I believe most RV's use the square heads. They claim they don't strip out as easily as the Phillips head or bit. I have several boxes of different lengths, and plan on using them when I start rebuilding my unit in a couple weeks.
* This post was
edited 04/29/08 01:45pm by eyeteeth *
Is there any old Dodge rv owners out there with a 360 motor that's in a 22-25 ft class c, was wondering about your gas mileage and performance,,, I am asking this because of the recent and long term high gas prices, and if I was to do any major motor work in the future on my 79 Dodge Xplorer with a 440 if it would pay off to get a 360 motor from junk yard and overhaul it, increase piston compression some and install my fuel inject system from 440 now to 360 and if it might get better mpg, or is this just a waste of time, any thoughts on this, any small block rv's out there what's your mpg, how is it in the mountains, etc...
I have a 318-3 in mine. Drove it for a few thousand miles before starting the rebuild. Gas mileage was okay (good considering the size of the rig). Probably would have been even better if I'd kept the speed down to 55=65 mph.
If you switch from a big block (i.e., a 440 cu. in.) to a small block (i.e., a 318, 340, or 360 cu. in.), you will need to change transmissions. The innards are the same but the tranny cases are different for small block and big block engines. (Not a big hurdles as A727 trannies for small blocks are still fairly common but the ones for the big blocks are becoming rare.)
Avoid the A518 overdrive tranny ... you're much, much better off with an A727 and a Gear Vendors Over/Underdrive unit if you want overdrive capability.
A lot of the motorhomes had a 4.56 ratio in the rear axle ... a 4.10 ratio would probably work just fine for you and would boost the mileage some. (Mine has a 4.10 ratio and I'm happy with it. My other motorhome has a 413 cu. in. big block and 4.56 rear axle ratio ... that one's definitely set up for towing a trailer or a toad.)
Ask Leeann what ratio she's got in hers.
1970 Explorer Class A on a 1969 Dodge M300 chassis with 318 cu. in. (split year)
1972 Executive Class A on a Dodge M375 chassis with 413 cu. in.
1973 Explorer Class A on a Dodge RM350 (R4) chassis ... no engine or tranny (yet)
I'm pretty sure we have a 4.56 - I'd be happier with the 4.10 - we do tow, but nothing over 2000 lbs.
I've got a 440/727 on a 20' chassis and we average about 9 mpg.
However, I also have a '90 B250 van with 360 and A-518 with 4.10 gears and I average 11 mpg (and Griff's right: stay as far away from the A-518 as you can...it's nothing but a PITA) - and that's loaded or unloaded, towing or not.
Here's the thing about the 440: I have plenty of power in the hills, towing or not. With the 360, the B250 struggles in the hills and the mileage drops to about 10. I had a 19' Class C with a 360 in it briefly and it had no guts whatsoever - it could hardly get out of its own way. And that was unloaded and not towing.
Personally, I think the 1-2 mpg difference is worth keeping the 440.
'73 Concord 20' Class A w/Dodge 440 - see profile for photo
Keep in mind the money and time involved... You'd have to run A LOT of fuel through the new system so actually see a return. Even at the current gas prices, we're talking around $.40 a mile. From the above feedback, maybe you could get 2 extra mpg. That's gonna take a while to make up the several thousand $$$$ you'd invest in the conversion before you'd see any real benefit.
You could probably get much the same effect, for far less money and time by swapping gears, and changing the carbonation.
That's what I'm hoping, and planning at some point in the relatively near future.
I'm getting about a million miles to the gallon with my 360 2V powered 20' C class. After-all, it spends most of it's time on the road on the back of a flat bed wrecker...
A larger, more powerful engine will yield you better fuel economy because it doesn't have to work as hard.
The 360 in my 1/2 W150 was only 8mpg un-loaded. If I had a 440 in there (everything else being equal), I'd be in the 12-14mpg range, an improvement of 1.75 times.
I find it humorous that we're willing to spend thousands of dollars to perfume a pig! That is, try to get better mileage out of a HOUSE!
That same $5000.00 or whatever for an OD system is still 10,667 miles of driving if you don't do a thing. Money better spent is quality tires properly inflated, a fresh tune-up (with engine tweaking to maximize it's performance), free-flowing exhaust, free-flowing air cleaner, and a really good front-end alignment.
Thanks for the feed back on 360 verse the 440, how ever I was not going to spend or waste money on a new 360 unless it was time to replace 440,"same cost" it has 110,000 miles now but still runs good, was just seeing if a 360 might get better mpg but I guess I was just wishing, did think it might be a problem in the mountains, I have installed a Holley TBI fuel inject system 2 years ago and mpg did go up and it burns a lot cleaner and can run 2 fuels "E-85 or unleaded" will probably stay with 440,,, but if Diesel did not cost so much more than unleaded than I might give that a go, but I know so little about Diesels and the parts always cost twice so that is not a option.. Maybe I will check my gears and look at that direction... Thanks..
Diesels are an interesting idea- there is a web site that is dedicated to the retrofitting of the small Cummins diesel engine into everyday trucks. These are the little 4 bangers used in small, snub-nosed straight trucks (bread trucks, etc.) and these guys are getting some impressive mileage results, using mostly junk yard parts!
While these engines aren't power-houses, they are very reliable, readily available in running form from scrap yards, retrofit easily into everyday vehicles, and people with trucks like 2500 series Suburbans are getting about 30mpg with them...
I am curious how they would work in something like my 20' C class. Lord knows with a 360 2V, she ain't fast as it is, I doubt the little 4 banger oil burner can't be much slower, but certainly better torque (which is more important than horsepower anyway).
Set it up right, and you can burn vegetable oil in it in a pinch! Or McDonalds waste oil...
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