73-87 Daily Driver - Need Help

[tucsonjwt]

In my experience, convert a carburetor to manual choke, then you control the choke - not hot air or electric device. I rarely had an automatic choke which worked right (for very long), especially in cold weather (stays on too long, revs engine too much, spin wheels on the ice, etc.) Fuel injection is far superior (especially when the weather is humid) but also more expensive to repair + computer electronics do deal with. For reliability and maximum economy on old truck - 1/2 ton V6 or 350 + manual trans + 3.23 or 3.42 rear axle + cruise control. If you are lucky enough to find a gear vendor equipped vehicle, that will improve fuel mileage also. Rear axle ratio means a lot for highway mileage. Mr. Seymore below is correct in his V6 highway mileage estimate of 22 mpg, based on my V6 experience. Still, 22 mpg truck vs. 37 mpg economy car means about 387 more gallons of gas per year at 21,000 miles annual (387 X $3 gallon = $1161) - so economics still favor economy car DD for me.