did you baseline your odo against the mile markers?

i'd expect a lot better mpg than 16.

over 20 for sure. 373s may be good.

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

I used a gps, and unfortunately it doesn't have an odometer feature (the tomtom "one"). however, it will tell you remaining miles, so if you write that down before you start you should know the total mileage (roughly) by the end.


I also haven't checked the chain stretch on this engine. it had 278k when the odometer stopped working, so I'm expecting it to be out of spec.

for the record, here's where my valve clearances were before I made some wrenches and adjusted my valves.

note: I don't include the intake numbers because I didn't realize I had two of the feelers stuck together, so the measurements I took are useless.

firewall
10: ?
9: 0.53mm
8: 0.48mm
7: ?
6: ?
5: 0.65mm
4: 0.50mm
3: ?
2: ?
1: 0.55mm
radiator

0-60 measurements so far (note: this is using the spedometer on a gps, which only updates about once per second, so on average these times are probably half a second too high):

initial condition:
1) 28.24
2) 29.57
3) 28.73

new pre fuel filter:
1) 30.11
2) 29.84

new main fuel filter:
1) 29.43

valves adjusted:
1) 28.49
2) 26.75
3) 27.?? (forgot to write this one down, but I remember it was 27-something)

for the record, here is my estimated mileage data so far.

first round trip austin to bellville:
204 miles (estimated)
12.615 gallons
= 16.2 mpg

second round trip austin to bellville (with short joyride)
215 miles (estimated)
13.074 gallons
= 16.5 mpg

again, my gps doesn't have an odometer, so you have to base the mileage off of its report of remaining miles at the beginning of the trip.

this time I duct taped a paper towel "bib" to my gas tank just below below the lock ring to see how bad the fuel leak was. well, by the time I got to bellville the paper towels were saturated and half of the duct tape had come off, so certainly some diesel is being wasted at this point.

Also, for the second trip I had the windows rolled up (they were down for the first trip).

upcoming things which I expect to affect the mileage:
* fixing the fuel leak
* switching from 3.07 to 3.73 differential
* checking and correcting timing chain stretch

do it the easy way.... one gallon of fuel and just drive.. and another gallon for the return trip

So how is the truck running???

Doc.

I would have gotten the engine stuff cleared up and fixed and running perfect BEFORE doing the swap - for one, it would be easier with everything in its natural environment, and second I would want to make sure I was swapping a good engine before doing all this work only to be disappointed in having to do an overhaul or swap another engine in.

I'm just saying....

But MAN you've got "sticktoitiveness" !

John in San Antonio

__________________
John Hughes, was in Landstuhl, Germany but currently in San Antonio, TX


1978 280CE Astral Silver now 59,xxx miles and counting "Silber-Kugel"
1986 300E Black Pearl Metallic 143,xxx miles 5-spd daily driver w/ blk leather "Schwarz-Schönheit"
1989 190E 2.6 (euro) 5-spd Desert Taupe 112,xxx kms Had to leave behind in Germany!!! "Helga"
1983 300D Pastel Beige now 312,xxx + miles SOLD

OBK#24

I think this is just a really interesting project.

I suspect that your fuel mileage calculations are off and its really getting a lot better mileage than you think.

That said you'll probably be happier with a little more grunt in the rear end diff department. 307 is prolly just too tall with that tall, boxy truck!

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

hello internet. sorry its been a while -- life kind of got busy

quick update:

* I changed my transmission filter and replaced the tranny pan gasket. That finally put an end to my transmission leak (I was losing maybe half a quart of fluid each time I parked it). This wasn't as easy as it sounds -- I had to cut out the original chevy transmission cross member with a torch in order to access the mercedes transmission pan

* I installed (well, rigged would be a better word) the mercedes shifter. Previously I had just reached into the gaping hole in the floor and rotated the stalk sticking out the side of the transmission a certian number of clicks forward or backward, and used a rubber bungie cord to hold it in park. Needless to say, this is soooo much nicer!

pictures have been taken, but I don't have time to post them just yet (also, youtube seems to have done something funky with my account and now I can't get in. grr).

Tom, I cannot imagine why, after the mileage you thought you were getting in that wagon of yours!

Glad it turned out better than you thought.

So one issue I've been experiencing is that of running the engine too hot. (This happens because I spliced together the GM and mercedes radiator hoses using plumbing fittings which drastically reduce the coolant flow).

My "temperature gauge" up until now has been an overflow tube which I ran from the radiator up to the windshield. When the radiator starts to boil over, I see liquid start to burble out of the tube, and I ease up on the gas pedal.

I've been guessing that I've been running somewhere between 212F and 250F (I'm not sure exactly how much antifreeze raises the boiling point of water given my 7psi radiator cap). I'm not really concerned with the engine running at that temperature, but what I am concerned about is the fact that the transmission cooler runs inside my radiator. And if the coldest point in my transmission system is the radiator which is at least 212F, then its likely I'm cooking my tranny.

So I decided to make some temperature gauges so I could get some data on just how hot I've been running things. YAY SCIENCE!!!

I decided to use LM35AH temperature sensors. Basically, they are little chips inside of metal cans which spit out a voltage which is proportional to their temperature. So you can use these to, ie, drive an analog needle gauge.



I used some jb weld to affix one each to my radiator, oil cooler, and supply line for the transmission cooler. jb weld takes 4 hours to set up, so I held them in place using rubber bands.











For a wiring harness I strung CAT3 phone cable between the sensors, in a daisy-chain manner. CAT3 has 8 conductors, so at each sensor I spliced open the cable sheath and soldered a different wire to each sensor. Then I ran that cable into the cab and connected it to the gauges.

For the gauges, I used some "AsiaEngineer" analog gauges which I bought on ebay last year (they were $5 at the time, but now they are a little more expensive).




These are 30 volt gauges, and consist of a coil in series with a resistor. With gauges like this, it turns out their range is entirely determined by the resistor. In my case, the temperature sensors output a maximum of 1.5v (at 150C), so I needed to replace my resistors and turn my 30 volt gauges into 1.5 volt gauges.

Back when I figured all of this out last year, I put up a little webpage about it: http://jason.pepas.com/wiki/index.php?title=AsiaEngineerGauges

So, it turns out the needle reaches full deflection at 1mA of current. So I want to size my resistor such that 1.5 volts will drive 1mA through the gauge. V = IR, so 1.5 volts = 1mA * 1500 ohms. So I need a 1.5k resistor. However, the resistance of the coil itself is 159 ohms, so actually I need a 1341 ohm resistor. I combined a 150 ohm and 1.2k resistor in series to get 1350 ohms. close enough for now







so the last step is replacing the gauge face plates. I wrote some software (for you free software geeks, I used python and cairo) to do this for me (see the above link to my website to download the software):







The next step is to take it out on the highway and push it hard until it just starts to boil. Then I'll know how hot I've been running it.

Since I've been away from the forum for quite a while, this is the first I've seen of the project. Looks like a fun one!

Actually, the fuel mileage is not very far off from what I would expect. Fuel efficiency is determined Chiefly by vehicle weight and aerodynamics. An Early Chevy truck is not fuel efficient in this regard.

This is a fascinating thread and you are quite the talented fellow! I look forward to seeing how things turn out for you.

__________________
1993 W124 300D 2.5L Turbo, OM602.962
2000 Chevrolet Cavalier, 2.4L DOHC
2002 Ford Explorer, 4.0L SOHC
2005 Toyota Prius, 1.5L

http://www.fuelly.com/sig-us/40601.png

just read about your swap. iswap a 617 into 1949 willys 2 wheel drive truck . it has been done about from out 3 months since done i have driven about 4000 miles, it run a little hot i ran hose from the air breather to the outside of the grille that drop the temp from 220 to210 it is getting about 21 to 23 mpg

well, interesting results. I just got back from a road trip out to bellville to see the folks and got a chance to test out my gauges in the texas heat.

apparently what I was experiencing wasn't any where close to boiling. The point at which I first started noticing fluid come out of the overflow tube was at only 82C. I backed off a little, then sped back up and this time fluid came out at about 84C. Same thing again and it came out at about 86C the third time. So I guess I just had an air pocket, and as it heated up it reached just enough pressure to open the 7psi radiator cap and push out some fluid.

On the way back home today I decided to lay into it, pedal to the floor for about 5 minutes, and all three gauges creeped up to about 90C and held there, so I definitely don't have the cooling problem I feared I had.