Hi. My name is Budd Cochran and I drive a Dodge.

Waitaminit ... this isn't a support group for losers ... we drive MOPARS!

I live in Canon City CO, the home of the royal Gorge Bridge, State and Federal prisons, and some of the most beautiful country in the Universe.

I'm retired (finally!) from being a truck driver, cab driver, small engine mechanic, heavy equipment mechanic (forklifts mostly), small business owner and generally all around fairly decent guy ... well, maybe not retired from the last part.

I served in the National Guards of IN, CO, and UT for a total of 12 years starting during the Vietnam War.

I've owned (according to my Ferd and Shovitaways "friends") too many MOPARS ( I'll send a list if you email me but I don't want to take up all the site space ...) and I just got yet another D series truck, an '85 D250 with Stahl utility bed, a pre-metric 318, wide ratio 4 speed and Dana / Spicer full float axle and only 120,000 miles!

It's needing some good old TLC tho right now I'm trying to figure out how a previous owner managed to break the bottom turn off both the coil springs.

I'm also thinking on getting rid of the utility bed for a stock Dodge bed as that will probably save a few hundred pounds of weight as well as. with a tonneau cover, improve the aerodynamics.

Budd

 

Welcome!!

 

Welcome to DF!

Looks like you have had some fun in life.

Bed/Tonneau cover won't matter for aerodynamics. Even the open bed, with a closed tailgate, develops a nice 'bubble', that flows the air around the bed. Several studies have been done on it. (which the government probably paid for......)

Enjoy!

 

Thank you!

Budd

 

I disagree as my first D series was a '79 150 with 318 / T-flite / 3.55 geared 9.25 axle and with a bit of judicious parts swapping on the engine (360 degree 2-bbl intake with '72 Carter carb, stock aircleaner), modified the vacuum advance curve (adjusted for full vac advance at just under 30 mph), glass-pack dual exhaust kit from J.C. Whitney and the tonneau cover I and my middle son both got 22 - 26 mpg at 70 mph on Cooper radial tires.

Without the tonneau the mileage on the highway at 70 mph dropped to 19.

When I bought it, with stock emissions carb, emissions junk, and single exhaust, it got 14.4 mpg at 65 mph.

But I do understand the acronym, YMMV.

BTW, I stopped watching Mythbusters when I realized they change the parameters from the original in the "myth" to what they thought was "better" or fit their idea of what the myth really was.

"If you change the experiment you cannot get accurate results." (my 7th grade chemistry teacher)

Budd

 

They weren't the only ones to do testing. I don't watch myth busters......

 

Tonneau covers do nothing for mileage. My own testing.

 

Sorry, I guess they were mentioned in another thread and, unfortunately, too many take their "experiments" seriously.

Budd

 

Later, more aerodynamic trucks often don't but it did for me and my son.

YMMV.

Budd

 

The 2nd gen trucks are essentially bricks trying to push thru the air anyway.