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Probably the biggest thing that hurts gas mileage on a truck like a F600 is the low gearing of the rear axle. Those trucks were designed to haul a heavy load with a top speed of around 50-60 mph. They might make 65-70 if the engine was wound tight.
Stephen, on the doner, why not widen your search? Since you will be looking for a complete running donor, taking the bus or a flight out to pick it up and then driving it home is a possibility.
Right now I'm searching every state that touches where I'm at, problem is if part runs $450, if it's 200 miles away I'll end up spending about $300 just to get it home. If I find a drivable donor (ideal), the cheapest way is still driving out there with someone and driving both back. It's gets expensive real quick the further you go out. Flying out of this town is very expensive, cost me more to fly to Denver (the only place you can fly to from here) than it did to fly to Denver to Portland, OR. So when you have a budget with it you can only go so far. Currently I don't have a pickup that could make the drive either, so if I get parts I have to find someone willing to deliver.
So it takes a little time and effort to find what I need, but it always works out, lol.
Stephen~
Some other factors to consider in your gas vs. diesel question:
- Engine weight – diesels are heavier so consider the front springs and steering if you don't have p/s.
- Operating costs vs mpg gain if it's a daily driver– figure how many miles you put on in a year and then do the math
--7.3’s take either 12 or 15 qts of oil vs 5 or 6
--fuel filters run $30 - $45 at 15K interval
--diesel here is about .25/gal over gas
--since they’ve gone to ultra low sulphur my mileage (’00 7.3) has dropped from 18 to 15 hwy. My brother is a fleet operator / dispatcher and has noted an increase in fuel usage since ULSD.
- Cold weather operation – my ’92 7.3 would kick up a fuss from about 20 deg and down. It didn’t matter how often I changed the fuel filter / flushed the separator or added anti-gelling. It would shut down and I’d be lucky to get a re-start and up to 20mph to limp home. And every shift (at) was like a powershift - bang. Then once home had to pull the batt cables to re-set the brain to get shifts back to normal (truck only had 70K on it).
Don't want to be a kill-joy on going diesel, I debated on it for mine and decided gas was easier - going with a FT. On the '92 I would plug it in and it would start great, but about 5 miles down the road with temps in the teens or lower it would act up and I'd turnaround and head back for the spare vehicle. Getting stranded in that temp at O'dark early (5:00am) was not on my agenda.