Quote:
Originally Posted by revjim
Need your opinion. I have two engines ...an original 283 195 hp. And I have a 350 LM1 engine. Both have auto trannies. However the 350 tranny had to have a fabbed transmission mount. The frame I want to use came with the original 283. What would you rather have? I am not so worried about power as I am dependability and ease of maintenance. Plus I am not wild about fabbing a new tranny bracket. Let me know.
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I reckon it's time for my input. During many years of owning many '60's-'70's Chevy pickups (as I was in the used car business & specializing in pickups, using whatever eng. came in a purchase or installing whatever was conveniently available in wrecks)with different sized 6's and different size v8's(5 sizes of v8
sbc's), there is 1 thing I have noticed: none of them were what one would call good on gas. The range on the ones I checked was around 10'ish to 13'ish.
[[An interesting exception: There actually was one that I bought, from original owner, a farmer-friend, who told me it was good except rough on gas: was a 1973 longbed, 3-speed on column, a 6-cyl. with No p/s and NO p/b and even NO radio and NO leaks at all underneath--dry as a 'powder keg' was how we described them. It started perfectly cold and hot; accelerated smoothly as could be wanted both cold and hot. Had standard wheels and tires. Cruised effortlessly at 55, 65, 75, whatever the driver wanted. It got, at very best, 6 mpg! (This exception was intentionally excluded above in the 10-13 range!) I drove it to a town 60 miles away to pick up a windshield; put in 10 gallons as I was leaving which reflected on the gauge; before returning from that town, gauge showed E, so I put in 10 more gallons, which again reflected on the gauge. Was back on E when I got back to shop. Drove it home that nite, about 4-5 miles, and ran out of gas in my driveway. All this during higher-priced gas, about 1975-76. Got it to the sale, auctioneer asked discreetly what the least I would take for it--had it looking good--my reply was 'reckon we will get a bid'? i.e., it was on a 1-way trip!]]
So, my overall theory is that regardless of engine size, our boxy Chevy pickups are prone to poor gas mileage. And if the smaller, weaker engines get 13, why not get good power and maybe no worse than 10?...or maybe no worse than 13?
**Math is often funny: Gaining from 10 to 13 shows to be 30% better:3/10=30%. Yet losing from 13 to 10 is only 23% worse: 3/13=23%!
