Worst time to join the site

[Lug_Nut]

My experiences with the suburbs (two of 'em, a 76 Chev and a 78 GMC) had me in a similar sub-10 mpg area. This is back in the early 80's when I was still minimum wage at the restaurant. I found that Arco Graphite oil was able to raise that to an average of 11 mpg, about 15% fuel economy. I bought all of that black oil I could find, but it was all used within a year or two. I haven't seen it since.
btw, the trucks were purchased so I'd 'be safer' after totaling my Dodge Colt. I'm glad I got wise to that bigger is safer fallacy.

[occupant]

Originally Posted by Lug_Nut

My experiences with the suburbs (two of 'em, a 76 Chev and a 78 GMC) had me in a similar sub-10 mpg area. This is back in the early 80's when I was still minimum wage at the restaurant. I found that Arco Graphite oil was able to raise that to an average of 11 mpg, about 15% fuel economy. I bought all of that black oil I could find, but it was all used within a year or two. I haven't seen it since.
btw, the trucks were purchased so I'd 'be safer' after totaling my Dodge Colt. I'm glad I got wise to that bigger is safer fallacy.

Never heard of graphite oil. Don't think I'd want to use that stuff. But I am considering Fuel Power and Lube Control fluids. They're based out of Addison which isn't far from me, so I could pick up at the warehouse anytime I'm on the north side of Dallas and save the shipping costs for "hazardous" liquid materials.

I haven't added anything to this truck yet except to top off the transmission. Will keep an eye on everything and except for LC20 and FP60, I don't think I'll add anything else to the fluids. Will consider changing the gear oil in the axles, the transfer case oil (which is supposed to be Dexron/Mercon ATF), and switch to 5-30 engine oil come springtime. Also will replace the wheel bearings if needed and make sure they're well greased. Don't want any more friction if I can help it at all.

Wondering if I should remove the running boards after my wife has our last baby here in a month or so. They don't add much weight, but they do stick out a bunch. Then again, it's probably rusted through under there and would suck air through the holes...

[Gary Palmer]

Welcome to Gassavers.

It sounds to me like given what you are spending, when you need to haul that many people, your not going to probably do much better, cost wise. I would definitely find out what is up with the plugged vacume line for the distributor. If you have a timing light, you can hook it up and watch the timing change, as you open the throttle. Without the vacume advance, it will kill your mileage at driving speed's.

I can appreciate your desire not to fiddle with something which is working, even if it is a gas tank on wheel's. I think you could go to the throttle body injection system without to much trouble, because they basically just replaced the carb with a throttle injection unit which meters the fuel into the intake, instead of using the venturi on the carb. However, I don't think it would be worth messing with, either in terms of cost or hassle, for that vehicle, unless you were just doing it for what for's sake.


Their are a couple of things you can do which would probably help some. First, is to put in as much of a grill block on the radiator as you can get away with. Second, if I recall correctly, that vehicle is spinning a mechanical fan for the radiator. You should be able to pull the fan blade off and just bolt the fan hub on the water pump and get it to work. Then you can put a big electric fan or two smaller electric fans in their, in place of the mechanical fan.

I know the fan for my 94 Chrsler Town & Country is a big unit and it comes with two speed's, so that if the temperature gets above about 2/3, it goes into high speed, to cool the engine.

I wonder if the transmission isn't either a 3 speed with torgue lockup or a 4 speed without torque lockup. If it has the capability for torque lockup, it would be worthwhile making sure that is working properly. If you ever did have to get the transmission rebuilt, you might want to consider going to a 4 speed with lockup. That engine should certainly not have any trouble pulling it down the highway, I would think.

On your tire pressure, I think the quarter robbers only go up to about 45 psi, which is part of why you can't go any higher. A truck stop of some kind is definitely your best bet, their.

Good luck.

[95_corolla]

Actually an old limo may not be so bad I used to love looking at old ones on ebay like mid 80ish they look sweet and are big n safe. chevy, caddie and lincolin made some of the 6 door versions I always thought they were unique and can hold 9 peeps. I wish you best of luck