hey every one, I am 18 and relatively new to this form (1 year or so I think)
I have owned my truck for exactly 1 year now
it is a 1985 f150 4spd manual, regular box and cab 158000km (98750 miles)


a little background on what I have already done ( to the engine only)
new valve cover gasket
new oil pan gasket
5 oil changes and filter changes over 400km to flush all the crap out (until oil stayed gold)
o2 sensor replaced
coolant temp sensor replaced
new fuel filter
all new spark plugs, wires and distributor + rotor
K and N air filter
have a new thermostat to install this weekend.


well in 3 months or so I will be going into auto class again and as this is my last year with acses to a good shop I want to upgrade the engine.
like a full re build and upgrade.
I want the engine to get better mpg.
have more torque and hp too

this is my every thing truck as I only have 1 vehicle it is in city, highway and off-road (there all about the same in amount)

as you guys are the experts I want to know what I should do for upgrades and places to get them (money is around 1000-1500)
I want to keep the same carb for now (1brl stock carb) as I like the air intake it has (unless there's are more fuel efficient carbs- I want better mpg) (I will know tomorow my current mpg)
my mechanical aptitude is well OK.. I want to learn and my auto teacher has been a mechanic for 35 years so he can help lots (I dont think there is a single thing he dosent know about older cars)

summed up
what should I install for performance parts that will help me get better mpg?
thanks for all the help and sory for the long post.

 

The very 1st thing is to make the engine BREATH better!
That requires replacing the Analog Intake & Exhauste Manifolds w/ an Offenhauser "DP" Intake, Holley 450 Economizer & a Header.
That's about all you can do w/ the Funds you stated you are willing to Spend.

 

thanks, I am guessing a google search will bring up those parts and where to buy them.

for the fun of it, lets say I was willing to spend another 2k brininging it to around 3.5k total
what would the next upgrades that would give me the biggest gains be?

what are people getting for milage with there set ups (bolth stock and performance) and there engines hp and tourque please.

I will post my milage when i get home and see how far I went on this fill up.

 

Both on e-Bay for Better pricing than @ H.P. shops.
Mallory Distributor & MSD box Electronic Ignition set-up.
Balanced & Blue Printed, w/ a Minimal Porting & Polishing job.
Find an All Steele Crank & go for a Bore & Stroking job as well.
Mileage depends on how much a Lead-foot you are, but 20-25mpg can be achieved.

 

You best bet for the Offy Dp would be checking craigslist and ebay. You can sometimes pick them up for 100-150 used. You should switch you log style exhaust manifold over the the Efi style split manifolds off of the 87-96 300's. They are said to flow as good as shorty headers and a cheap and easy to install. Put them on and forget aobut them unlike headers that you have to worry about leaks. I personally would suggest using the Edelbrock 1403 500cfm carb for that setup. It is easy to tune and dial in. This will give you a big boost in performance. If you really want to give it some extra perfromance the next place to start at is rebuilding the head and doing a mild port and polish on it. Then put a mild cam in it like the Comp Cams 260h cam. Make sure you get the kit that comes with it. Doing a full rebuild on your motor might not be needed. Do a good check over it and see how it checks out. These motors are know to go 200,000-300,000 miles no problem. Yours only having 98,xxx is not to bad.

You have an 85 so its got the feedback carburetor on it. This setup is pretty problematic if it isn't working right and gives you horrible performance and gas milage. The best bed would be to totally get rid of this and setup and switch over to a duraspark ignition system. If you do some seaching on here you can find tons of information on it. It is very simple just a plug and play. You just need to get a engine wireing harness from a pre 84 year 300, ignition module that mounts on the fender, different coil(MSD Blaster II coil works great), and duraspark distributor.

First thing you should think about is if you have to pass any emissions test where your from. Doing some of these mods won't pass emissions.

If you look at my signature I've done all the about stated upgrades and it was amazing the difference. Like have a totally different motor in there. My gas milage before I did any of these upgrades I was getting 8-10 it was horrible. With everything now I get 13-14 city 16-17 highway pretty consistantly and have tons more power! I don't have any real numbers on my motor but from everyones estimated with there similar builds your looking at 200-230hp and 300-330trq. Doing these performance upgrades make it seem like you have two of these motors in there. There are alot of knowledgable people on here and hopefully some others will chime in with some more advice.

 

thanks for all the replies, I will definitly be looking around the Internet for the parts you guys mentioned.

well I figured my mileage and well its 10.8mpg a combo of highway, city and dirt road.

this is complete **** compared to what I was getting I was getting 15 at the beginning of September, pretty much doing the exact same driving.
I even got a K&N air filter (supposedly helps) dident think my mileage would go down after switching to a better filter and if not better at least a clean filter.

I think there might be a problem

we will see after I replace the thermostat that I am almost positive is stuck open.
going to be a realy tight winter if this is my mileage befor winter tires and winter gas

would there be any ill effects if I switched over to the "Edelbrock 1403 500cfm carb" suggested by "coolguy1419" with my stock set up? like I know I would need to adjust it but it would be adjustable to not be running rich right?
would my stock air cleaner work with this?

 

Not sure what you have done so far but have you looked into opening up your exhaust? you can get a set of long tube headers from clifford for like $390 and if you add an exhaust system, round here cost me $850 including headers and the install with a super 44 single in dual out for a clean look with chrome tips. added 22hp dyno tested numbers and 10 tq. also look into putting electric fans on front and taking that fan and clutch off the front. might free up 15hp in the long run and 20 tq. but understand that these WILL IMPROVE YOUR MILEAGE... BUT you cannot be a lead foot. lol, with power comes responsibility. I manage to get 15 to 16 mpg on highway and 12 in town gunning it. I also have fuel injected system as well, u can get more out of carb mileage wise if you tune it correctly and get the right one. Also with electric fans i have on it and what mods i have done my motor runs at 140 degrees or below in town with pedal to metal and runs at 160 max doing 80 to 85 on highway for 45 min one way every day. have 115k miles on it and never done a rebuild. whole fuel injection and radiator and water pump are all stock. only mods is exhaust and fans. cost me about 1k for both because had to get a good relay for the fans!