Fuel Economy

[captfrankie]

I have an 84 W350 Crewcab 4x4 with a 360eng,727trans,4:10gears and 33 inch tires.I knew what is was when I bought it about two months ago.I expected to get 10 MPG It is my daily driver. I've gotten as good as 9.73 and as poor as 5.12 pulling a trailer into a strong headwind.My 85 had a 4-speed got a consistant 10 empty or loaded to the hilt.I would like to improve the gas mileage at least a little.What are my best cost effective options? Gears,gear vendors overdrive,transmission or cummins transplant?

[712edf]

First, that's a beautiful rig!

What carb does it have? I know 85's came with Rochestor Quadrajets, a carb that I personally hate. Is yours original? Sometimes even a good running carb isn't very efficient, by its design. I think a new carb (that'll run ya about $300-400 these days) would get you up into the lower teens. That's assuming compression, ignition, etc are in excellant shape.

When you start considering overdrives/ transmission swaps/ gear changes you start running into big money & I don't know if the return justifies it.....Now the Cummins swap is a big ticket expense, but those who have done it mostly swear by it, not just for mileage gains but for the increased "umph" that the truck will have.

Bucky

[Daewoo10356]

that is a nice looking ride and i second the qjet thing got one on a 86 z-28 and it gets horrible mileage

[Renedy]

Alternative

Friend of mine did the home made hydrogen generating system in his diesel; claims he's getting 25+ mpg pulling his cattle trailer around.

He is pretty sold on the deal.

He did say that the instructions he bought instructed you only need to have one jar working as a hydrogen generator cell, he did two jars and noticed a small difference, added two more and figured it jumped his gas mileage up by 20% or so.

I am thinking that I will probably try it on my 440 project truck for something to do.

Heads up, I asked him what he does in the winter to keep the water from freezing, he said nothing, dumps the jars out and lets it run dry in the winter. I imagine a guy could rig up a heater of some sort, but here in Minnesota it may be hard to keep the water from freezing and cracking the jars.

[Andyp]

ditto

I am confident I just bought a similar issue and altho I won't be putting on tons of miles or trailering heavy loads with it, it would be nice to have something managable.
What's the pros and cons of going to a 2 barrel carb on an 85. The low gearing and 4 spd on mine should not make much low end pulling power difference?? fyi 360eng

[712edf]

Andy, I don't see much as a "con" other than the initial cost of a carb/manifold & putting it on. Granted an mid 80's 360 is never gonna get 20 mpg in a monster like that with that running gear.

Before you touch anything, start checking your mileage (accurately) to get a good baseline so that you can really see what mods make an actual difference.

Bucky

[712edf]

If this makes you guys feel any better, I have a friend here with an 2009 Ford King Ranch Crew Cab 4x4 diesel automatic. On a trip to Ruidoso last yr towing a fifth wheel camper he got a pitiful 5 mph.....This is a $50,000 truck that rides like a dream, but can't get 8 mpg empty. It sits in the garage while he puts mile after mile on his 2000 Ram 1500 5.2 4x4. HA

Bucky

[Andyp]

Andy, I don't see much as a "con" other than the initial cost of a carb/manifold & putting it on. Granted an mid 80's 360 is never gonna get 20 mpg in a monster like that with that running gear.

Before you touch anything, start checking your mileage (accurately) to get a good baseline so that you can really see what mods make an actual difference.

Bucky

Gotcha,will do.
most likely why so many dodges went to auto propane back in the day when it was cheap\nearly free and I had 2 of them. but that fuel just isn't practical at all any more. price and availability have made it extinct except for commerial use.

[captfrankie]

Andy

Nice find Andy.I'm a little jealous. I had an 85 with a 4-speed about ten years ago.It was a hulk.Realistically 10-12mpg.Gas was alot cheaper back then.I would have it transported.

[ram fan]

After I swapped out the 2 bbl. in my 880 for an Eddy 1406, I actually picked up a few miles per gallon. That along with adding a tonneau cover now has the truck at around 14 MPG. There's a bunch of guys here running the 1406 that can tell you more about them than I can, but I would recommend one. Any CC-PW is hard to find especially those in the 80's IMO. Nice rig!

Craig