I need ideas on the drivetrain for my truck.

i want the best gas mileage,love to hear your ideas...300 6cyl?..302?....any input would be great thx larry

 

A lot will depend on brain power.
How will you drive the vehicle?
What size is it?
What are you using it for?
A 300 - 6cyl. will use more fuel at higher speeds than a 302.
The stroke is much longer.
Transmissions and differential gearing are another factor.
An overdrive transmission connected to a 3.0:1 differential will give excellent highway fuel mileage.
Common sense must enter the picture as well.

 

thx stuart actually this was rewritten when it was moved to this post, im building a 1977 f-250 supercab shortbox, this will be a daily driver,automatic tranny so the wife can drive it,lol just wondering what people thought would be the best power plant

 

F250 super cab will need more than a 302 to move it along.
I had a, 86 F150 XLT super cab.
It had a 351HO engine. C6 transmission and a 3.0:1 axle.
Fuel mileage?
Ha.
16 mpg. max. down hill with a tail wind, possibly.
Buy shares in an oil company.

 

Full size trucks and good mpg (exc. diesels) are usually mutually exclusive. ;-) So if you want to save on gas and don't need a truck, drive something else instead. In any case, there are lots of things like terrain, towing, tire thread, gearing, city vs. hwy that can effect mpg, and an optimization that works in one case is may not good in the other.

The simplest and cheapest way to get good mpg is to be easy on the accelerator, and drive only when needed.

For your F250, put in an OD tranny and a fuel injected 351 *if you can*, else just use whatever is in there (tranny is probably C6) and use tires with highway thread, and try to find the optimum gearing ratio for whatever type driving you mostly do.