Hello, I have recently purchased a 1972 Ford F-250 CS Explorer. It has the 360 and its an automatic. I have a few questions so i will just list them alll in this one thread. First my MPG's are only at 6.5. Is this normal? I recently replaced the exhaust with a glass pack and it sounds and drives great. The guy i bought it from said it was rebuilt 300 miles ago and i believe him. The engine visually is in great shape.
Another thing is that my electric choke seems to be not working correctly. I noticed the truck would idle high in park but low in drive. I took off the air cleaner and started it cold. Sure enough the choke didn't move as the truck warmed up. It stayed at about a quarter open and when i manually opened it all the way you could hear the idle lower to where is should be. I have decided to install a manual choke on it so i don't have to worry about this.
Also my Fuel gauge is not working. On both by main and aux tank. i took the positive line off of the sending unit and grounded it and the gauge did nothing. All my fuses seem to be good. Any ideas??

 

That's a very nice looking truck. 6.5 is pretty low mileage, but you probably wont get more then 9-10 driving around town under the best circumstances. Make sure you don't have any vacuum or exhaust leaks and do a basic tune up (plugs, wires, rotor, cap, points etc.). Sounds like your carb may just be sticking a bit in high idle - have you tried just tapping the gas pedal after it warms up? That usually kicks mine down to normal.

Tons of threads here about fixing the fuel gauge. Sounds like it might be the gauge in your intrument panel, but others here probably have more knowlege about that.

What other equipment does your truck have - disc brakes? power steering? etc.

Norm

 

Here is a link to a helpful article on the fuels gauge and sending units.
helpful info link

 

The truck likely has a high rear gear ratio. It will pull like a Caterpillar and guzzle gas like a drunken sailor. After about 20,000 miles the mpgs will pickup a little, but don't expect more than a couple.

Nice looking truck BTW.



John

 

Nice looking truck , work out the bugs on the carb , if choke isn't right i would bet my left nut fuel mixture is off too . rebuild carb if in doubt kit is only $20.00
properly tuned fe engines get like 10 mpg .

 

Main is in-cab tank, filler tube/cap located below scallop (bumpside) line (1970/72) in front of left rear wheel is indicative of optional factory installed 25 gallon auxillary tank.

Factory installed: Manual fuel selector valve located on floor adjacent to drivers side of seat. Switch located under dash to left of column only changes the dash fuel gauge from one tank to the other.

If that's a filler cap located behind the left rear wheel, it's for an aftermarket tank.

 

Thanks for the helpful info everyone!! Here's an update. I replaced the spark plugs and checked the compression. I was pretty consistent in each valve at 120 psi except for my number 5 valve which was at 130 psi. Then I pulled my vacuum advance and checked the timing. It showed it was set to 0 degrees (TDC), so i adjusted it to 10 degrees BTDC. This seemed to help tremendously. I have noticeably more power (i can actually spin the tires from a stop when i romp on the gas), my idle issue is gone (no more high idle in park and low in drive), and im not smelling gas anymore. Do you guys think that i was smelling gas because it was firing late and leaving excess gas unburned?
I hope this helps with my MPG issue. If not i plan on rebuilding and re jetting the carb.
Next i would like to put in an electric ignition. I think this will make it run even better.

To answer some of your questions;
That is not a filler cap behind the driver's rear tire. Its a tie down for a camper.

Some other equipment my truck has: power steering, power brakes, no AC, drum brakes.

 

Sounds like you are off to a good start. Electronic ignition should be a nice addition.

 

Would you recommend any other additions to improve MPG?

 

It seems like you've hit all the basics really well. I'm really not aware of anything else other than running headers and dual exhaust to improve the exhaust flow. The stock manifolds are pretty restrictive.

However, with the auxillary fuel tank on the Camper Special Model occupying the area where the driver's side of a dual exhaust would usually run, headers and dual exhaust require a custom setup on these trucks. That can get spendy when just trying to chase an extra couple mpg. Plus, I actually prefer the sound of the stock exhaust.

Post up some more pics of your truck if you have a chance and maybe a video of it running if you have an iPhone.

 

I was about to suggest timing work as the key to most your problems then I read that you did it. You can probably go higher and get even better results.

Please don't install a manual choke, you will regret it, they are a pain, and electric is SOOO easy to fix. When the engine is cold just loosen the 3 screws holding the black cap in place and turn the cap so that with the throttle partly open the choke flap is just barely closed.

If that don't fix it then it's just a couple small things to check and maybe fix and it will be trouble free.

 

What do you mean by going higher??

 

One other thing you might want to double check - make sure your speedometer/odometer is reading correct. If someone has ever changed the rear-end ratio in the past without updating the plastic gear that drives the speedometer at the transmission, it could be reading the wrong miles.

For comparison, I just got 9.77 mpg on the freeway in my 1969 F-250 with a 360 2v and 3.73 rear end. However, it was a very short drive. I filled it up this morning, drove 22.6 miles at about 65 mph round trip to drop off a load of dirt, and filled up when I got back with 2.312 gallons. I havent had a chance to run the numbers on a full tank cause I share the truck with a couple friends and we each fill up after every use.

 

Ford didn't offer dual exhausts until the Lightning model was introduced in the 1990's and both pipes exited out the right (passenger) side.

No one worth their salt would install an exhaust pipe next to a fuel tank.

 

No doubt. That would seem to be a very bad idea.