Okay, so I have been swinging back and forth about getting rid of my 76 F250 sorta XLT Camper SuperCab Special with a rebuilt 460 and the 16.5x10 rear wheels, that I have been restoring for the last 3 years. It also still has the stock Explorer cap on it. Its from the Pacific Northwest, so its in decent condition and it has spent most of its life towing race cars around North America. It came with a bit of rust and most of the major rust and mechanicals have been taken care of, but it is still almost a 35 year old truck with 79,000 miles on the clock. It has a fair amount of detail bodywork left to do to bring it back to "a good 10 footer".

Now my issue. The truck will soon be needed to be used as a tow vehicle for my race cars and I have been toying with the idea of replacing it with a 2000 - 2002 F250 for reliability and operating cost concerns. I have spoken to a bunch of truck guys and it seems that the most you can get out of a diesel F250 is around 20 mpg on the highway and with what I want to spend on a truck, I am limited to a fairly used truck as I really don't want to go beyond $15,000.

So now my brain wave. Lower the truck to reduce frontal area and add a chin spoiler. Open up the exhaust to some kind of 3" single system to improve efficiency and still be somewhat quiet (it already has Hedman Headers on it and a high lift low duration RV Cam). Replace the cast iron intake with some kind of inexpensive torquer style alum. manifold. Replace the 600 4bbl Holley with a spread bore 750. Go through the truck and pull as much weight as possible out of it. It has dual tanks already with new fuel lines.

Add as much aero bits to the truck to reduce drag and still keep it a truck that can be used and worked. I need to keep the cap on the truck to store my race bits in at the track and to haul them back and forth. Replace the 20 year old Goodyear Wranglers with some highway style Coopers all the way around on the stock steel wheels.

If I do all of this, I believe that I will have a decent tow vehicle with a bit of a difference to what is out there now. I think it should be possible to get 15 mpg out of it on the highway and over 10 mpg pulling a 5,000 lb trailer set up. I also think it would be a pretty cool rig and pretty distinctive as all the chrome and trim is in decent shape and up here in Ontario, you very rarely see a truck of this vintage. Its also very nice to work on a truck that is honest in repairs. If it looks worn it is, if there is a problem, you can fix it.

Am I nuts to do this or should I just bite the bullet and buy a newer truck. For the $10G difference, I can build this truck up and have a ton of cash left over to use for fuel. Any other ideas on improving the fuel economy would be appreciated and help sway my opinion. I am leaning towards keeping it, but sometimes you need a reality check from guys who really know.

Eric

 

id say keep it, unless you can score a good deal on ebay- ive looked the past few days and ive seen some 2000-2006s, around there sell with no reserve around $12,000.

 

Keep the one you've got now, show up at the track with a little style not a "belly button" like everybody else.

I honestly don't think you'll improve greatly on the numbers now but you will definitely be better off with the changes. You can increase your mpg by adjusting your driving style too when the trailer is on.

Besides, the difference in fuel is never going to be 10 large!!

 

Amen, brother. I don't want to do the math for you, but it'd take an awwwful long time to make up the difference with MPG, even if you pulled your race stuff on the back of your bicycle.

 

you know you will miss the old work horse. Keep it. You could drop some cash on a diesel swap for a mpg increase.

Honestly, my '02 7.3 needs a TON of suspension work, and needs expensive regular maintenance, and is not efficient for low-use. Most newer fords are REALLY heavy and need lots of suspension work and ride worse then most 73-79's. my '73 f350 had little to no maintenance needed for the 8 years I had it, and it got driven to hell and back just like my excursion, but the excursion needs 110$ oil changes all of the time to keep the turbo happy. The rear end in the older trucks are better also.

If you must, the 99-03 super duty is the closest thing to a tough old ford truck as you will get in a modern vehicle.

You will spend lots of cash on a newer truck, then, you will spend lots of cash to maintain it the right way. Then there is insurance. You can essentially get a more reliable truck out of a dentside ford if you invest in the re-building of major components. There are thousands of guys right now running 73-79 daily drivers with their kids, boats, and gear with nothing but admiration for their truck. These trucks are well known as "the cream of the ford crop" to alot of people, and parts sources are not abandoning this truck either, expect continued aftermarket support as well.

 

I decided to take all of your advice and start working on the old beast. Thanks for the support as I really did want to keep it and make it back into a reliable tow vehicle again.

After spending most of my time working on my race cars, it was great fun working on a truck designed to "WORK" for a living. The pieces were all very manly and there is lots of space to work on it in the truck. No computor hookups and reading sensors, no metric tools, no carbon fibre, just steel, iron and stuff you can work on with imperial tools, Vice Grips and a hammer. I love it.

A list of the things that got done on the first day;

- Header gaskets replaced (needed to pull the headers and clean the mounting flanges to get a good seal)
- cleaned and coated the bed
- pressure washed the cap and repainted it gloss white
- vacuumed out the interior and replaced the kick panel carpet pieces and the door carpet trim pieces
- new dash pad
- replaced the heater core and heater blower fan. Also cleaned 35 years of dirt out of all the ducting

I had all this stuff sitting around for years and finally installed it.

The truck looks a ton better and I am really motivated to get it returned to good condition. You know, even after sitting for 3 months and only running for 10 minutes once in the last year, I just pulled the choke and boom away it started just like I had shut it off about 5 minutes before. Now that I am working on it again I am reading my Summit Catalogue looking for cool stuff for it. What do you think, a dual quad tunnel ram.......... I just have to control myself as its just like working on my old hot rods back in high school. its a tow vehicle and just needs to be treated as such, but I love the idle sound of the cam, 460 cubes and the headers. It has such a great exhaust note. Now I just need to figure out if I can use the stock fuel pump as a pressure regulator for an electric pump I want to add.

I'm hooked yet again, another toy. I don't know if I should thank you guys or swear at you, .

Seriously, thanks

Eric

 

Great to hear you decided to keep the old girl You won't regret it.

Keep the updates coming and get a few pics of it with trailer in tow, that would be cool to see!
What tracks do you run at? Mosport? Shannonville? Just curious, I don't get out to as many races as I used to but at least I'll know which truck to look for in the pits

You can thank us or swear at us, we'll take the credit either way although, you can only blame yourself for the tunnel ram and two-fours

 

See! Man, I love it when I'm right.....happens so very few times!!

 

I run at Mosport, Shannonville, Toronto Indy, Calabogie and next year we will be doing ICAR and Trois Rivieres if I can find the funding. I am running my RX7 in the 3 Hour Sundowner at Mosport on the 18th of September and my Cougar in the Celebration Weekend October 2nd and 3rd.

Now I am looking for some 33x12.5x16.5's for the rear. Anybody have any ideas? I have checked at National 4WD and it will take them 2 weeks to get them in and they want to sell me Pro Comps. Tirerack has BFG's in stock, but by the time they are landed they will run me over $550 and they are more of an off road tire. Anybody have any ideas on a 33x12.5x16.5 tire that won't howl on the highway? The truck doesn't leave the driveway in the snow and salt, so a good street tire would be great. I was hoping for Coopers, but it doesn't look like they make them anymore.

If I can't find the tires, I may have to change the wheels, not what I wanted to do as I really like the look of the stock big and little steel wheels with stock caps.

Eric

 

Hmmm.....can't help with the tire question as I'm only into an F-100 with a shorter tire. Mickey Thompson have anything reasonable? I'm just guessing but for that tire size in an "LT" whichever way you go will be at or around 5 bills...

 

If your looking for a 16.5 tire, you should look at commercial tires, not sure if that's the type of tire your looking for, but 16.5 tires are more common. If I remember right goodyear commercial has one, just a basic highway rib radial tire. It might be easier for you to just go get some 16 or 17 inch rims, that's what I did.

Sam