What brand heat shield is that? Is it self-adhesive?

 

The brand name is Thermo-Tec. Here's the link to it:


It is self adhesive.

 

Took another decent sized camping trip with the truck this past weekend. Was a tent camping trip, so no heavy loads this time. Started out in Central Washington up by Mt. Adams on Thursday. It was so damned hot and buggy we said screw it, packed up the next morning and drove over to the coast where I think we got one of the last camping spots within a 75 mile radius.



Put about 600 miles on it and got just under 19 mpg. Was a lot of 45 mph, curvy road driving and not a lot of freeway driving. I'm still plenty happy with that!

Was nice having the 33 gallon tank. Made it nicer to not have to worry about finding another fuel station. And it drives fine with only about 4 gallons in it, which is what I started out with after I first installed the tank.

I'm still trying to decide whether to stay with my 315/75 & 3.54 gears or 315/75 & 3.73's or go 285/75 & 3.54's. Need more power and don't really want to mess with the fuel delivery unless it'll help the fuel economy.

 

i would probably keep the gears you have and put the 285's on it.

19mpg...wow...that is great....please keep up dating fuel mileage for different driving types.

My kids are still pretty young so I have a few yrs to prep my crew for family trips....been thinking lately about doing an EFI BBF with 5-speed. Figured it is a bolt-in and would probably muster 13-14 highway with the 40's.....maybe? LOL


Great pic Ryan.

 

That's the choice I'm leaning towards.

I have to regear the front anyway cause both the D44 I'm currently running and the '78/'79 Dana 60 I have sitting in the garage are both 4.10's.

 

I'm using this same stuff for under body and under hood head insulation from the engine and exhaust. Very nice to work with, seems like a good product.

-Kyle

 

You mentioned that your 315/75's are 35", does this mean you've got 16" wheels? Sounds like the new tire combo will drop you to 32s. Since you're tracking fuel economy, remember that this will change your cruising rpm... maybe for the better, maybe worse. I don't know what you're at right now, but best fuel economy will always be at peak torque. Great lookin truck!

 

Yep, running 16" wheels

I've been using this calculator to figure out what I want to do.

Gear Ratio Calculator

Here's the difference in RPM at the given speed. Not much difference and still in the torque range.



And as a bonus, it'll be a little easier for me to get into

 

Nice. The man's done his homework!

 

Did a little homework.......hopefully my answers are correct

I think the smaller meats will be a little easier on the drivetrain (less rotating mass) and not quite so wide so will hopefully get less crap on the side of the truck, be a little easier on the trans (cut down on a little heat buildup).

I've got a guy here locally that's running the same tires I have now but in 285's. Luckily they have the same amount of tread so I think we'll just swap. Going to check the tires out tonight.

We'll see........will let you know how it turns out.

 

You could go with a 255/85/16

They're 33 tall and 10 wide..

 

All loaded up and ready to go. Taking my son and his Boy Scout Troop to Summer Camp over in Idaho.

 

Wow....don't post for over a month and you're on page 31

Anyhow, everything is doing good. Was at an the NWBR (Northwest Bronco Roundup) in Florence, Oregon two weeks ago and met a guy with a nice red crew with a cummins swap. Can't remember his name but he's from Central Oregon and owns a Auto repair business. Anyhow I was talking about power upgrades and he said to plug the wastegate hose. I remember when I first got the Dodge donor the line was plugged. The previous owner told me the motor hadn't been modded except for that so I hooked it back up again.

So this last weekend I decided to plug it again........wow..big difference. Was able to get boost sooner and more boost. Before it wouldn't get over about 18 lbs, and that was floored. Now it get's up to about 24 floored, and can maintain 17 18 easily. The EGT's when down pretty good too and stay down longer when I lug it up a hill.

Then I figured I might as well do a couple AFC mods. Was going to simply push the fuel plate & AFC forward. Found the AFC had been removed preivously, only had 2 of the 4 bolts. And........NO FUEL PLATE!!

So it has been modded. I think the next thing I'll do is turn the play with the crank a bit to get boost a little earlier. Go just a little at a time and see how it goes.

Got 18.9 mpg on my last trip home from Portland. Not too bad considering some of that was city driving in order to stay off the stop & go freeway through Portland.

Ryan

 

wow I am starting to hate my BBF.

(and my 40" tires)


thanks for the update Ryan....Portland traffic is indeed terrible...absolutely terrible.

 

Sounds like you're familiar with the Portland traffic.