Love my new engine/trans;hate the MPG!

[Lancialonnie]

My tired old 307/TH350 was struggling and needed to be replaced as it would run hot and only got 6 MPG! I justified the expense of the upgrade by thinking I would see a sizeable increase in mileage but it hasn't turned out that way. Talking with some friends and wanting to keep a period look, I was convinced that a 383 stroker (Blueprint 430 hp) would be the best bet with plenty of torque and enough power that I wouldn't second guess my choice.

I went with an early 700R4 from a local shop. I talked with several of their satisifed customers that were happy with their transmissions and no electric lock up needed sounded good to me. FITech fuel injection, new headers and dual exhaust and now it has 1100 miles on it. I will say it is a blast to drive now! Before at 65 mph it was screaming loud and it was not comfortable driving it on the freeway. Now at 85 mpg it is very quiet and I have to watch the speed as it is easy to go 85 and not realize it! Plenty of power off the line and it will light the tires like it never could before, but, it is only getting 8.5 mpg with mostly city driving. I commute 6 miles each way to work and about half that trip is at 55-65 in the country and of course drive it around town.

I'm sure pure freeway miles would get into the teens but boy I was sure hoping to get 12-14 mpg! Smiles per gallon though can't be measured and the amount of thumbs up and waves I get proves that other people love this truck but then again, they are not burning up their cash to fill it up!