New Carb fears
 

Hi, just arrived today and already have some questions.

I have an 87' toyota pick-up which I haven't driven in almost 9 years. This truck was given to my uncle to drive while I was sick in 2000 and at that time, I could put in 10 gallons of gasoline and go right at 400 miles with no load. As far as I know the carburetor had never been tampered with and there is no device or system to increase mpg on the truck.

The truck I drive now is for pulling a 5000lb load around, my tractor/backhoe and the fuel prices are obviously killing me since I am one of the few who still charge a fair price for my services. I am going to repair the toyota for driving to town and such (we live in the sticks) and possibly (very likely) modify it.

One of the things that need to be done first is the carburetor either needs to be replaced or rebuilt and I am actually a little paranoid about replacing it. I no longer trust auto manufacturers, epa guidelines concerning fuel mixture regulations or anything govt'al really and I'm wondering if a replacement (as opposed to rebuilding it) would actually damage the vehicles efficiency.

At this point, I really don't have the money to play around with so whichever of these I do, I'll just have to live with for a while. Anyone have any thoughts on whether to replace or rebuild the carb? Anyone have any thoughts on why my 87' pickup got almost 40 mpg in 2000 but other, newer vehicles of the same weight don't?

If you view this as an unfounded fear, it's alright but if you have an opinion on the issue, please let me know.

Is your pickup a 2WD or 4WD? I have an '88 4WD that I use for hauling, but it has fuel injection, not a carb, and I don't see 40 mph unless the route's all downhill.

As for why changes in fuel economy in the 20 years since yours was build, look at wider tires, more frontal area, etc. Today's "small" Toyota pickup is a good bit bigger than ours.

It's 2WD manual shift. Not sure if they made an automatic. Just a plain old R22, no fuel injection... no air either.

It's (relatively) lightweight, and pretty small so it has less frontal area than current new "small" trucks. It's also 2WD and a stick, unlike a whole lot of new vehicles.

Those are all good reasons that it gets (got) good FE. I'd say run it, and if it ain't right then fix it. If you're handy, you can try pulling the carb a little ways apart and cleaning everything you can. If that doesn't work, you're only out a few hours and a couple of cans of brake cleaner.

-soD

For a good laugh, find a copy of the 1972 movie "Pete-N-Tilly" with Carol Burnette and Walter Matthau... I'm going off memory, i haven't seen this film since it was out in the theaters: There's a running gag where Walter Matthau and his youg son sneak into the neighbor's garage and add fuel to his gas tank about once per week. After doing this for some time, the reverse it, and siphon gas instead of add. The neighbor goes nuts, there's a scene with him at the local dealership argueing with the service manager about the once unbelivable FE, but now it's terrible. Funny stuff, but I'm not making fun of you in any way.

The 40mpg is puzzeling though, it seems your truck was getting way better FE than anyone would believe. If it still runs, I wouldn't touch it. I agree with you about carb rebuilders, it's real hard to find one that knows what he's doing these days (no one wants to pay the labor) If it was me, and I thought the carb needed rebuilding, I'd do it myself wit the aid of the factory repair manual (good deals on ebay for factory manuals... not to be confused with the $18 Haynes or Chilton's manuals)

If I can pull ~30mpg@55mph with a 3.43 rear end, all the emissions equipment (smog pump specifically) hooked up, and the motor never getting warm (someone took out the thermostat since the head gasket is probably funny), getting 40mpg out of a truck with a 3.07 final drive, smog stuff disabled, and the ability to warm up seems reasonable. Once you get it running, tossing in a 5speed trans along with aerodynamic mods should be able to get ya near 50mpg. Rebuilding the carb isn't too bad, but there are some parts (w/ little to no wear) you'll want to keep since some (not all) of the foreign stuff in the kit is crap compared to OEM.

Hey, thanks for the input guys. Some better ideas than paying the current prices on labor and materials is nice once and a while.

I appreciate it.

MM, that recap of the prank from that movie... well, I was thinking to myself that if you were caught putting the gas IN, you'd leave with no thanks and if you got caught taking the gas out, you may be shot. rofl. Lose, lose situation these days.

have u tried lc engineering?

Not sure what that is.