Quote:
Originally Posted by MobilOne
Getting back to the 460 mileage. May everyone who argues that empty mileage has to be better than loaded mileage, scientifically, be awarded an old Ford 350 crewcab, 4 wheel drive, 460, with a grabby clutch and weak syncro as their daily driver in city traffic. And then they can check it out themselves.
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Meh. 1993 F350 CC DRW 7.3 IDI and ZF5 mileage actually increase from empty to lightly loaded, or empty with the AC on vs AC off because the big diesel just wasn't being worked hard enough empty to burn all the fuel the mechanical injection was using. Beyond that point though, mileage was flat until either the hay trailer was loaded (weight + drag) or the 5th wheel was hooked up (mostly drag). I get that a big engine not working real hard isn't going to see major MPG drops at moderate loads, and especially not DD'ing, but I assure you, from considerable experience, if you get enough of a load behind that truck it'll start burning more fuel.
With regard to getting it to burn less, you can advance the cam timing with a "straight-up" or adjustable timing set, to offset the retard built-in by Ford as mentioned previously.