Here is one of the most important updates I made to my truck to, #1. improve fuel mileage #2. modernize the truck and add lots of engine life. This has little to do with engines, but combine it with an updated engine and you have a real achievement to be proud of. The best part is that even with the engine upgrades, it still will cost less than a total of $4500.00. That is if a qualified mechanic does your work, which I suggest. However, if you are qualified, and qualified is the keyword here, you can save a lot of the labor.
Remember, I owned my own engine and transmission shop for 26 years and sold it 3 and a half years ago, so I had an advantage tool wise and mechanically at the time. What I’m going to tell you is easiest to do on a GM product, however most American vehicles can have the following solution performed.
I put an overdrive transmission in my truck. It came with a 3 speed heavy duty T400 transmission, which was all that was available in terms of automatic transmissions in 1988 in the 1 ton trucks. Essentially I bought all of the conversion parts right from the GMC dealer and bolted the OD transmission in with little or no modifications. Unless you are an expert and have a great eye, you would never think it came with a different transmission, basically it is a direct bolt in.
Being a 4 wheel drive probably cost a few hundred bucks more since the transmission bolts to a transfer case and the adapter from the transmission to the transfer case is different (and costs money). The coolest part is probably not important to the consumer, but when you buy factory parts to do the changeover, everything fits perfectly. No modifications to the crossmember or diveshaft/s. Bolts right in.
Right now I’m not getting into the parts and part numbers to do this job, what I want to say is that after the job was completed and all adjustments made, over the coarse of a few months, the truck picked up 4 more miles per gallon the highway and 1 more MPG in the city. That improved my mileage by 7 MPG on the road. Pretty darn impressive.
The bottom line is that for $4500.00 a lot of upgrades can be made to a “clunker” to improve mileage, emissions and engine life. Even if the engine needs replacing, you can buy a rebuilt engine with all the modernization, the solution I spoke about in a prior article for an affordable price, and if you got some doe left, put an overdrive in it. Join the club, call Gotengines.com @1-877-268-0664.
