Way to improve fuel economy??

[odog]

So yesterday I went to the hills again toget a load of wood. I put the gps in the truck cause I wanted to get a good estimate on my fuel mileage. I put 184 miles on the truck, not freeway, but back country roads, up and down in the mountains, I bet 40% was in 3rd gear at about 30 mph.

Here is the deal, I have a 327 with upwards of 170000 miles on it, a sm420/221 combo, 4:10 gears. It is a 3/4ton 4x4. Single exhaust aslo. The motor has good compression, 2 cyclinders have 150lbs and the others range 145 down to 130lbs. I run a quart of lucas oil every oil change, dont know if this helps or not, it may just be mental for me.

On this trip I got 9.3 mpg. Not great, but what gets me is last year I had 3:07 gears and got 9.7 mpg on the same trip, going almost exactly the same places.

Does anybody have any ideas for better gas milage? I mean at 9 mpg I could almost justify putting int he 396 I have and have more power. I havnt done it cause I didnt want to drastically change my milage, but I am wondering if it matters at this point.