Passing everything but gas stations

[henriettatremor6.7]

Unless your taking the toll or go to work at 3 am there ain’t no way you going 75mph from south Austin to Round Rock

Toll Road

 

[mainer]

Having a towing debate with myself...bought my tremor in November, 15,000+ miles so far. The 7.3 is a very impressive engine, I've towed a loaded car trailer from northwest maine to south carolina twice. Our mountains don't have the elevation power loss of colorado so that helps a bunch. On those trips I got ~7 driving with a heavy foot. 70-80 ish. Crossing NY there's good elevation gain, then again across PA and then crossing back across the blue ridge in TN/NC. Was so impressed with the 7.3 and my only want was a larger gas tank which I"m debating. I just bought a 28' inTech stacker and will be towing that to the local racetrack this weekend. Will report back on how the zilla does.

I'd own a diesel in a second if it weren't for DEF, DPF, EGR...in really cold climates they suck, and sounds like they suck no matter what especially if your drive a lot like me. I owned two 7.3 PSD and the last one a 2002 was literally the perfect diesel engine IMO. Pushrod simplicity and built like a tank, besides random cranks position sensor failures which put the truck into criple mode (and I started carrying) I never had a single issue.

When ford screwed the pooch with the 6.0 I swayed to a Durmax which was also a great engine, but I'm a ford guy to fault and bought another southern 7.3PSD. Where we live longevity doesn't really play into the game, we put so much salt down your truck is going to die no matter how good you are about maintenance, the new liquid salt is especially sucky. I'm jealous seeing high mileage trucks from TX, CA....

Anyhow....found a dealer with two 450 6.7's coming in, over $100k as they are both Ultimates. I'm going to beat on the zilla 7.3 hard for a couple weeks with the new stacker and see how it goes. I can put a spare 7.3 zilla brand new in the garage for $7500 with ECU and 6speed transmission to address longevity. I'm only going to tow the stacker long-haul fully loaded twice a year, which will be about 14k pounds, the weight is part of it, the 12' flat front is the other. If it makes it up hills even slowly I'll probably stick with the zilla.

My first post out here, great info. Searched for anyone else who had a 7.3 and towed a stacker and came up with nothing, if you do I'd love to here your experience. I don't play the mileage game as I drive my truck hard, I prefer the left lane. I know that's not going to happen with a stacker though. Brian Wolfe knocked it out of the park with this motor, I'll have one in a race car by next year, best Ford gas engine built in a very long time.

 

[Beardguy]

Snapped this picture today running up and down the “hills” outside of Denver on highway 285, towing our camping. That 7.3 sure loves to eat.

View attachment 60538

Don't feel bad, my 97 460 got 6mpg with nothing behind her, pulling 8k through the mountains I was down to 2mpg. I'm looking forward to saving a few bucks at the pump.

 

[armorross]

I only work 4 miles from home, so my average mileage is 10.2, however, when I do drive long ish distance, I average 11.6 with my 7.3

 

[jjfred2112]

I live in Texas where 65mph will have people flipping you off as they blow by you

Can confirm. I was the one flipping you off.

JK. I'm in that boat of setting cruise control at 65mph and getting in the far right lane. I'm in no rush.

 

[armorross]

JK. I'm in that boat of setting cruise control at 65mph and getting in the far right lane. I'm in no rush.

Agreed. But I will do the speed limit. I may want my mpg to be better, but I refuse to do less than the speed limit without just cause.

 

[Slyther]

For comparison purposes I just go with Fuelly for real world averages (provided it has a decent sample size). It looks like the 7.3 gas gets 11.5 and the 6.7 gets 15.5 mpg. Yes, everyone can provide higher and lower examples of both depending on the situation, but comparing thousands of fuel ups from a larger group of people is more telling than any of our individual driving habits and scenarios. Fuelly does have a relatively small sample size though; while it has thousands of fuel ups per engine type, the amount of DRIVERS on the 7.3 is only 34 vehicles while the 6.7 has about double that. Obviously a higher count of drivers would give us a better picture, but I don't know of any other source offhand to give us a closer real world MPG view between the two.

I'd be interested to see the impact of towing equal weight between the two. I'd assume the 6.7 loses less %MPG than the 7.3 gas?

 

[_Slayer]

For comparison purposes I just go with Fuelly for real world averages (provided it has a decent sample size). It looks like the 7.3 gas gets 11.5 and the 6.7 gets 15.5 mpg. Yes, everyone can provide higher and lower examples of both depending on the situation, but comparing thousands of fuel ups from a larger group of people is more telling than any of our individual driving habits and scenarios. Fuelly does have a relatively small sample size though; while it has thousands of fuel ups per engine type, the amount of DRIVERS on the 7.3 is only 34 vehicles while the 6.7 has about double that. Obviously a higher count of drivers would give us a better picture, but I don't know of any other source offhand to give us a closer real world MPG view between the two.

I'd be interested to see the impact of towing equal weight between the two. I'd assume the 6.7 loses less %MPG than the 7.3 gas?

This makes sense. I'm in flat lands, so I have little to no elevation change to deal with. On longer trips (150-200 miles) I see much better MPG than my daily commute. On average, I see 11.7. I was hand calculating every fill up and the range was between 10.9-12.7 all dependent on how I was driving and what distance and speed, obviously. When towing my boat, which is approximately 9,000# with a bed full of gear, I would see about 8-9. I'm not at all disappointed with it and for my use, the 7.3 was a better solution than the 6.7 PSD. I don't tow often, only when we take the boat on vacation. My one way commute is 13 miles, so the 7.3 made the most sense in my use case. And I love the thing. Just need to determine which exhaust to get......

 

[Beardguy]

Might be somewhere, but I'm here, so posting here. I have never had a vic/truck that you can select what you want to do i.e. gas mileage, tow haul, performance you get the point. Is there any special "map" that needs to be programmed? Is it like the early 2000's power commanders that you put on a bike, tell it the air filter, exhaust and elevation then move the fuel air ratio curve to what fits you best?
Probably way over my head just trying to figure things out before it shows up and my ignorance cost more than the truck. Thanks in advance.

 

[jjfred2112]

Agreed. But I will do the speed limit. I may want my mpg to be better, but I refuse to do less than the speed limit without just cause.

I'll do speed limit, yes, but most around me caps at 65mph

 

[Ctimrun]

Our 21 6.7 tremor has never averaged better than 14.5. It has done better out on the highway for long periods at speeds of 65-70 but that’s not how it’s typically used. Our 23 7.3 gets 12.5 driving the same way we drive our 6.7.

 

[5.8 Venom]

I had a 2000 SD with the V10, that thing had horrendous gas mileage. I dont mind the 7.3 mileage, I do enjoy the power, although I think the current trans could be programed better to use it, smoother shifts especially from a start.

My other ride is worse on milage than the 7.3. Driving the GT500 you can watch the fuel gauge move almost as fast as the tach!

Then I feel better and go back to the truck.

 

[Donnie With A Dee]

Driving the GT500 you can watch the fuel gauge move almost as fast as the tach!

First world problems! One doesn't buy a GT500 to worry about gas mileage...or really anything else related to money. It's a great place to be.

 

[5.8 Venom]

First world problems! One doesn't buy a GT500 to worry about gas mileage...or really anything else related to money. It's a great place to be.

Yeah no complaints, its about the "smiles to the miles!"

 

[SteveG75]

Yeah no complaints, its about the "smiles to the miles!"

Oh yeah.

How about a 496 cubic inch big block Chevy with custom 3x2 EFI?

 

[5.8 Venom]

Oh yeah.

How about a 496 cubic inch big block Chevy with custom 3x2 EFI?

View attachment 132931

I bet you get nervous if you loose sight of a Gas Station...

 

[SteveG75]

I bet you get nervous if you loose sight of a Gas Station...

With a T 56 magnum double overdrive I can get almost 20 miles per gallon on the highway. Closer to 9 to 10 around town.

 

[5.8 Venom]

With a T 56 magnum double overdrive I can get almost 20 miles per gallon on the highway. Closer to 9 to 10 around town.

Yeah, 6th gear in the GT500 is really like an overdrive. Ford supposedly put it in to stay out of the gas guzzler tax at the time. I can do 70 mph on freeway at be at like 2600 rpm and get 22mpg. I think I got 24 mpg once first 1000 miles breaking the engine in. Then all the 20+ mpg was in the rearview mirror...

I was looking to change the shift knob from the factory (Base) knob to something else. At one point I was considering this one, seemed appropriate...