]

Originally Posted by Altec

Hope you like those seats more then I do. If I had to be in them seats for more then ten seconds () I'd flip...

Diesel...

I think with 3 inches of padding they will be pretty comfortable. I don't do much highway driving mostly just quick trips around town.

Just made this rearend cover for the front. Free part from the blown up rearend. I'm going to paint it.

[Altec]

Why add the weight of the round bar if you are trying to save weight?

up22.com sells fiberglass fender wells. They also have glass bumpers, and glass other stuff. USbody sells fiberglass fleetside skins.

[rayfinseats]

That 3/8 bar don't weigh sh*t. Damn those inner fenders are like $95 a piece and weigh 9 pounds. Thanks thats a good suggestion. Thanks for the info I appreciate it.



I just found out that "A steel inner fender (aftermarket) weighs around 12 pounds." I think I'll make some out of abs and a heat gun or use 22 Gauge aluminum. I can get shower wall for like $18 a sheet and $75 for the aluminum.

[Altec]

Your the one weighing your steering wheel. If your gonna go, go big!

Besides, that being the front cover if you hit anything to need that, you are going to destroy the tie rod connecting your knuckles. I would have instead considered taking some steel plate, and bending some pieces to lay over top the bottom 1/4 of the cover. That would give all the protection you need.

[rayfinseats]

Ya but it was fun to make and didn't cost sh*t. Sounds like a win/win to me.

[Stocker]

You mentioned not much lift.... in the interest of fuel economy, skip the lift altogether. Also, skinny tires with higher air pressure will net you more mpg than big fat tires with lower pressure. If you're really serious about it, lighter-weight tires are better than heavy tires....

[rayfinseats]

Stocker - I agree.

[Ronnny]

If i were to do one and i might again one day. I would do the 770r4 with a 208 for gas mileage or a nv3550 with a 208 or 241. The step sides are a lot lighter than the fleet side trucks. You can run 33's with no lift but stay as skinny as you want to save on gas. An all terrian will get better gas than a mud terrian of the same size. Higher gears do not always get you better mileage. You to be in your torque curve during normal driving gets you the best mpg. Trim your inner and outer fenders to save wieght. I welded in c channel with a reciever hitch to do away with the rear bumper. I tastefully trimmed the front so that if i backed up the front would not catch limbs or branches. Get rid of the dash and bend a piece of plastic or sheet aluminium to go in its place. Aluminium wheels and 35's my truck was under 2400 running a 350 with a 3 on the tree and a 205 case. Ask around a gear ratio of 3.73 or 4.10 might get better mpg around town if running 33's you might be surprised. You said something about short trips so even with stock tires i would not run lower than 3.08 gears. Good luck on your truck. If want to keep it cheap and get down to 2000 lbs go with a good 4.3 liter. If your wieght does not get down though it will cost you more in gas.

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/c...3/100_0083.jpg

[Stocker]

Originally Posted by Ronnny

Aluminium wheels and 35's my truck was under 2400 running a 350 with a 3 on the tree and a 205 case.

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/c...3/100_0083.jpg

Just wondering -- is that a misprint, less than 2400 pounds? That's Miata territory, and you have the weight of a front drive axle + that heavy iron NP205 t-case added to the weight of the truck itself....

[argonaut]

Yeah, my track car weighed 2100 lbs. Maybe he meant 3400 lbs?

[Ronnny]

Sorry about tat i looked back at some tickets where i took off scrap metal ( use to do that a bit) and it was right about 2900 accross the scale with me in it. a lot lighter than even others of the same style truck that i have had.

[Altec]

That round light stepper weighs 2400? REALLY?

[rayfinseats]

Thanks Ronny.
The step sides are a lot lighter than the fleet side trucks. REALLY? How much? Interesting. I would be happy with 3000 pounds. My 1990 weighs 4600.

I did make a dash out of 22 gauge aluminum. I spent all last night wiring the dash (relays are interesting) but don't have it all wired into the truck yet. I ended up with (5) 2" gauges. Fuel, oil, water, vacuum, and voltmeter. I finished the brakes this weekend and actually got to drive it around a little. Cant wait to really dig in. I have been crazy busy at the upholstery shop. I was looking at the tires today and they are like brand new (31 x 10 x15). I only paid $550 for the whole truck. The engine seems strong but needs new exhaust. It has ramhorns and I'm thinking dual turbo mufflers with turnouts in front of rear wheels, doing my own fab. We have no inspections in Iowa to worry about. But I will make sure its safe. This aint my first rodeo. I built a ton of hot rods and drag cars.

I cut out the dash from the glove box up and put the fuseboxes and relays in the glovebox. My switch panel has a hinge at the bottom in case I need to add circuits later.

[MTCK]

6.2 or 4.3, 700R4, small tires at high pressure, no lift, trim so weight, 4.10 or 3.73 gears if around town and keep your foot out of it, you should see 18+ mpg. I got over 20 on a long haul with my old 6.2. 235 75R15's on it....

I'd be checking the scale with the step side going over it... My short box 77 was over 4k on the truck scale at the quarry IIRC.

[Ronnny]

My 73 stepside k10 was lighter than the 86 toyota i had that was stock with a 4cyl and 31x10.5 tires on it. Fiqured that was why that little 4cyl could not qit drinking so much gas. It seemed everything about the 79 k10 i had was heavier than on the 73. The tires were a heavier more ply tire. The wagon wheels were heavier. The 203 transfer case compared to any other one is a boat anchor. I would guess near 150 more lbs than the 205 and a 208 is a lot less than either. The frame of the truck was cut off as far up a possible in the rear up under the bed and still leave the bed mount and shackle mount alone before welding in a cross piece to take a reciever hitch. I just keep on until it got down to a lighter truck a little at the time. The 79 truck was a 350 with a 350 and 203. It would never see the lighter side of 4000lbs. I don't know what the big difference was though. It even drove a lot different than the 73.