Well, my '90 W350 made it from Sacramento, CA to West Yellowstone, MT and back with no major issues. The only real problem is the ignition switch that causes the power windows and A/C blower to cut out intermittently. I may just bypass off the ignition switch for now or hook them up through relays triggered off the ignition lead.

I got between 18 and 22MPG on the trip, carrying over 1000lbs in the bed on the way up and about 500 on the return trip, burning 5% - 10% WMO. I was averaging between 75 and 80MPH, most of the way, so didn't expect great mileage. There's no noticeable smoke, except at idle when the engine is cool like sitting idling in a rest area parking lot.

The truck is all stock now. The only modification I've made is I turned up the smoke screw 1 turn, which was noticeable. Things I fixed before the trip include ;
Odometer gear fix.
Scraped off peeling paint and repainted B2/B6 Basecoat/Clearcoat. It still needs to be wet sanded and polished, but I think that's a good task for one of my nephews.
Changed all fluids and filters.
Installed BHWB (Big Honkin' Winch Bumper with 12,000lb Winch)

Here's what I have planned for this weekend;

1) 4" Turbo-back exhaust - 2nd gen cast elbow, 2nd gen DP, Magnaflow muffler, 2nd gen tailpipe, the rest by a local muffler shop.
2) BHAF with 4" intake pipe
3) Large (3/8") fuel line from tank to lift pump with 2 Baldwin FB1311 filter heads mounted on the frame - one with a 10 micron water separator and one with a 2 micron filter. Both are large (4"x8") filters.
4) Piston lift pump
5) KDP Kill
6) Another turn on the smoke screw
7) As much as I can get on the full power fuel screw without removing the collar, for now.

I plan to complete the large fuel line (sending unit) upgrade as soon as the tank empties out (it's full now), so that might be a week or two.

Other projects in the future include;
New Headliner
Swap front axle to rebuilt D60 I have with 35 spline outers and 3.54:1 to match gears in the rear (swapped that before the trip)
Swap wheels to the ones I have with the Toyo 265/75R16 tires (245/75R16 now). I'll have to get a multiplier for the speedometer drive, first.
Aux battery, isolator and winch wiring, plus inverter wiring.
Big Honkin' Rollbar
Driving lights on bumper and offroad lights on rollbar.
Install the rest of the lower trim (left 2 pieces in Montana!)
SEATS! (That bench seat felt like a wood park bench after a couple hours)
3200 RPM spring.
Remove fuel screw collar for more adjustment.
Replace ignition switch when I find replacement column covers.

I'll post pics as I get things done, as I have the time.

Anybody wanna come over and help? I have lots of cold beer.

 

I would but I'm on vacation in north central WA until this weekend.... will be back in Sac on sunday!

 

Dang! You better get busy, thats a lot to do in just one weekend!

 

your very ambisious, good luck

 

I thought we worked on our trucks because we enjoyed it

That sounds too much like like that 4 letter word --- you know - the one that begins with W...

Very ambitious goals, but I'd take 5 or 6 wks to do all that. I fact I've been playing with mine for nearly a year.
But then I don't have to 'go to work' - so I work on the truck when I want.

 

The stupid BHAF took me half a day and I still don't like it. I only had HVAC tin to make the mount, not the good stiff 1/4" stock or anything. I don't like it. It flops around and such. Good luck with your weekend.

 

Well, I won't be doing all the work. The exhaust shop will do all the exhaust, so that'll only take an hour or two. For the BHAF, I plan on using a really simple mount for now. I'm going to mount 2 pieces of 1" L to the bottom of the fender lip and zip tie the filter to that for now. I'll probably cut a few 2" holes in the radiator support to get more cold air in there at highway speed. If I don't like it, I'll do something fancier later on.

 

I used a piece of alum plate and cut out the basic shape in cardboard first to be sure it would lay against the wheel well. It was odd shaped and I couldn't cut the shield in one piece, I cut the face then the back end. A couple of 1 1/2" right brass angles out of my junk bin and some aluminum faced pipe insulation along the edge and it looked ok. That filter sure looked better than the stock one and the whistle sounded good too.
Then I got carried away...
Cut it to fit under the edge of the hood lip on the fender, up front against the core support to the right of the headlight, curved it with a file to the fender curve - put aluminum faced pipe insulation along all edges. And then found I had just enough aluminum to make a nice lid for the whole thing - of course the edges of the top were treated to the aluminum pipe insulation also.

1st pic is air intake in grille, 4"x8" register sits behind the grille and up against the core support that has been drilled carefully to remove most of the center. Not a lot of holes, just one big 5" hole.

2nd pic is the AmsOil filter nestled between the bhaf shield and the fender.

3rd shows the shield with aluminum faced pipe insulation sealing the cracks..

Guess it all works pretty good. A temp probe sitting just in front of the filter shows incoming air temps ~ 10* above ambient - with the engine hot, A/c on, and 35mph in town. On the hiway the temp will rise ~ 5*.
Temps at the gutted grid heater is 20* higher around town if I behave and will rise ~ 50* if I floor it for 8 - 10 sec.

BTW - The inside pipe of standard 6" double-wall furnace exhaust flue ( which HAVE to be air tight at high temps ) happens to fit very tightly over the rubber ends of our stock rubber intake tube. Mine was cracked where the clamps wouldn't hardly hold..A box cutter soon had two pieces that fit inside the furnace pipe and one end over the turbo, and the other end fits the AmsOil 4510 perfectly with a short piece of pvc to stiffen it up so a clamp will grab.

 

Sounds like a sweet setup, I gotta get rid of this tiny filter at some point.

Just make sure they go on the pressure side of the lift pump.

 

Actually, I was going to mount them on the frame and plumb them between the fuel tank and lift pump. I don't think this will be a problem once I have the piston pump installed.

 

Have you installed a pyrometer yet? I didn't see it mentioned in your mods or sig. You need that before you turn up the fuel screw. A boost gauge would also be good. Sounds like an awesome build, it would suck to ruin it by melting down the motor. If this has already been discussed, my apologies.

 

Think again. That's a really bad restriction on the suction side. They need to be on the pressure side.

 

The previous owner had put in a pyrometer (post turbo), boost gauge and tach. I'm going to move the pyrometer into the exhaust manifold and remount the gauges in some above dash pods I found through a link here. Also, I'll be adding fuel pressure and oil temp gauges, as well as underhood oil pressure and water temp gauges (mechanical).

 

How about if I put a 7PSI electric fuel pump between the tank and the filters, then go into the lift pump? I've got a mallory pump laying around I'm not planning on using for anything.

 

Just plumb it right and save a step. Why add unnecessary complication?

There's nothing wrong with running the line from the piston pump back under the truck to the filter heads and then back up to the injection pump.