Slick 60's

What is the best gas mileage I can expect to get from a 1960's or so f100 with a straight 6 and manual transmission driving with the box empty? On the other end of the spectrum how underpowered might I find that same truck when it come to towing a #3000 box trailer through the adirondack mountains. Thanks.

My 66 has a 300 I6 with a 3 speed manual and 370 rear. I got 16 MPG on the highway. I do not have a trailor so no advice on that.

I got 16 mpg in mixed city/highway with a 300 I6, 3.70 gears and a 3 speed. (longbed, usually emptybed, daily driver) Ive since put in a 351 and I'm getting only 11 mpg. (i blame the cam for that!)

with a 223 i get 13 mpg
if i had to pull a trailer in the mountains.....
it would be in 3rd gear (4 spd) going about 35 mph

I got around 18 MPG driving a '66 with 240 six and four speed with granny gear acros the country a couple of years ago. This was after a tune up and carb rebuild. I suspect the gear ratio in the back might have been a little more highway friendly since it came with the granny tranny.

Gas mileage and power while pulling a 3000# trailer would not be my first concern. Unless you have changed to at least a dual master cylinder stopping the truck and trailer in the mountains should be your number one concern

Someone at Slickstock 1 made 20 miles per gallon on a sweet running fe352 if I recall correctly.

All the other guys in the convoy were climbing over and under his truck looking for the hidden tank.. I am not sure some people ever did believe it, but we sure talked about it a lot that weekend.

Obsa wrote:Gas mileage and power while pulling a 3000# trailer would not be my first concern. Unless you have changed to at least a dual master cylinder stopping the truck and trailer in the mountains should be your number one concern

Agree...

Also:

With a 240 and a manual tranny, original 1101 Autolite carb, my 65 once got 21 mpg over a 270 mile trip. This was with my dad driving it from Western Kansas in 2004, and he drove it the way he always does-- 55 mph.

Speed REALLY matters. I now own a Prius. Its my daily driver. At 55 top speed, you can get about 60 mpg with that sucker if you drive it really careful, like you have no brakes and no engine. Push it to 65, you are down to 50 mpg. Try it at 70 and you are at 45.....

Now, our trucks are flying bricks. A Prius is an arrow compared to them. Your mileage will plummet as you push the speed up. The energy contained in moving air is the cube of velocity. Not the square -- but speed to the THIRD. Simple basic physics. Keep it slow and you can get amazing mileage.......

cdherman wrote:I now own a Prius.

Your man-card just committed suicide

Happy hoof wrote:What is the best gas mileage I can expect to get from a 1960's or so f100 with a straight 6 and manual transmission driving with the box empty

By best, do you mean with modifications, or as it was equipped off of the assembly line?

On a stretch of flat highway, I get just under 18mpg at about 70mph with my Y-Block but it typically averages just over 16mpg. Mine, however, is modified.

Stock, I'd guess low teens. Modified, I think you can easily hit 20. I'm shooting for 20+ when all is said and done, and with gobs of power.

BigMike wrote:

cdherman wrote:

Obsa wrote:I now own a Prius.

Your man-card just committed suicide

A bit of creative editing, or poor reading comprehension skills there Big Mike. Never have owned a Prius, but if I did it would be no challenge to my manhood.

I can walk naked down a beach and leave THREE tracks in the sand behind me!

Of course to be absolutely truthful, the third track would be from my cane.

Obsa wrote:

BigMike wrote:

cdherman wrote: Your man-card just committed suicide

A bit of creative editing, or poor reading comprehension skills there Big Mike. Never have owned a Prius, but if I did it would be no challenge to my manhood.

I can walk naked down a beach and leave THREE tracks in the sand behind me!

Of course to be absolutely truthful, the third track would be from my cane.

Bad multiple quote

Every time I see a Prius on the road in laugh to myself and say, Liberal Dork.

dang charlie thats pretty good. my y only gets a little over 13. it might get 16 downhill with a tailwind

lets not forget this
http://fordtruk.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=16990

cant say which gives me more laughs prius or smart.
pretty sure a smart will fit in the back of my van though

I can't speak for Mr. Herman but I don't believe he is either Liberal or a Dork.

But I will offer you a bit of advice (whether you choose to listen to it or not your choice) to paraphrase an old saying:

A closed mind gathers no intelligence

I would love to own this Y even if it only got 1mpg

foodstick wrote:Someone at Slickstock 1 made 20 miles per gallon on a sweet running fe352 if I recall correctly.

All the other guys in the convoy were climbing over and under his truck looking for the hidden tank.. I am not sure some people ever did believe it, but we sure talked about it a lot that weekend.

I've gotten 18-19 on my 352 a few times. It always happens on long highway trips at 55-60 mph.

slick4x4 wrote:with a 223 i get 13 mpg
if i had to pull a trailer in the mountains.....
it would be in 3rd gear (4 spd) going about 35 mph

As it's been discussed here, speed isn't a high point of these ol' beasts!

I pleasantly recall my first slick - '63 F100, 2WD, 223" backed by a T-18 transmission and 17.5" tall 8-ply tires. It was NOT a speed racer, but after I replaced the broken rear leafs (and added 3 more), it would haul anything I loaded on the 7'x8' self-made oak flat bed! I don't recall what rear gear ratio it had, but if I had to guess, I would suspect a 4.11 ratio. Since the 223 did not have the cubes, it needed gear multiplication to get things done. I used to tell my friends, "It isn't fast, but if I could get traction, it would climb trees!".
I was proud of the work I could do with that ol' beast - I didn't concern myself with mileage - rather only that I got the load hauled/towed (LOTS of loads of hay bales, straw bales, 1+ tons of sacked grain, fire wood stacked to the top of the cab, etc.) Only once did it have an issue: one day I was loading it with manure to take to a fellas garden plot, and it was fairly loose, so I went to 'pack it down a bit' with the front end loader - when I did, it broke off the top mount on one of the rear shocks! All in all, it made some late 60's/early 70's 1/2T Chebbies with 6cyls outfitted with a 3-in-the-tree look pretty punky! No one will remember what kind of mileage it got, but they will remember when it hauled/towed that old combine to the metal recycling facility!

BarnieTrk

Obsa wrote:I can't speak for Mr. Herman but I don't believe he is either Liberal or a Dork.

But I will offer you a bit of advice (whether you choose to listen to it or not your choice) to paraphrase an old saying:

A closed mind gathers no intelligence

Thank you Obsa for the kind words. I like your sig line and the quote too, by the way. I am not sure what is wrong with being a dork exactly.... Define Dork please.... As for being a liberal, well I am at times. And at times I am conservative (in the old sense, like not having debt and believing that hard work and living carefully will get you ahead in the end).

Honestly, liberal and conservative don't mean much anymore. Both terms are charged and mis-used to label people.

I kind of like the Prius, though I understand how BigMike *might* have gotten to his conclusions. There are people that drive them and bought them to show off how much they care for the environment etc etc etc. And then those same people fly all over the world and live in great big houses that waste lots more energy than an SUV ever would have. But they forget that part....

Anyhow -- I drive about 15k miles a year. I have a 2004 Expedition that I drive when its nasty (or when I tow) --- about 1500 miles a year. But getting 50 mpg in my Prius gives me the great pleasure of knowing that if we all did that, we could bring our boys home from the middle east and let the Saudis drink their oil.

cdherman, I am an outcast with my Corolla as well

Dad always said our 66 didn't get very good mileage, not that it mattered when gas was cheaper than water

But he always told me that it got the same milage hauling a ton of rock, uphill into a wind, as coasting back empty !!! hahahahah

by the way my buddies VW diesel can make about 55 mpg at 70 on the interstate... wow! i wish Ford could get those efficient little diesels they have in Europe over here.