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Hi,
At the start of the thread, you mentioned that the "Ford box" weighs somewhere between 250 and 300 lbs. That's a lot of weight to haul around. It hurts Crr (rolling resistance) and costs more each time the truck is accelerated due to the higher mass.
Any way used to reduce this mass would help your fuel mileage.
As mentioned previously, the water temperature should run closer to 200F or so, as this helps the thermal efficiency of the running engine.
None of the posts so far have mentioned how the truck is driven, i.e. highway, in-town, and so on. It might make sense to optimize the truck for the type of driving that you do the most often. If it's highway, then focus more on aero improvements. If town, then pay more attention to the rolling weight of the truck.
As mentioned, keeping the engine rpm's lower will really help. That's how the motorcycles in Craig Vetter's high mileage contest were able to get almost 500 mpg back in 1985! Gearing and body aero shape.
Jim.
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