Hey everyone,
first post here, i recently got a hold of a 1981 longbed 4x4, and i was curious if you guys could lend some advice on what kind of additions i should add. My two biggest concerns are fuel efficiency as well as maintaining highway speeds in california. right now i top out around 70-75 and am switching into third on moderate hills. This is a newly remanufactured engine installed with less than 1000 miles on it. Tires that i have are stock size, 30x9.5 i believe. I am currently getting about 9 mpg. The stock carburetor i have on is tired and old. My buddy has a 79 20r, he is getting over 20mpg on the freeway, and can cruise at 70 and push it up to 80! his is also 4x4.

Here are some of my ideas, I would preferably like to keep cost to <500 and maintain ability to semi easily get the car smogged
-TAKE OFF THE CAMPER! It acts like a sail when i am driving
-Rebuild kit for stock carb and smog legal LCE headers
-Smog Legal Weber 32/36 carb
-Non-smog weber 32 36 (weber air cleaner)
-Non smog weber and intake(weber air cleaner)
-non smog weber to stock air cleaner
-just a plain old rebuild kit for the carb
-gEaRing????

so i have a couple of questions,
Would an intake manifold be a must have putting in an aftermarket weber? I also am not afraid of just swapping out the carb every two years to pass smog
is regearing where i would see most of the highwayability of the truck? that is slightly out of my budget at the moment unless anyone has suggestions on how i could do it myself....
difference in performance between stock air cleaner and weber air cleaner?
difference in performance non smog vs smog weber?
Intake manifold changes in performance? (i picture the intake manifod being not to difficult to swap as well every two years with stock parts, am i mistaken?

Im realizing this is quite an essay of a post now so i will leave it at that, sorry hahah
Thanks so much for ANY help guys, super stoked on this truck even the way it sits.

 

if your getting 9mpg with 30" tires your carb is probably out. gearing is pointless with stock tires. toyota picks the gear ratio FOR the tires. as you already know i guess, a weber carb and desmog is great but you wont pass inspection over there in commiefornia . i have 37 inch tires with 5.29 gears and a 20r and i get well over 9mpgs. id start with a good carb rebuild and tune.

 

Thanks for the response, I think i will go the route of buying the smog legal weber, see how that works out. I agree california is a pain in the ass, but at least there are good waves. For tuning is it just the screw settings? Ill search around the forum to see if i cant find a good write up. Again thanks for the input, and great rig!

 

Thanks for the response, I think i will go the route of buying the smog legal weber, see how that works out. I agree california is a pain in the ass, but at least there are good waves. For tuning is it just the screw settings? Ill search around the forum to see if i cant find a good write up. Again thanks for the input, and great rig!

 

set it back to baseline, those instructions are everywhere on the web. New plugs and wires, air filter. Then see where your at!