Looking for some thoughts and opinions... Now keep in mind this is just a beater offroad kinda truck not a high dollar machine. I am looking to squeeze a bit more power out of my bone stock 86 3/4 ton with a 360. Slipping some 38's under it and want to be able to pull them down the road at more than 45 mph. Am I wasting my time and money by stopping at an intake and carb? I know aftermarket carb and intake would be less restrictive and higher flow... but will that do me any good with stock smog controlled heads and stock cam? Like I said just looking for some more power not a hot rod... any advice would be appreciated. Oh! also suggestions on intake/carb combos?

 

with 38s you should change gear ratios
use dual plane manifold edelbrock avs's carbs are easier to tune than hollies..check out my post TUNING MY AVS defiantly headers and dual exhaust

 

What Gorts said, and an rv-style cam would really help.... Being a 3/4t the gear ratio maybe low enough BUT a gear change would help ALOT... I have an 82 4X4 suburban thats got 39.5's and even with the 3:73's it was ordered with it needs a bit more.. (4:30's- 4:56's) (and it has aftermarket intake/carb rv cam and headers...)

 

Your 3/4 ton should have 4.10 gears. You should swap to 4.56 or even 4.88. That alone with help make it easier on the rest of the drivetrain. From there, you can decide on what to do.

I'm all for throwing on an intake and carb now to get a little extra out of it. With it tuned properly, you can get some decent power. A full exhaust (headers, y-pipe into a 2.5" exhaust) would help out even more. When you get ready to install a cam, do some head work or swap in a better flowing set of heads.

Now after saying all of that, I know of a few people running Grand Wagoneers with the stock AMC 360 motors in them, 1 ton axles, 42
tires and some gears. They've been wheeling like that for some time too.

If it were I, I'd regear the axles, get an intake and off-road carb (Edlebrock makes one and they sell a kit to convert the 1406 carbs), setup the exhaust, get rid of as much smog stuff as possible and call it good. Do you have a automatic or manual trans?

 

You are correct 78d200 I do have 4.10 with D44 front (stock) and D60 rear (welded). got the 3 speed manual with granny gear and the high low transfer case. I have been considering recently, after some research, swapping in a magnum 360. I have plenty of juice for wheeling with the low gear on the trans and transfer case... its highway speed I'm worried about. Thanks for the current and any future suggestions. by the way I like the edlebrock offroad carbs.

 

Since you have the NP435L, you can always regear the t-case or install a doubler. This would allow you to retain the 4.10 gears in the axles for street/highway but when it low, you can really crawl around. Not to mention, if you have a engine in good shape, you can just do the simple bolt on upgrades (carb, intake, headers, exhaust, ignition) and not have to tear into the motor.

 

Dave -

Don't know a lot about trucks, but the first upgrade for cars is usually the intake and carb, so it seems like a reasonable first pass. Then you can go from there to exhaust/cam etc.

Archer