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 - A Cautionary Tale - by Ian Minshull. In the early 1950s my father bought an Allis Chalmers B and I used it for all the row crop work with the mangolds and potatoes, rolling and the haymaking on our farm. The farm and the Allis were sold and I have spent a lifetime working on farms throughout the country. I promised myself that one day I would own an Allis. That time event
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