tow vehicle
We have a 1987 Coachman 5th wheel. We pull it with a 77 C20 Chevy Camper Special It has a 454 from the factory the rear is a 3.21 ratio our problem is long steep hills. We hit the bottom doing 65 and ...
Forum Discussion
Gears will likely make a good difference but there might be a few other easy-ish things to make more power too.
Hopefully the spark plugs, wires, filters are good and fairly new.
Chances are pretty good with the age and miles on the truck that the timing chain is worn out. As it stretches the cam timing r etards and that hurts low end power.
GM engines of that era were also known to wear out cams quickly. If the engine ticks at all that could be the problem. If you replace the cam you could check with a company like Comp Cams for a recommendation.
If you can find an old school hot rod shop they might be able to get you some more power with some tuning. Recurving the advance in the distributor and playing with the ignition timing can make a decent difference.
If the air cleaner housing has the big oval inlet without a cool air hose going to the rad support you might try adding one of those. If the housing has the small round inlet you can add a second one to the other side for some extra air.
Dual exhaust might be worthwhile too.
Hopefully the spark plugs, wires, filters are good and fairly new.
Chances are pretty good with the age and miles on the truck that the timing chain is worn out. As it stretches the cam timing r etards and that hurts low end power.
GM engines of that era were also known to wear out cams quickly. If the engine ticks at all that could be the problem. If you replace the cam you could check with a company like Comp Cams for a recommendation.
If you can find an old school hot rod shop they might be able to get you some more power with some tuning. Recurving the advance in the distributor and playing with the ignition timing can make a decent difference.
If the air cleaner housing has the big oval inlet without a cool air hose going to the rad support you might try adding one of those. If the housing has the small round inlet you can add a second one to the other side for some extra air.
Dual exhaust might be worthwhile too.
