The myth of MPG

[19Walt93]

The 89 had an oil consumption problem from day one. At 30k, Ford took the truck back and said they rebuilt the engine. Dad also knew a higher up in Ford back then and he stated that Ford was putting RV cams in a couple years of 460 motors for the cab-n-chassis trucks, which is what that was. I don’t know, it always had a mildly lumpy idle and it would get going in 3rd from a stop if you were empty (dump truck). The 94 was bought as the identical truck, just newer. Same everything. It did not run nearly the same.

The oil consumption problem with the 460 is valve guide related.

Ford didn't "rebuild" it, the Ford dealer did. And for an oil consumption concern they would have probably replaced the rings, honed the cylinders, and maybe replaced the valve seals- that's far from a rebuild.The stock 460 truck cam would be considered an RV cam by the aftermarket. They had a slightly lumpy idle because they were calibrated lean, a cam that would make a lumpy idle would reduce low RPM torque. From my experience, the "higher ups" never know the details of how things work and never let the boring truth get in the way of a good story.

 

[Li'l Work Truck]

Did 111 MPH in my wife's 500 Abarth. I will not do it again. No idea what the MPG's were during that moment. All I know is that a Cadillac Escalade will blow its doors off. My Ranger has a damaged transmission, leaky engine, oversized tires, and Jell-o brand bushings. I don't think I'm getting high double digits, but now I'm curious.

 

[Lefty]

Did 111 MPH in my wife's 500 Abarth. I will not do it again. No idea what the MPG's were during that moment. All I know is that a Cadillac Escalade will blow its doors off. My Ranger has a damaged transmission, leaky engine, oversized tires, and Jell-o brand bushings. I don't think I'm getting high double digits, but now I'm curious.

I don't know about an Abarth or a Cadilac, but I do know that the Vulcan Ranger was averaging seventeen and a fraction MPG.

I made a lot of changes to bring the mileage back to its advertised number, namely...

K&N air filter
Dual exhaust
E fan
aluminum wheels,
Seafoam in the gas to clean the injectors
Seafoam in the crankcase to clean out the plaque
Seafoam directly into the engine to blow out the carbon
all synthetic motor oil
switched to 89 midgrade gas

I did get bigger tires which is a negative

So now I get about twenty MPG in the summer even around town

The difference was only three MPG. Was it worth it? Probably not. It does run cleaner and slightly faster. I don't really care about the money. MPG is something of a myth for the Vulcan. It is governed down so much that improvements are really not profound.