73-87 Daily Driver - Need Help

[Mattsch18]

my personal openion is to get kinda what i did and get a 1970's c10 2wd with a 350 in it, and a th350 transmission. not the best gas milage but the parts are everywhere, and eveybody and there brother who are decent mechanics can work on them. i just picked mine up for around $2000 and itll need a few things here and there to be a great DD but it goes from point a to b pretty well at the moment. granted your not going to get the best milage but from what iv heard the 350's are one of the most reliable motors ever. id take reliability over economy anyday. but thats just me! good luck hunting!

[USSkoval]

Originally Posted by Damien

I would go for fuel injection... I really would stay away from a carb'd truck for a DD. Will it work well, yes, but cold weather and fuel injection is easier.

No offense to you, but this is a pet peeve of mine. A good working carb operates just fine in the winter. Can it be perfect like FI? Well of course not, but it can be close to it. Why is it now considered to be a pain to pump the gas a couple times on a cold start? It's not like it's hard or anything. Carbs worked in the winter for decades, no reason it would be any different now.

/rant

[81ratrodc10]

i agree i have no probs with my carb in winter and i live in new england

[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.