New member ,new project ,new direction.

[R.L.]

Hi Everybody ,this is my first post ,and I've just reciently found this fourm so if I'm asking questions that have been done to death ,I'm sorry in advance.
I have a 72 LWB I've picked up last year and am wonting to make a daily driver out of it .I've looked and the new ones just don't do it for me. I was wonting to make this as fuel efficint as possable. It came with a small block ,350? with a 700r4 .The day I drove it home was a 350 mile trip and it made it 1 full tank of gas.I'm going to guess and say it might have had 1-2 gallons left in it when I got home becouse I moved some things around the yard ,and cranked it a few times just to hear it run ,but the fuel guage was not working so I have no way of knowing how much was in it .Well I just finished a 63 Nova and can't justify two gas guzzlers .Would a 250 ,700r4 up my gas milage or should I keep the V-8 .any body know what combos of tire size ,rear ends would be most efficint in the six application ,how about the V-8 .Any input would be appreciated . I do not know what the rear end gears are but they must be tall,when it went in to 4th the rpm went down. I drove her about 55 all the way and must have got 19 mpg or so.If a 6 will get me that in the city I would be very happy. Any body think this can be done ? "Edit" It's only 295 mi and my milage was only 14 mpg or so.

[jrdv]

Are you crazy!! If you are getting 19mpg out of a brick like our trucks, you need to tell us what gearing, tire size, etc. None of mine get better than 12 mpg. I'm lucky to get over 200 miles out of a tank of gas (17-18 gallon tank).

Seriously, I'm not giving you a hard time, but 19mpg is excellent for a 72 chevy truck.

By my math, if you have the stock tank behind the seat, you got 20.5 mpg. 350 divided by 17. If so, don't touch a thing as far as the motor, gears, tranny, and tire size.

john

[wHATANERD]

I agree with jrdv. If your getting that kind of milage leave it alone. I've never heard of one of these trucks getting that kind of milage. Mine gets about 11.5 MPG.

[R.L.]

Gosh ,Monroe ,La. to Pascagoula , Ms. The tank is behind the truck seat .I drove 55 I was sure of that I had just bought the truck and did not know a thing about it so I was not going to push it .Also I think the kick down cable is out on the trans.it only went in first ,second ,then OD.No third gear at all and it luged when it did but I had very few stops at lights .Monroe to Vicksburg,Ms. to Hattiesburg,Ms. to Pascagoula. I think thats about 350 .I'm not at home so I can't give you any more info right now but I will have my mechanic who did a tune up earlier this year try to give me some more details but you think this could be improved with a 6 cyl?I drove it like a little old lady not like a daily driver.

[R.L.]

Whoo I just Googled it and its only 295 miles and the gas milage would have been around 14.75. My bad. I thought the tank was a 20 gal.In the first post I did my estiment on a 20 gal tank that had 2 gallons left when I got home 18 gal divided by 350 =19.4444

[72BlckButy]

Now that's some decent mileage!

to the board from Mid-MO!!!

Now before someone else gives you crap....

[R.L.]

Thanks for the welcome ,I beleave the truck orginally came from up your way ,Mo. I'm working overseas for the Military so I have no access to the old girl and the only pic I have is a old longbed parked in about 8" of grass primer red. Let me see if I can get photobucket to work for me and I'll post it.

[R.L.]

[IMG][/IMG]
Hay...I got it to work. Here you go. Theirs a little rust and it needs a new cab mount but the floors are still there ,I bought this from a friend who has a junk yard and who was not happy with another who wonted the old girl.
900.00$ cash .

[Gray Ghost]

I'm going to modify my longbed with TPI and a 700R4...we're shooting for 19mpg highway. If you are really already there, then EFI would put you in the mid 20's!

And no, the 250 will not help mileage nearly as much as EFI will.

[R.L.]

Originally Posted by Gray Ghost

I'm going to modify my longbed with TPI and a 700R4...we're shooting for 19mpg highway. If you are really already there, then EFI would put you in the mid 20's!

And no, the 250 will not help mileage nearly as much as EFI will.

No it looks like I'm around the 14 mpg range.

[R.L.]

Well its been several hours now any body have anything else? I think I'm going to go with a 250 700r4 the highway gears I have in the rear end ,stock cam ,a factory type carb unless theirs someone that knows a better combo ,drive it for a while and decide later if I wont to do a short bed conversion. Thanks for your input guys.

[LockDoc]

-
Here is a good mileage calculator. It comes up with 309 miles.

http://www.randmcnally.com/rmc/direc...put.jsp?cmty=0

You only have to put in the towns & states. I have it bookmarked for quick use.

There should be a code number stamped on the rear end housing (see pics). Use the three letters and go here and look it up...

http://www.americanclassic.com/paint.htm

LockDoc

[66chevy PROSTREET]

WELCOME, i'm one state over in la.

will you be back in time for cruisin the coast?

feul injection is the way to go to get MPG's for sure, they make it for the six too

[LockDoc]

-
Also if you don't know a lot about the truck you will want to make sure the TV cable on the trans is adjusted correctly or it won't last long. The adjustment is critical. See this post:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...ad.php?t=33266

Especially the section "Tips for the swap:"

LockDoc

[R.L.]

Originally Posted by LockDoc

-
Also if you don't know a lot about the truck you will want to make sure the TV cable on the trans is adjusted correctly or it won't last long. The adjustment is critical. See this post:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...ad.php?t=33266

Especially the section "Tips for the swap:"

LockDoc

Thanks Locdoc I'll look the nombers up and check the cabke's adj.

[QKENUF4U]

my 91 tbi 4x4 k1500 gets 20mph and im betting would be a pretty easy swap into your truck (hope to have another one real soon) i only got 8-12 outta my bb short bed prostreet when i had it.

[R.L.]

Originally Posted by 66chevy PROSTREET

WELCOME, i'm one state over in la.

will you be back in time for cruisin the coast?

feul injection is the way to go to get MPG's for sure, they make it for the six too

Thanks for the Welcome. No I'm afrade I wont be in for the Cruse this year ,sadly I havent been to one sence Katrina and probably wont be in next year but will be their for 2011 . When you said they make a fuel injection for the six you mean a late model swap ,of a aftermarket bolt on of some kind?

[R.L.]

Originally Posted by QKENUF4U

my 91 tbi 4x4 k1500 gets 20mph and im betting would be a pretty easy swap into your truck (hope to have another one real soon) i only got 8-12 outta my bb short bed prostreet when i had it.

I had not considered this ,what about the electronics?

[Chevrolet4x4s]

Originally Posted by QKENUF4U

my 91 tbi 4x4 k1500 gets 20mph and im betting would be a pretty easy swap into your truck (hope to have another one real soon) i only got 8-12 outta my bb short bed prostreet when i had it.

17.5-18.9 out of my 93, Not sure what I would get on a trip,I'm planning on adding ane electric fan to try to get it up to 20ish

Shane

[OrangeCrush1970]

Welcome. Im running a 350 w/ 3.07 rear end but a th350 tranny as apposed to your 700r...only get about 14-16mpg's and I too drive the speed limit. The only thing I have to offer is that a 3.07 rearend will give you the best highway gear and I've got 31" tires on the truck currently. It may rob a little of my lowend but I've got plenty of push on the highway. Most of our trucks that came from the factory w/ a V8 had a highway gear in it (3.07) unless special ordered or upgraded in the past. Pop your rear end cover and divide the stamp (#'s) on your ring gear by each other, that'll give you your ratio. Good luck with that jewel, they're ALL gas hogs!!!

[steelhorse]

There was a post about fuel inj on a 250 six a little while back.The guy that did it said that port inj didnt work well on these engines.He switched it to a throttle body setup and it ran much better.The problem he had with the port setup was due to the siameese intake ports on a couple of cyls.

[10.5stang]

Welcome

[Putter]

Hey man, I am half-way-up in Puckett, MS. If you ever make it up here, give me a shout and we can go junkyard hopping!!!

[MotorSeven]

Welcome R.L.,
Just wait a darn minute. You bought a truck in running condition, with a 350 auto for $900 & you want to swap for a 250/6 for fuel economy? You have already dodged any post excess fuel consumption cost on that 350 because you STOLE IT! Man, i would leave the engine alone, put a nice exhaust system on it and enjoy the hell out of it..........jmho.

RD

LocDoc- Thanks for the rear end info. I was beating myself up for swapping axles(6 lug to 5) without looking to see what gears i had. I had no idea it was stamped on the top of the axle- HA=3.73....whoohooo!

[Palf70Step]

I agree. Run the V8 combo you got for now and enjoy it. You are not going to see enough increase in gas mileage going to warrant the money you will invest to get that maybe 1 or 2 MPG. Heck it may get worse.

BTW welcome from another Gulf coaster. I'm in Gulfport, waaaaaay over in the other county

Hopefully, we can hook up sometime, maybe during Cruising the Coast. Lot of us LA and MS folks meet up then. We sometimes even let the folks from Puckett show up

Also, going late model may get you a bit more MPG, but again lot of expense swapping over the electronics and all. Plus our trucks our not as aerodynamic as the newer ones and that will also cut back on the MPG the others mentioned you get on a later model truck..