I am not yet sure of curb weight of the girl, I need to roll her across the scale. As is with the bed and tools (saws, bars, chains, fuel, oil, etc etc) her empty weight will be greater then her old dump body form. There still some hassle with the brake parts, but she is safe and rolls well. The new custom exhaust has enough back pressure to support engine braking from the high speeds and is quiet so as not to deafen me on the long hauls.
Last Thursday was the maiden voyage with only 2ton of logs on the bed for testing purposes. Friday I ran again, upping the load to 3-3.5ton with minimal change in drivability. Here in the next few days I will made run number 3 and up her to 4-4.5ton load. As is with the fresh bored 292, she really likes 57-58mph and jumps right to it. Its a 75mile one way trip, half 4 lane highway half state route, and she has consistently pulled 7.5mpg both empty and loaded now that the rings have finally broken in and seated.
The original idea of repower to diesel for mileage issues is dead for good with the numbers I am seeing now. She's rough when empty, a caddy when loaded, and likes hitting that right lane and sticking in line with the 18 wheelers. 56 years old, well cared for, freshly rebuilt, and working again for the first time in nearly two decades, all of which made possible by a lot of you here, so once again, thank you!
