RE: [ihc] Scout Mileage estimates

["John Stricker" <jstricke@xxxxxxxxx>]

My '80 Traveler had a 345 Thermoquad on it for most of it's life.  When I
got it, the mileage always hovered around 11-11.5, regardless of how I drove
it.

I then put a 392 short block with 345 heads on it, kept the Thermoquad.
Mileage went up to between 11.5-12 mpg, again, driving practices didn't
change the mileage much.

When we decided to use the Traveler as a tow car for our show car and take
it on the 2500 mile round trip to Detroit this summer, I decided that I
would try the Holley fuel injection and the closed loop kit.  Throttle
response was greatly improved, as was starting and driveability.  I was a OK
with the mileage since it stayed right in that 11.5-12 mpg range for the
trip, pulling a 3500 pound load that was not the least bit aero and at
speeds up to 80 or so.

I was disappointed when I got home, though, as I've never been able to
squeeze more than 12.5 mpg out of it, no matter how easy I was on it.  I'd
still like an OD unit just to reduce wear and tear on the engine.  I run
right at 3,000 rpm at 72 mph and it certainly has an excess of power at that
speed.  I doubt that an OD would make much more mileage, maybe 3/4 or a mpg
or so, but it would certainly make it more comfortable to drive.

As a point of reference though, I just put a new engine in my nephew's '94
K1500 GMC 4WD with a shortbed.  4L60E OD transmission.  It gets an average
of about 13 mpg and the best I've gotten in the last 500 miles of driving is
14 on I70 from Salina to Russell and I intentionally kept the speed below 70
mph posted speed limit, so it doesn't seem that my Scout mileage is really
out of line even compared to more modern trucks with an OD.

Those mileage figures agree with a couple of other people I know that have
similar trucks equipped like that.

John Stricker