For the curious: my next fill-up netted 12.35 mpg, but the one after that dropped to 10.9 mpg (no highway driving on that tank).
I am planning out my next move. I am debating between installing the EFI (which would require a new gas tank & pump assembly), upgrading the front brakes (they are down to the wear indicators, and the RWD 2nd-gen Blazer setup bolts on), or addressing the rear axle (installing c-clip eliminators and new axle shafts). Decisions, decisions.
Oh! I
did do something a few weeks ago, and it is well worth mentioning here. Ever since getting the car running with the V8, I have had a bizarre variety of intermittent electrical issues. For example, my 4-pack of secondary gauges would sometimes wiggle all their needles in unison... but since my primary gauges didn't do the same thing, I figured it had to do with a poor connection in their wiring (the 4-pack is wired completely independent from the primary gauges). I would also notice the volt gauge indicated the alternator would struggle to get past 12v any time I was at idle, and even at moderate RPM seemingly small loads would cause the gauge to drop significantly. The real kicker was nighttime driving: the car's entire lighting system would randomly dim sharply for no apparent reason, as if the entire lighting system was shorting out or something. Replacing the alternator didn't make a lick of difference. It was weird.
Then one day Mike and I stopped by O'Reilly. Eric was telling us about his '64 El Camino which he just got running, and out of the blue he shared a fascinating tale. "Man, when I started driving the car it kept having electrical problems. I'd be going along and it was like the entire car would suddenly short out--the headlights would go dark, the engine would sputter, the gauges went nuts, etc. Someone asked me about ground straps, so I went home and dug up a plain old GM engine-to-firewall strap. I attached it to the back of the intake manifold and the firewall. Suddenly all of my electrical problems were fixed."
I started thinking about the GP. I couldn't recall hooking up any sort of ground wire like this. Furthermore, the car's negative battery cable has a beefy wire going to the engine block, but does
not have a smaller wire going to the body. Hmm. Could my solution really be so simple? As soon as I got home, I went looking through my garage for a ground strap. I didn't have a GM one, but I did have a couple from FWD turbo Mopars. I figured the electrons wouldn't mind the brand mismatch, so I installed one between the back of the intake manifold and the firewall.
Bam! Just like that,
all of my electrical gremlins disappeared. Gauge needles stopped flickering, alternator charges properly, my voltage doesn't drop, my headlights stay bright, etc etc etc.
Ground straps, people! Ground straps!
