Thanks all for the info! Very helpful! I have bought the truck, but I am picking it up tomorrow. I am driving it home 3 1/2 hours. the owner now says it will top out at 55 mph, I just don't want to push it too much and burn it up on the first day I have it. it does not currently have a pyro installed, and the rest of the truck is stock.
86' non-turbo intake???
- Thread starter adill
- Start date
LCAM-01XA
Full Access Member
Being '86 model she has either a C6 automatic or a T19 manual transmission, both of which are direct-drive top gear. If the axles have 4.10 gears inside them, yeah 55 mph is about as fast as you wanna go if you like to be able to skip at least one gas station between your fill-ups. Won't burn up either way though, just the faster you go the faster she'll be emptying your wallet. Slow down and take the back roads home, there's more to see there anyways.
Waystro
No Class
Be sure to fill out your sig with your trucks details
when you get it of course.
when you get it of course.
Can30Diesel
Full Access Member
Welcome to the forum!
The 6.9 NA is a solid reliable engine. Its very much like a giant tractor motor, it don't go very fast, but it will pull a mountain along for the ride. It looks like the exhaust stuff has already been touched on, update your sig with your truck details. Get a pyrometer if you like, or if you plan on modifying it or turboing it, but in stock form, its hard to kill these motors.
The 6.9 NA is a solid reliable engine. Its very much like a giant tractor motor, it don't go very fast, but it will pull a mountain along for the ride. It looks like the exhaust stuff has already been touched on, update your sig with your truck details. Get a pyrometer if you like, or if you plan on modifying it or turboing it, but in stock form, its hard to kill these motors.
LCAM-01XA
Full Access Member
Told ya there ain't nothing to worry about. Sounds like she's geared at 3.55 in the axle(s), just like ours, which is the better setup for a non-OD transmission if you plan on driving at or above 45mph a lot.
Stick or automatic transmission? 3.55s are kinda ******* the clutch when taking off loaded heavy, in our truck we fixed that problem with a quick transmission swap, now rocking a $100 junkyard-special creeper-1st (granny gear) 4-speed from a random '70s Ford and not going back to close ratio, ever!
Anyways, back on topic, with a non-OD transmission you will tend to revv the engine higher than ideal for MPG purposes, so your first order of business should be addressing the exhaust to help the engine breathe out better. Just improve the Y-flange where the left and right pipes merge, also open it up to 3" on the outlet side, add a nice free-flowing muffler and it should all make a noticeable difference.
Out of curiosity, how many miles was your return trip, and how much fuel did you use up?
I think I have the 4.10 axles. I mean, I could bring it up to 65 and hold, but it was growling pretty loud. Hopefully I'll have the money pretty soon to upgrade either gears or transmission. I think I am going to do exhaust before anything. I called the local shop and he said he'd done exhaust on tons of them and will help me open it up. On the trip back it was about 250 miles and I burned through about 13 gallons of fuel. Not great mileage. One question, I changed the lights that come on for blinkers, brake, hi-beams, etc. thinking it would make them brighter, but nothing. the new lights don't make any difference. what can i do about that?
You must be registered for see images attach
LCAM-01XA
Full Access Member
Ours runs at 2500 rpms at 62 mph, and I know for a fact she has 3.55 axles gears cause I put them in there. Non-OD 4-speed transmission, factory 235-85-16 tires, tops out at 75-77 mph with the engine screaming against the overspeed governor past 3000 rpms.
What do you mean 13 gallons for 250 miles isn't great? It's around 19 mpg, that's really really good for a non-OD truck, heck if ours breaks 15 it's a reason to open a champagne bottle
.
Regarding the lights, first check your battery voltage with truck running and all normal lights turned on, oh make sure the heater is running on high too cause it will draw some good current. If you see around 13V your charging system is good, well around 14V would be better bur that doesn't happen very often. Brake lamps and turn signals are all the same power levels usually, if you used #1157 bulbs that's as powerful as they come IIRC. For the side markers you can replace the #194 bulbs with #165, they fit the same but are a bit more powerful. Then for the headlights the best upgrade is adding relays, see from the factory the headlights are powered thru a very a long run of too thin of a wire, that causes a decent voltage drop and thus dim lights. So the solution is to use the main switch to trigger a pair of relays instead, you put those in the engine bay somewhere close to the radiator support and the batteries and feed them power thru a short run of 12 awg wires, then out to the headlamps it goes. Another benefit of this mod is that it takes the load off your dash switch, thus removing a potential fire hazard. The relays mod is well documented in the tech articles sub-forum, take a look and see if you're up to it, it's pretty easy actually.
Another thing you could do, after the relays that is, is to replace your sealed-beam headlamps with the European E-code style housings that take H4 bulbs. Note that euro style does not necessarily mean "diamond-cut" housings and other ricerific BS, you can get euro housings that from the front look just like the sealed beams except the lenses focus the light differently - the main difference is that USDOT headlamps have to shoot a decent amount of light up high to illuminate overhead signs, whereas the E-codes put all that light down on the road where it's more useful. You can still see the overhead signs with them too. You can use all sorts of bulbs in the E-codes, standard is 55/65 lo/hi, but you can do 55/100, 65/100, 80/90, 90/100, and even 110/130. 55/65 is the legal limit for US roadways, however E-code housings themselves technically are not legal for use in 4-wheel or larger vehicles here in the US (they are legal for motorcycles tho, go figure). In reality no one really gives a hoot what lights you're running as long as you're not blinding anyone, so please don't fall for those HID retrofit kits that seem to be getting ever more popular even tho they are downright dangerous to use on public roads...
What do you mean 13 gallons for 250 miles isn't great? It's around 19 mpg, that's really really good for a non-OD truck, heck if ours breaks 15 it's a reason to open a champagne bottle
.Regarding the lights, first check your battery voltage with truck running and all normal lights turned on, oh make sure the heater is running on high too cause it will draw some good current. If you see around 13V your charging system is good, well around 14V would be better bur that doesn't happen very often. Brake lamps and turn signals are all the same power levels usually, if you used #1157 bulbs that's as powerful as they come IIRC. For the side markers you can replace the #194 bulbs with #165, they fit the same but are a bit more powerful. Then for the headlights the best upgrade is adding relays, see from the factory the headlights are powered thru a very a long run of too thin of a wire, that causes a decent voltage drop and thus dim lights. So the solution is to use the main switch to trigger a pair of relays instead, you put those in the engine bay somewhere close to the radiator support and the batteries and feed them power thru a short run of 12 awg wires, then out to the headlamps it goes. Another benefit of this mod is that it takes the load off your dash switch, thus removing a potential fire hazard. The relays mod is well documented in the tech articles sub-forum, take a look and see if you're up to it, it's pretty easy actually.
Another thing you could do, after the relays that is, is to replace your sealed-beam headlamps with the European E-code style housings that take H4 bulbs. Note that euro style does not necessarily mean "diamond-cut" housings and other ricerific BS, you can get euro housings that from the front look just like the sealed beams except the lenses focus the light differently - the main difference is that USDOT headlamps have to shoot a decent amount of light up high to illuminate overhead signs, whereas the E-codes put all that light down on the road where it's more useful. You can still see the overhead signs with them too. You can use all sorts of bulbs in the E-codes, standard is 55/65 lo/hi, but you can do 55/100, 65/100, 80/90, 90/100, and even 110/130. 55/65 is the legal limit for US roadways, however E-code housings themselves technically are not legal for use in 4-wheel or larger vehicles here in the US (they are legal for motorcycles tho, go figure). In reality no one really gives a hoot what lights you're running as long as you're not blinding anyone, so please don't fall for those HID retrofit kits that seem to be getting ever more popular even tho they are downright dangerous to use on public roads...
Ours runs at 2500 rpms at 62 mph, and I know for a fact she has 3.55 axles gears cause I put them in there. Non-OD 4-speed transmission, factory 235-85-16 tires, tops out at 75-77 mph with the engine screaming against the overspeed governor past 3000 rpms.
What do you mean 13 gallons for 250 miles isn't great? It's around 19 mpg, that's really really good for a non-OD truck, heck if ours breaks 15 it's a reason to open a champagne bottle
Regarding the lights, first check your battery voltage with truck running and all normal lights turned on, oh make sure the heater is running on high too cause it will draw some good current. If you see around 13V your charging system is good, well around 14V would be better bur that doesn't happen very often. Brake lamps and turn signals are all the same power levels usually, if you used #1157 bulbs that's as powerful as they come IIRC. For the side markers you can replace the #194 bulbs with #165, they fit the same but are a bit more powerful. Then for the headlights the best upgrade is adding relays, see from the factory the headlights are powered thru a very a long run of too thin of a wire, that causes a decent voltage drop and thus dim lights. So the solution is to use the main switch to trigger a pair of relays instead, you put those in the engine bay somewhere close to the radiator support and the batteries and feed them power thru a short run of 12 awg wires, then out to the headlamps it goes. Another benefit of this mod is that it takes the load off your dash switch, thus removing a potential fire hazard. The relays mod is well documented in the tech articles sub-forum, take a look and see if you're up to it, it's pretty easy actually.
Another thing you could do, after the relays that is, is to replace your sealed-beam headlamps with the European E-code style housings that take H4 bulbs. Note that euro style does not necessarily mean "diamond-cut" housings and other ricerific BS, you can get euro housings that from the front look just like the sealed beams except the lenses focus the light differently - the main difference is that USDOT headlamps have to shoot a decent amount of light up high to illuminate overhead signs, whereas the E-codes put all that light down on the road where it's more useful. You can still see the overhead signs with them too. You can use all sorts of bulbs in the E-codes, standard is 55/65 lo/hi, but you can do 55/100, 65/100, 80/90, 90/100, and even 110/130. 55/65 is the legal limit for US roadways, however E-code housings themselves technically are not legal for use in 4-wheel or larger vehicles here in the US (they are legal for motorcycles tho, go figure). In reality no one really gives a hoot what lights you're running as long as you're not blinding anyone, so please don't fall for those HID retrofit kits that seem to be getting ever more popular even tho they are downright dangerous to use on public roads...
Hey, so it was late last night when I was typing. I actually used about 18 gallons. my bad. 13 would have been nice.
Thanks for the info on the lighting. I will have to look into that. My headlights actually work great! But all the other lights seem to be dim. Then, my biggest thing is the dash. it has a cover, but i can see cracks and such and it drives me nuts. is there anywhere to buy them new? i've looked on this site and haven't seen anything about them.
Thanks again for the info, I'm new to a lot of this and need to learn a lot!
The best intake mod you can make is one that will allow you to draw cold air. The cooler the air, the better. The Hypermax cowl intake is probably the only thing that really seems to make a difference on an N/A intake. There is pressurized air there when you are driving down the road, so air taken in through the cowl vent will be slightly boosted. It's no much, but when your taking N/A, horsepower improvements are measured in fractions. I've sold a few of them, and use them personally, and I believe in the product. Of course, you could make your own thing, but for the price, it's a time saver to buy it.
sjwelds
Full Access Member
I can agree. I use the Hypermax setup and love it. It worked out perfectly later when I went to add a turbo too
Waystro
No Class
As far as the dash cover you can get them at LLMC Truck.
Don't hold out on is Post some Pics.
Don't hold out on is Post some Pics.
Hydro-idi
Full Access Member
There should be a small stamped plate located on the diff cover near the bolts. This will tell you what axle ratio you have.
stealth13777
Full Access Member
As far as the dash cover you can get them at LLMC Truck.
Don't hold out on is Post some Pics.
Covers yes. Just don't like em. I too have been looking for the actual dash piece, if someone knows where to find it. I would think someone would just make a cheap replacement out of plastic or something, but have only found covers
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
