any way to increase gas milage

[tobysoldblue]

on my 87 4 door dually,454?I hope this isnt a stupid question,but i bought this truck to haul cars with,and the more i can save on gas,the more money i can make in the end.Ive read some throttle body spacers are good for some extra mpg,1 mpg is better than nothin.Are there any chips for the computer designed for better mpg?How about an aluminum intake,headers,etc?If i do swap to aluminum intake,and headers,will it hurt the mpg at all?The truck has a turbo 400,and 4.11 gears,wich is awsome for pulling,but not that great for maximum mpg.Id like for it to get 16-19 mpg on a trip,or so,ething close,and still have enough power to get on the interstate with a car on the trailer.I really like this truck,so i want to be able to drive it all i can,but if it only gets 10 mpg,thats not gonna happen much,lol

[comp]

a good tune and headers and duals would be my first move,, a OD would help
 is it getting 10mpg towing ?

[team39763]

I have a 94 4door dually with a 454(4L80 trans with 4.10's).  I found that driving 55mph(2100rpms) makes a huge difference in my truck.  When we first bought it, it would waste a 1/4 of a tank going shopping in the next town 20miles away.  Only things we changed were the muffler, added an air dam(about 2" from the ground), and we drive 55.  I can't say exactly what it gets for mileage, but I know it doesn't empty the tank like it did before.  I plan to get a tune for towing just to see if it helps and possibly e-fans.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that it only wastes 1/8 of tank now on that same trip.

[choptop]

Electric fans, headers, exhaust, intake, will all make some difference. The main factor depends on you right foot. 87 454's were underpowered due to emmisions, and didnt have the horsepower that the new 5.3's have, but have lots of torque. It may be possible to upgrade the intake and exhaust as well as a good torque cam, and improve the mileage, but if the engine horsepower was increased, I would change to 3.73 gears in the rear as well. All in all, after the cost of what it takes to do all of these modifications, it really isnt that cost effective to save a few mpg's. That is unless this truck is a lifer and will be your tow rig for many, many years to come. I would try the exhaust upgrade, and intake system next, and see what happens, but hauling cars with this truck and wanting 16-19 mpgs is far from being reality. I havent even seen deisels getting this type a mileage loaded. Before you start considering getting rid of it, consider what it will cost buying a new truck, full coverage insurance, and still only get a few more miles per gallon at best. Besides, the truck you have will increase in value, unlike the new ones.

[tobysoldblue]

well,if i cant have mpg,im going for max power then!Is there any benefit to the aluminum edelbrock tbi intake?Will other intakes work with the tbi,like a performer?performer rpm?What cam should i use for max torque?Im getting headers,and already have a set of flowmasters to go in it.What computer chip is the best?Tbi spacers?

[team39763]

TBI engine mods that I've heard work are - injector spacer, adjustable fuel pressure regulator, longtube headers, Edelbrock Performer intake, and Isky "towing" cam(256 -22H). 

[Captkaos]

Check out this site:  http://www.cfm-tech.com/
What kind of mileage are you getting now, accurately and not a guess?
I know that my 350TBI/4L80E gets 17mpg on the highway.  I would think the 454 is going to max at about 12-13...

[choptop]

I have seen 15mpg in my 81 3/4 ton, but just once, driving easy ( hard for me to do) and was about 65 degrees outside. Mostly 12-13

[tobysoldblue]

If gas wasnt so expensive,i wouldnt care how many mpgs the truck got.I guess ill concentrate on max torque right now,the truck runs so good,i hate to mess with too much.

[mudtoy]

I have an 87 crew cab four wheel drive with a 454 (bored to 468 ) and manual transmission.

I have added a crane computer cam, elcerbrock intake, long tube flow tech headers with 2 1/2 inch exhaust with flow masters. When I rebuilt the motor I had the injectors sent off  cleaned and flow matched wasn't expensive. I have 4.10 gears with 35 inch tires to help cruising speeds. I average about 10 mpg.

When I first got the truck I was lucky to get 8 mpg had 235/85 16 tire so the rpm was always up.

[tobysoldblue]

MUDTOY,i want my truck like yours!lol.I thought if i modified the engine much,it would make the truck worse on gas instead of better.I will admit,im a mopar guy,so all i know about are mopars.Ive noticed on my cars,porting/gasket matching the heads,intakes,and headsrs really wakes them up,along with close to doubling the mpgs alone.Also all my engines have pretty big cams,for a mild street small block,close to 500 lift or over.Now i have a long time buddy that is a chevy guy,and he says he thinks the more mods i do to the truck,like cam,modifying the heads,etc will kill the gas milage.I already got a set of flowmasters for it,will have a set of headers for it shortly.Will a performer intake work with the tbi,or do i have to have a tbi intake?What about a weiand stealth,or performer rpm,or variant of this,like the crosswind,summit brand or something?

[Lt.Del]

I have a Edelbrock performer intake on my 79, but, for a TBI, you will need a TBI intake.





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[mudtoy]

On the early model big blocks they used a carburetor intake with an adapter to the throttle body. So you can use a carburetor or tbi intake. A good dual plane carburetor intake would be fine. Just pick a cam and intake for bottom end torque

[tobysoldblue]

i thought it was a 4 barrel intake,with an adapter from the factory.Im glad im right for once,lol.I have to say,that being a mopar guy,and going from a half ton truck to this chevy dually,its surprisingly stronger than i expected.It does have a remanned goodwrench 454,but my bro in law,an ex ss 454 owner says my truck has a cam in it.It does sound like it at idle,but i figured it was a dist wear problem,because ive experienced the same thing with my last 2 camaros.But,i checked the dist,it seems mighty tight,and checked the computer for codes,and none are present at this moment.Who knows,maybe it does have a mild cam in it?

[Skunksmash]

for a TBI, you will need a TBI intake.

Does this decrease mileage in any way? I'm talking about one of those edelbrock performer intakes or whatever they are called. Whichever the one for TBI is. I would think that it would increase power and improve MPG as long as an intake is all you did. And not do anything with the heads, i mean.