Thanks to all for the ideas. 

Apologies to Jay for not looking at the Comparo:  I have no good excuse.  I tend to believe there is a time and place for the Ebrock 390.

Dizzy:  Yes, I have a vacuum advance and like it.  I think it's fairly well dialed in but going on personal preferences and a stopwatch there.

HP demand:  I get what FrozenMerc is saying about needing X amount of power at a given speed though I figure this much displacement is wasting more gas just by running than it actually needs when the truck is empty.  Lower rpms should permit it to waste less gas. 

Gear vendor:  Maybe it's costing me power and mpg but sure seams like a lot.  I like it if for nothing else than splitting 3rd and 4th and lower rpms on the freeway.  Perhaps it contributes to the overall stacking of tolerances.

Cam change:  Thought crossed my mind but in no hurry to do that because it costs decent amount of money and time.  Plus I think I have a few other things to try first. 

Engine not meeting my needs:  Thought that comment might have been a joke but in case it wasn't...We have a 2002 Duramax we've used it to pull our fifth wheel through 40 of the lower 48.  And we really like it. If that somehow gets fubarred, I'd seriously consider finding an '80s or 90's crewcab to stick this 482 in and pull our camper around the country because I like it that much.  Really, I'm just puzzled why lower rpms didn't help mpg.  Thought intake was something to consider.  Now I'm thinking carb adjustment might benefit. 

Carb PV:  That's something I need to read up on...as well as get a new O2 sensor.  That's sounding like my first thing to check. 

Appreciate all the input.  I'll try to gather all the comments so far.

I'm a bit of an oddball not caring what happens above 4000...might have passed that once...rarely pass 3500.  MPG isn't too bad... 11.5 - 12 if I keep it on the freeway and stay out of town.  What made me wonder is the mpg did not change going with the gear vendor. 

O2 sensor (when it worked) seemed good at around 13.  Plugs looked okay (too me). 

If air velocity is what I want then I'd think smaller tunnels would help.  The engine draws a given volume.  Smaller tunnels should force that to travel faster.

Might look at carb adjustments.  I set up my timing curve with my "chassis dyno"...stop watch and freeway on ramp near my house.  Put it in 4th and floor it from 40mph to 60mph.  Adjusted timing rate of advance to get shortest stopwatch time without pinging.

I know some times companies make extra options hoping everyone will buy something but I'm guessing Edelbrock made the 390 intake for a reason.  My RPM intake is installed so I can't see the ports so I was guessing they're bigger than with the 390.  I have a used but uncut 390 that I ran on a 390FE I used to have.  Checking differences on my "chassis dyno" would cost me some gaskets and some time.  If I swap it I won't do it until winter and then test next summer.

Like I said, appreciate the input.  Hope this is an interesting change of engine strategy than talking about boring hot rods 

Really sucks to see a good business with a long standing reputation (like Craft Engines) go down.  Whatever is that's happening has a wide swath.  In the chemical industry, formulas often take years to test and develop.  Shortage of just one raw material messes everything up.  It's been whack-o-mole for the past couple years solving one shortage or another.

I went a bit nuts on the FE for my old truck 7 fast years ago.  Glad I did when I did.  It's been fun and still running great.

On the plus side, there are honest paying jobs out there...at least for now.

I've had an Actron for many years and have been happy.  It only does obd II.  Couple years ago I got an Innova (either a 3130 or 3150) and also happy.  It does plenty for me...including ABS codes and reset, SRS codes.  Also reads live data like coolant temp, emission related readings, etc.  The next level up does ABS bleed and cost $100 more.  The few times I thought I wanted to pump the ABS unit I just found a slick spot and slammed the brakes. 

Both of mine will tell you which coil over plug is bad and also things like which injector is bad (for gasoline).  You just have to look up how your particular car's make and model counts cylinders.  Some of them hop around as they count...

They're nice.  I think it was the Innova that told me the turbo actuator was bad on my wife's VW diesel.  That saved me a ton of money.  I found a new actuator ($200) and swapped that.  Didn't have to buy the whole dang turbo ($2000 and lot more work).

Theoretical question for those with more experience than me… How often do rockers break this early on a tame cam without an underlying cause? 

Probably want to look for a cause and verify there’s no further damage. Check for damaged pushrods, lifters etc.  Definitely check both push rods and lifters in the affected cylinder but check rest of them as well.  Make sure the affected valve is at the right height (I.e not bent and hanging open). Look for signs the push rods are rubbing the intake tunnels,  I don’t think you have to run it hard to break stuff if things aren’t right.

Lot of cheating in turbohunter’s pic…port fuel injection and I’m guessing a hydraulic clutch…I’m jealous.

Quote from: MRadke on March 03, 2022, 07:22:37 AM

How about a straight six?

The truck has an EFI 300 6 in it now. The fuel economy is nothing to write home about. I've heard how great these engines are as far as low RPM torque and towing capacity, I don't tow, but so far have not experienced the awesome torque. In fact, it's relatively flaccid as far as I'm concerned.
I'm just a V8 guy.

They do have good low end torque...for their size.  Around 3000 rpms is the end of their world.  They can't keep up towing with a bigger V8, especially at highway speed.

  I expect around 16 mpg with them in a pickup.  A very carefully custom built 351 or 352 should get real close to that.   

Only time I had a real head scratcher is when someone put dowel pins in the block that were too long.