Gas guzzling alternatives

[Monte's62]

You can still get 100% gas in Alabama and some places in Georgia.

[Palf70Step]

Originally Posted by Monte's62

You can still get 100% gas in Alabama and some places in Georgia.

Same here on the Mississippi coast. There are 2 or 3 stations that sell nothing but ethanol-free gas (including premium) withing 2 miles of the house. That is pretty much all I run in all my vehicles when I am in town. I know of about 6 or 7 other stations within the coastal area.

[Blessed66]

Originally Posted by siggyfreud

I'll be running a Megasquirt on my motor. I've had the computer and wiring over a year now, just haven't gotten far enough along to start wiring and installing, but I plan to soon. Will be running sequential fuel and spark through it on a Gen I block.

Right on! I'd love to see how you do it. One day, when the LS gods smile on me, I hope to swap one of them babies into my '66 and MegaSquirt it. But that may wait on kids growing up, pay increasing, and sacrificing F*rd parts to the GM gods...

[siggyfreud]

Originally Posted by Blessed66

Right on! I'd love to see how you do it. One day, when the LS gods smile on me, I hope to swap one of them babies into my '66 and MegaSquirt it. But that may wait on kids growing up, pay increasing, and sacrificing F*rd parts to the GM gods...

My build thread shows some of the parts I'll be using, like to get a crank signal and cam signal, but will definitely go into more details as I start to wire and set it up .

I might eventually go to an LS too, because it's just simply a better motor (and lighter) than the Gen 1s. But I wanted to do something unique to start.

On a related note, there are a few stations around me that sell ethanol free, but their markup on it is so much that it negates any MPG increase you get from it, and then some. I think they're betting on the principled buyers, meaning the people that will buy it because they have something against ethanol.

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by siggyfreud

I'll be running a Megasquirt on my motor. I've had the computer and wiring over a year now, just haven't gotten far enough along to start wiring and installing, but I plan to soon. Will be running sequential fuel and spark through it on a Gen I block.

right on! you will be floored at how fast you can have it installed, its a matter of a couple hours for first start. why sequential though?

[TJ's Chevy]

Guy had a 292 inline 6 with a quadrajet and headers and he got 20 mpg with it.

[siggyfreud]

Originally Posted by joedoh

right on! you will be floored at how fast you can have it installed, its a matter of a couple hours for first start. why sequential though?

Because I'll be running distributor-less essentially, and didn't want to fire 4 coils at once.

[joedoh]

ahhh

when you said megasquirt sequential I immediately thought of sequential injection, as in injector only fires when the valve is open and needs bigger injectors and faster processors and is generally useless because most sequential systems switch to batch over a certain rpm anyway. batch (squirt per revolution with valve open or closed) uses smaller injectors and doesnt rely on the valve timing which at higher rpm the window to inject fuel might be shorter than the time to inject the required fuel. have you ever seen an F1 motor? they use a constant system of injectors over the butterflies, looks like a pressure washer at 10k rpm.

wasted spark ignition systems (fire on the power and on the exhaust, "wasting" one spark") arent all bad, especially when hooking up plug wires (cant get it wrong on a 4 cylinder for example, any plug wire any cylinder) but yeah if you have the processor and software for DIS go for it!


hook that thing up!

['63GENIII]

This is an interesting discussion that I will be paying attention to. Ive got an L29 sitting under the workbench that I have been dying to put in. I did want to play with the cam and possibly the injectors too as the couple of L29 powered trucks that I have rode in did seem a little anemic. The thought of not having to set the automatic choke every morning and know that the engine is running way rich until it kicks off is pretty exciting. I have the harness and computer which were done by Howell, just put in my Blazer tank a couple of months ago now and there is already a 396 in it now which should make that part of the swap a breeze. Id like to go through engine and freshen it up before I put it in just to know what it is that Im starting with. That is going to take a little time (aka - money). Until then, I will keep reading threads like this to keep me motivated!

[Figuarus]

Ok, So I have a question.

Since I have a 283, and it roughly equates to a 4.8L.

What's to stop me from running an EFI 4.3L out of an S10? Will a TH400 or a 700R4 still bolt onto that engine block?

I've got a good mind to purchase a 4.3 Vortec engine, since I figure their power output would be right around what I have in the truck now...

[Captainfab]

A 4.3 V6 is simply a 350 minus 2 cylinders.....same bore and stroke. The bellhousing bolt pattern and shape is the same as all GEN I & II small blocks and MK IV, V & VI Big blocks.

Installing a 4.3 in the '60-'66 trucks has been discussed before but I do not know if anyone has followed thru with it.

[patrickk1]

I wouldn't bother with the 4.3. The 4.8l gen3 v8 gets only 1mpg less but has 100hp more. I find the 4.8l around me for $300-500 on a regular basis.

[Figuarus]

Well, I have access to a used 4.3 in ok shape for about 100 bucks. I wouldn't mind going a bit larger...and for 100 more horses...

[argonaut]

I wouldn't swap anything smaller than a 5.3l into a pickup. They can get 20+ mpg.

[Blessed66]

Originally Posted by argonaut

I wouldn't swap anything smaller than a 5.3l into a pickup. They can get 20+ mpg.

I'd love to do a 4.3L Turbo in one of these old trucks, but that's a "one day when I'm rich" idea, not a practial one.

[argonaut]

I had an early 4.3l vortec in a 98 GMC shortbed. Gas mileage was decent but not much torque. Still a good little motor. I'm sure the later model versions are better still.

[Palf70Step]

I have a 4.3 in my 02 and it will run all day at 80+, it can pull a house with the low end....but lord do not ask it to accelerate quickly. The 4.8 in my 07 seems to have a bit more guts and a hair better gas mileage than the 4.3...not enough to worry about, like 1/2 to 1 MPG difference. Both are in SWB regular cab W/Ts.

[Blessed66]

There is no replacement for displacement - it's an old saying for a good reason. Apples to apples, a bigger engine is going to be able to do more than a smaller engine.

Also, on a totally unrelated note...



Merry Christmas to me.

[BOE]

I understand that engines and bell housings bolt up but what about straight six to a v-8 when in comes to exhaust, linkage, all the other difference? do you have to cut the frame? i guess my question is cost. should i alter my straight 6 or would finding a truck with v-8 be the way? I have spent some time and money and have my truck pretty sound mechanicly but don't want to chop the frame up just to make v-8 work

[LostMy65]

Originally Posted by patrickk1

I wouldn't bother with the 4.3. The 4.8l gen3 v8 gets only 1mpg less but has 100hp more. I find the 4.8l around me for $300-500 on a regular basis.

.
Another thing I'm putting in my comparison shopping is how many more miles life can you get out of a generation 3 over a Generation 1?

[Palf70Step]

Originally Posted by BOE

I understand that engines and bell housings bolt up but what about straight six to a v-8 when in comes to exhaust, linkage, all the other difference? do you have to cut the frame? i guess my question is cost. should i alter my straight 6 or would finding a truck with v-8 be the way? I have spent some time and money and have my truck pretty sound mechanicly but don't want to chop the frame up just to make v-8 work

V8 bolts right in. You will need a new zbar clutch linkage as the 6 and 8 are different. Exhaust of course is different and as long as you bolt the V8 into the position where it mates to the 6 bellhousing in its stock location, you won't even need a new driveshaft. Probably need a new radiator and maybe a fan shroud. But no frame hacking

[Palf70Step]

Originally Posted by LostMy65

.
Another thing I'm putting in my comparison shopping is how many more miles life can you get out of a generation 3 over a Generation 1?

the 4.3 in my experience is an easy 300-350K motor.

As mentioned though, any hot rodding will be more expensive and you'll have more bang for the buck with a V8. however, if you have the 4.3 and want a decent cruiser it will fot the job pretty well. They even sound good with the right exhaust, but CID is way more fun.

[joedoh]

I put an injected 4.3 (later real injector spider) in my 47 and one is going in my 49. it had more than enough power to spin the tires all day long.

[T Herder]

HERE'S MY MILEAGE INFO FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH!
I completely rebuilt my 1965 305E with some major improvements. I'm running a Mallory Maglite distributor, 1988 GM Throttle Body Injection, SM420 with a married Gear Vendors OD, divorced NP 205 transfer case, 4.56 final drive gears, BFG All Terrain 35's, plus a few other things.
I LOVE IT!!! After twenty years I still have not had to touch the timing or distributor, TBI, or controls.
I work this truck hard, sometimes very hard. I regularly tow a custom Sundowner 4 horse trailer with a GCVW of 18,000 lb. Log book verification shows the best mileage empty has been 18.61 MPG, worst, 7.2 MPG has been with a max load and pulling 21% grades in 4WD.
Average towing mileage runs 12.5-14 MPG, non-towing with a light load has been 14.8-16.4. I always vote for fuel injection, no muss or fuss. Fires up at sea level or 10K feet altitude on the first turn of the key.
Best regards,
T Herder

[Figuarus]

Joedoh,

That's a BEAUTIFUL setup you have there. I've always loved the look of those generation trucks...