ok need some advice

[68GMC454]

ok i got a 1990 G20 conversion van, but forget the van body an give me some ideas on the truck chassis under it,,lol.. so the van ran great, got super gas milage, 16 to 19 mpg, so alot better than my old motor home with a 440 in it,,lol, which got around 5 on a good day..

so tommorow i got to get under the doghouse on the van, find the numbers on the block, an see if i got a 350 or a 305.. if its a 350, its got problems which could be it isnt tuned to run in the mountains, spent most of the day over 6000 foot in elevation.. but on steep grades it would barely get out of its own way.. will change the plugs to while im at it.. now it never missed a beat and ran like a top, just didnt have enough power to maintain speed on the long steep grades here in utah, but it will lose speed on a smaller hill to..supossedly it has only 140k on the odometer, in town it runs great an has power, on half way level ground it runs great to...

now any of you got a 1990 checy truck with cruise control, this one works somewhat, but most of the time it wont hold speed, an wont kick the tranny down while climbing hills...oh i got a automatic with over drive, not sure which one, or what the gear ratio is either..

right now i dont think it would pull a small pop up camper up parleys canyon here in utah, which im trying to buy one for more room while taking trips. i was down to around 40 mph on most of parleys on I80..good thing is it doesnt leak, or burn a drop of oil, just no power on hills, but maybe it just weighs to much for even a 350, this is my first full size van, im used to pickups with 454's in them, and it slowed down on parleys due to a 11 1/2 foot slide in camper an a trailer behind it with well over 1000 pounds on it..

do any of you think there is a newer steering colum i could just swap in if the cruise is messed up on the turn signal switch..

so any help or info is greatly appriciated.... my memory isnt working like it should,, old age i guess i do know i have to get my freidn who is a mechanic out on the open road an get it up to highway speeds, i can hear something, i can place the sound, but at 65 plus it starts in so i stay under 65 better mpg anyway, but id like to know it isnt something that is gonna break while out on the road soemwhere.. its kinda like a vibration noise with out the vibration, i know doesnt make sense but its not the tranny slipping, isnt a ujoint, kinda like a combo of those,, i dont think its tire noise, but i did put 255/70.R15's on the rear, that an im not sure but i dont htink you would feel the tire noise like i do, maybe its just in my mind

[Colt Cobra]

well, I cant help you on much else, but your transmission is a 700R4.

[clay68c10]

My 93 350 only has 75k on it and it looses some speed going up in the mountains. It's a manual and I have to drop it out of 5th pulling any kind of hills. I imagine it would be pretty slow with any real load on it.
I'm thinking about some shorty headers and a few degrees of timing. Eventually a cam and a custom tune too.
Those TBI motors aren't very high compression, which hurts at altitude.

[68GMC454]

ok thanks for the inof.. so i got a 700R4, is that good enough to pull a lightweight pop up camper, one of the smaller ones, allwe need with just me an her an a dawg... basicly taking the day off today, been busy for a couple of weeks now so tommorow i will find the numbers on the block, which should be easy once the doghouse is off...

thanks again

billy

[Colt Cobra]

I dont know, an R4s a fairly light transmission, if its pushing alot of vehicle wieght and pulling a load, it may not last to long stock, If it were me I would run it till it dies, then get it "built", so to speak.
Ive got an 88 1 ton that is getting a Built R4 when its TH400 dies in 3 or 4 years

[68GMC454]

i been talking to ol lady about keeping the van for awhile or buying alot newer one. my main reason for newer would be more foot room for the driver,,lol.. other reason being true fuel injection, maybe a tranny with more gears if they even put the 5 or 6spd autos in vans, an more creature comforts.. but for what they want for a newer one i could just find me the motor tranny i want along with the harness an brain, zap the brain an have the wireing harness made to work with my van, an save money.. if i can pull 16mpg with a 4 spd auto, i should get 20 or more with the 6 spd auto.. wouldnt go deisel because i dont know how to work on them an couldnt afford to have one of them worked on... but then we been looking at class B motor homes which are just over grown conversion vans an they get 16 mpg to, so not sure yet, just need to make sure this one is gonna last me as long as i own it, lol.. so will keep looking into things an let ya'll know what i come up with.. tommorow time to change the plugs, should be an experiance, less room than my class A motor home had to work in,,lol.. will get the block numbers to figure out whats in it... wonder if i can talk her into a set of headers an then finnaly use the full set of dual exhaust i have out behind the house,,lol..