Thread: F100's - Granite State Nats

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I was up at the Granite State Nationals in New Hampshire over the weekend and had a great time oogling over the hundreds of rods, classics, and auction cars.

As previously mentioned I am very interested in old pickups and saw quite a few F100's and Chevy's but have yet to plunk down cash and purchase one - still in study mode.

I spoke with a few owners of F100's, beautiful F100's, and we got to talking about cruising. So many different power houses out there but I was honestly a little shocked to hear these two separate individuals were only getting 10-13MPG out of these trucks. One guy had a small gas tank and a overly large carburetor to boot -- said it was one of the first things he wanted to take care of so he wasn't stopping for gas so often during longer weekend cruising.

I'm still in the infancy of my engine understanding so feel free to laugh at me and this question but are there any fuel injector bolt on type replacement units which can replace carburetors?

All of you Pickup guys, is this lower MPG just something you learn to live with or are there relatively inexpensive engine upgrades one can perform. I was hoping to be able to squeeze out 15, 18, dare I say two zero?

Hoping MPG is not some kind of taboo subject as it surely might be -- it's definitely not the end all be all for me but as mentioned I was a bit surprised.

A shelby cobra powered -- I want to say 428 -- equipped '53 F100 went for only $10k on the auction block. Shocking. Can probably leave quite a line of rubber on the road.

The auctioneers couldn't sell anything close to the reserve price - I guess due to economy. Were more than a few late 60's early 70's muscle cars which didn't even receive a starting bid in the teens.

Andy

Hey there Gretsch,I will give you a Kiwis perspective on your search..I own a 1960 F100,imported from North Hills Ca about 5 years ago.Gave it a quick rebuild,fitted it out with a 302W and C4.Not a neck snapper by any stretch of the imagination,but,as it is my everyday business truck,long bed,a glass coupe body goes on real easy,which is why we bought it.It is what does the job.First thing to remember is these trucks have the aerodynamics of a brick..its gonna need a cunning combination of cubes and gear ratios to get the ideal economy,if thats what you want..I run mine on LPG,similar to your propane I guess,because it costs me about $1 a litre,against $1.75/litre for petrol.[3.8litres/US gal],4.5 litres/Imp.gal.One thing you could consider for your F100 if you buy one,is an injected small block,always gonna be better on gas.You guys have a better range of engines up there than we got.Its just a matter of finding the right truck.Good luck.

Our resident Kiwi nailed one of the mpg issues, the Effies have the aerodynamics of a brick!!! However, a well planned build could certainly make the mpg tolerable.... My first choice for power would be a 5.0 with a 5 speed... Lots of old Mustang donors out there. Or, step up to the newer modular 4.6L engine with either the 5 speed or the AOD if you want to be "shiftless"... Hard to improve the aero without some extensive mods, but during the build process, a bit of lowering and clean up on the underneath would help....Try not to have a lot of brackets, exhaust pipes, etc hanging down to break up the air flow...no big deal, but everything helps. Also, a rolled pan on the front will help get the air off the bottom of the front end... But all that frontal area and big tall cab.....mpg just wasn't a consideration when these trucks were built.....

It would have been a nice experience for you.

Hi Gretsch,
I became an F100 owner in April. Mine is a little newer than the ones you're looking at, it's a 66 F100 Custom Cab shortbed styleside with the stock 352V8, Cruise-o-matic trans and 3.54 rear gears. I can attest to the gas thirstiness of these trucks at my 10-11mpg. It doesn't seem to be much different on the highway. It's my daily driver but I only drive 7K or 8K miles per year. So far I converted it to power steering & disc brakes but long range plans include some kind of EFI engine swap, perhaps 5.0, 351w or 4.6DOHC with an EAOD trans and some suspension mods. That will all have to wait until I get my 37 Ford sedan finished. It's a fun truck. Here's a couple of pics:

Originally Posted by randyr

Hi Gretsch,
I became an F100 owner in April. Mine is a little newer than the ones you're looking at, it's a 66 F100 Custom Cab shortbed styleside with the stock 352V8, Cruise-o-matic trans and 3.54 rear gears. I can attest to the gas thirstiness of these trucks at my 10-11mpg. It doesn't seem to be much different on the highway. It's my daily driver but I only drive 7K or 8K miles per year. So far I converted it to power steering & disc brakes but long range plans include some kind of EFI engine swap, perhaps 5.0, 351w or 4.6DOHC with an EAOD trans and some suspension mods. That will all have to wait until I get my 37 Ford sedan finished. It's a fun truck. Here's a couple of pics:

oops...forgot to add the pics....LOL

Nice toy there. Love the side and hood badges.

Gretsch; I've got a 70 short bed that I get a little over 20 mpg.
The guy I got the truck from took the drive train from a Lincoln.
It has a 302w with a automatic over drive and stock lincoln rear end.
I have to pull it down one gear around town so it does not bog down.
I'm only pulling a little over 2000rpm's at 70mph on the interstate.
Kurt