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Originally Posted by spatulajones
Hello all,
I have a 1984 full size bluebird bus that i have converted into living quarters for the family. We took it on our first trip earlier this week and it was a success.
Mainly, i was hoping to get better gas mileage out of her and i averaged about 7 mpg. Is there anything i can do to improve the mpg? I'd always heard i could get at least 10 mpg...I'm not sure what sort of ratio i have in the rear, how do i find that out? It has an allison automatic transmission.
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I dont think you will get better. Just as you come in the door of the bus there should be tags on the front, telling you serial number and gear ratio, etc.
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Also, when i took hills, it would slow down considerably, the tach would read around 3000 on flat ground but i could never really get it above 60 mph, even on downhills. Is this normal for the 9 liter v8? i feel like it should be able to power up the hills better than that...any ideas?
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You arent going to power up any hills with that engine.. There were a few I could get 65 out of, but that was pushing it. I bet your gear ratio is pretty low.
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i've changed all the fluids and filters before the trip and the engine doesnt smoke or burn oil.
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I really like that engine, for that time era. Sure, the DT's are better, but at that time for a V8 NA engine, I have put a LOT of miles on them and never had an issue.