So I know these old trucks aren't known for their fuel efficientcy lol but with gas prices going thru the roof there's gotta be someway of getting a little bit better gas mileage. I used to get between 7-9 mpg's and now after using the Z-Max engine treatment and fuel treatment I am getting 10-12 mpg's. But it's still burning a hole in my wallet! Does anyone have any suggestions or tips on saving gas to share with us all? thanks

 

my 400 got 8 no matter what and my 460 gets a consistant 6mpg. that was with 31" tires C6, and 4.10's. Once im done, itll have 35's or 37's if i can fit em, ZF5 (OD), and 4.10 or 4.56 gears. At that point with a much lower gear ratio im hoping to net some mpg out of it, but i also gained about 100hp with the rebuild and mods, so well see, and ill let you know.

 

with these old engines, the carb, cam, and intake can/will be a good starting point. Change out the cam for an RV type cam, less valve overlap, and an advance in timing will help out. As for intake, try a good-flowing performer or weiand intake, as for carb, the edelbrock performers seem to be pretty good as for gas mileage compared to the others. Or if you have a 2bbl id go with a good holley.

 

Sorry to say this, but the best way to prevent these trucks from burning a hole in your wallet is to not drive them. 10-12 ain't bad.

 

Your driving habits are the cheapest place to start.

 

I think when I get my engine rebuilt I will have the work done to improve fuel economy. Saving money by not driving my truck as often isn't really an option for me since it is my daily driver. And my driving habbits have improved alot since gas prices have gone up. I used to drive like a bat outa hell racin those ricers and pissin em off lol. But with higher gas prices I've been doing the speed limit and driving way less agressively which has saved me some money at the pump....instead of filling up like once or twice a week I've been making it about a week and a half between fill ups lol. I could go a lot longer if I filled both tanks but that would burn a hole straight thru my wallet and burn my a** haha

 

So if you fill up every week and a half, at $75 per fill up or more, you could buy a motorcycle. What you will save in gas will pay for the motorcycle, gas, insurance, and still come out ahead. In the end you will have another vehicle. I figure its better for me to have another vehicle than to buy another vehicle for the rag heads.

laer

 

A fan clutch conversion, will save you some MPGs.

Also having good tires, at the proper inflation.

Make sure the shocks are good.

Tune up and routine maitanence, plugs, cap rotor, fuel filter, air filter, pcv valve. etc...

Other than that there isn't much else you can do.

Most of these trucks were built when gas was below a dollar a gallon. I doubt if we ever see $3.00 again...

 

I've been testing all the tricks old and new to get better milage and with some success. A year ago I was getting 10mpg now I get about 14 hwy with 27" tires on 3:70 gears. So 3000 rpm at 70mph. Still have not been able to get my advance curve perfected so it will help further when I do.
Z-MAX???????

 

I don't know how fast you drive but this could help; about 3 weeks ago in the newspaper there was a study on fuel-efficient cars, MPGs, and other stuff. it said if you drive 55 instead of 65 you will gain 2 MPG. I dropped mine down from 65 to 60 and I noticed that I don't have to fill up near as much. now I know that most people will say that I can't drive that slow or who wants to drive that slow, but if you want the MPG gains then your gonna do what you need to do, right?

 

When i drive my 75 i look down at the dash and it says clearly in english..Low Fuel Economy. Its no lie.....
Ive been driving 55 for a little while now.and i get different results with my vehicles.But no matter what ill always have some idot behind me that thinks i should be doing 85 like him.

 

Best mpg adder of all i almost forgot lol. PUT THE TAILGATE DOWN!! sure to net you like 6 mpg at least. rofl. Other than that, havin a 302, id look at maybe throwin in an AOD. Once rebuilt, theyre really pretty decent transmissions, and they have the highest OD % of any transmission iirc... which drops your rpms from the 3000 range to about the 2300 range. The main thing about gearing, is that you want to drive at the speed where your engine has the most torque... to an extent, so if your engine is most efficient at 2500 rpms, and youre at 2500 rpms at 55 mph, thats where youre gunna get the best mileage. Obviously air resistance plays into this, so this only goes so far, but the difference between 65 and 75 is almost a 50% increase in resistance.

 

i have a standard cab, short bed, straight six. the only things i can do now is switch to fuel injection (a thought) and add more gears (3 on the tree for now)
or it just might sell and i can finally get that old datsun ive been dreaming of........that would be nice

 

This stuff realy works as well as the commercials on tv and their website say it does. I used to get no more than 8 and 6 months after I dumped this stuff in I'm getting 10-12 mpg's!!

 

Dropping the tailgate is one that I've heard of before but haven't tried lately. I drove around for a few weeks last smmer without the tailgate on while I was prepping the bed for a bedliner and saw a slight increase in mileage. I'll have to drive around with it down for a while and see if it helps any