Well lets see,a 1979 International cabover with a 290 Cummins.Lightweight truck,gross weight was 73,280 in 1979.290 wasnt the biggest motor but it was common.Old cabovers were narrower by a few inches so should have a little less wind resisitance.No air cooler,old style motor,high flow water,high flow oil pressure,would get about 4 miles to the gallon on a good day.No computer.290 meant 290 horsepower.If you put an air cooler and 350 injectors and pump,turbo,pistons and liners,you could get 4.5 mpg,maybe 5 mpg on flat ground. Jump up to mid 1990s.A N14 Cummins with 450-500 horsepower.It has an air cooler,air to air,computer,better tires,low flow cooling,more efficient oil cooler,low flow oil pressure,better heads,better sleeves,better pistons,overdrive transmission(which was available in 1979,but not seen a lot stock in cabovers with 10 speeds,newer 10 speeds have it right from the factory)and it gets 6.5 to 7 miles per gallon.A lot of the reason it gets better fuel mileage is that you can go up a hill,mountain,faster than an old 290,and the overdrive,plus the higher horse power lets you run 3.90 or even higher rear end gears.Just that right there is a lot of it,then trucks are more aerodynamic nowdays,plus the newer trucks are lighter than old ones,maybe not a cabover,but not much heavier,and todays trucks pull 80,000 lbs Gears arent every bit of it,but a lot of it.Most vehicles,even tractors have a area that they pull,perform better at.Like that 100 horsepower tractor being used for a 20 horsepower one.You dont want to drive your Semi Tractor around town either,might not get 2 miles to the gallon. Most vehicles have overdrive nowdays.If you can keep it in overdrive is as good as you can do.Driving at a slower speed out of overdrive,or pulling its guts out in overdrive,is going to waste fuel I am thinking.
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Today's Featured Article - Timing Your Magneto Ignition Tractor - by Chris Pratt. If you have done major engine work or restored your tractor, chances are you removed the magneto and spark plug wires and eventually reached the point where you had to put it all back together and make it run. On our first cosmetic restoration, not having a manual, we carefully marked the wires, taped the magneto in the position it came off, and were careful not to turn the engine over while we had these components off. We thought we could get by with this since the engine ran perfectly and would not need any internal work. After the cleanup and painting was done, we began reassembly and finally came to t
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