1989 Econoline 150 conversion, I6, C6, 3.08 gears.


I'm just thinking aloud here. For those who have been following my posts, you know that there are two things I'd like to do with my van. One is use it to pull a camper and the other is improve fuel economy to around 20 mpg. Of course, I don't have any illusions of getting that kind of mpg while pulling a camper.

Anyway, since my van is fuel injected, and because I haven't been able to find a whole lot yet on this site about these EFI I6s and improving their fuel economy, I did a search on performance chips for my van. One of the ones I found has an adjustment on it that can be changed from an economy setting to performance setting. If the thing actually works as advertised, it could be the answer I have been looking for. For every day driving I would leave it set to "economy" and switch it over to "performance" any time I was pulling the camper.

What do you guys think? Have any of you tried these performance chips and had success with them? Like I said, I am just thinking aloud here. For now the plan is to swap out the rear end for one that is better suited for towing, but that wouldn't help with mpg for DD. It would be nice to be able to kill two birds with one stone.

 

We need more information about the manufacturer of the chip in order to answer your question.

I believe that you can improve your overall mpg, but you will need more than a gear swap. First, I would try a 3.73 rear end ratio. This will improve your bottom end driveability by increasing the torque multiplication to get the heft of the van moving.

Next, you're going to need some overdrive (EOD or a Gear-Vendors add on) to keep the rpms down at highway cruise. a 20% OD rate would effectively turn the 3.73 end ratio to a 2.98. For what its worth, a 4.10 rear gear with 20% OD would get you a 3.28 net ratio. If you don't want to mess with a OD, then you might consider a ratio in the neighborhood of 3.5. This will help the stop& go mileage, but the highway mileage may suffer. There are some sophisticated tools available on the web that allow you enter in cruising speed, wheel height, and OD ratios and it will compute the gear you need.

Keep this in mind, however, that towing is a horse of a different color. Towing and mileage don't mix. All the mods you do to improve mileage will hurt your towing. You can't have both - you have to compromise. For towing you need to keep the RPMs up in the power band for maximum torque. Mileage requires you to keep the RPMs low enough to maintain cruising speed. Today's tow vehicles attempt to meet this compromise by using low gears and hefty overdrives. They also recommend you turn off the OD when towing because of the wear on the transmission.

 

We towed a lightweight travel trailer for 3 years with our Ford E150 Conversion Van. It was a great combination. Comfortable and extra storage.

 

We used to tow a light camper with our '85 E-150 5.8L C6 combo all the time. It wasn't always the fastest combo on the road, but it worked. Of course, gas was around a $1/gallon back then....

 

We fully understand not being the fastest. We towed with a Pull Rite hitch. Then added the Gear Vendor overdrive. Really liked that "old" van.

 

Actually, lower gears might help your in town milage. Because of the torque multiplication you won't have to be on the gas so much as well as give you power while towing. The problem will be on the highway if you are going to drive 65 with say 4.56s your going to have some high RPM. If you can live with driving 55 then you might find a good balance with 4.56's.