The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk 7.8 miles/gallon, sound right?

I may be an anomaly. When I've measured the gas milage I was driving the truck mostly at a steady 45-50 mph and had skinny radial tires on it. I also spent a lot of time tuning the carb and ignition, and I got rid of the restrictive air cleaner that was on it and made sure the one I had was high flow. I've leaned out the mixture quite a bit so it only has the fuel it needs to run well, no more. The main jet is smaller, the idle screw is just slightly lean of best vacuum, the ignition is advanced quite a bit, and the exhaust has a modern high flow muffler. I've gotten as low as 14 mpg with the 261 but that was hauling a load of fire wood on the freeway. I tend to let the engine rev pretty high before I shift. Lugging an engine with a Rochester B does not contribute to good fuel economy.

Its not really that hard to get good gas milage with an old engine. Today's engines are restricted by low combustion chamber temperatures and restrictive exhaust elements. With an old engine you can get away with high compression, lean mixture. If you can keep the vacuum on the engine up under acceleration, you keep the power valve shut and that saves you a lot of fuel.