Fuel mileage vs Weber Carb.

So its time to get better fuel mileage. I have had my '87 b2000 for about three weeks and ready to get it running better... Truck runs great but its only getting 16.5 mpg average in the last 3 weeks and I drive 85-90% highway. Its backfires or pops while shifting through the gears and when you let off the gas, so Im guessing that its time to play with the carb. I have a buddy that paid $250 to get his carb rebuilt earlier this year but I noticed I can go with a weber for a few more dollars.

Is the weber the only way to go to make these trucks running top notch? What all is nessicary in doing a conversion? And what kind of fuel mileage is expected on a stock truck?

Also, I know with the weber you eliminate all of the emissions stuff on the carb... Im planning on doing a new stock cat and exhaust soon also. Do you think that I will be able to pass emissions in Texas, I think they do a sniff test on '87.

Thanks in advance -- Jason

With my Webers I've averaged 20 to 30 and thats been on the following:
Mazdas 2.0 and 2.2's I think they averaged around 20-ish
Datsuns L16's thru L20b's were in the high 20's like 25+
Whitey 2.3 liter (Ford Courier) got roughly 18 to 20
My 22r Toyota got 25 to 30.
My ew3 1.5 86' Civic roughly 30's if I drove normal
Yes it is possible to get decent mileage out of a Weber. It all depends on drivign style and tuning. Now the MPG's posted above were driving normal!! All those MPG's went WAY down when I woudl beat the piss out of my cars.

Backfiring thru the Carb sounds to me like the timing is off maybe a little advanced? Could also be the Carb could also be some Valve work needed. What other symptoms are there?

Carb swap well it depends if you buy the right kit if so it's pretty much bolt on and plug off emissions junk and then go for a test drive . If you piece it together well it's a puzzle that way but still do able of course.

Emissions well depends I guess on your motors condition and Law regulations. My 86' Civic passed it had 200,XXX+ miles, SI cam, unstopable exhaust leak, Weber 32/36 DGAV, and on top of that it ran kinda rich needed carb rebuild. But it did pass when I lived in Cedar Park, Texas.

EDIT: I hope my Ramble helped some what

Well its not really a backfire... I notice whenever I have been driving in town and have went from stop light to stop light that it pops after you let off the gas to shift into another gear 1st to 2nd to 3rd imparticulary... Popping sounds like it is coming from the carb side of the motor. The truck runs better at like 65mph on the highway, if you get down around 60 or below it feels like it wants to bog a little bit. The guy I bought it from (which is a friend) had it inspected in July and said that the tech told him that it was running rich and the carb would probably have to be rebuilt before too long. I was compteplating about rebuilding the stock carb myself but have searched the site alot and everyone seems to be using the webers.

I also think the cat or exhaust is on its way out to because it sounds like marbles whenever I let off the gas after the truck has got good and hot. So I got a plan to get that done to.

Any suggestions on carb selection?

Thanks Jason

imo... save yourself face and some mpg milliage and just replace with a weber... will run 10x cleaner and will improve gas milliage and hp

I have decided to go Weber over the abudance of people that I have seen on this site running them. Now I have seen alot of people running 32/36 is that the one to get to keep her stock?

Where is the place to get the full kit from? I know ebay has them but I want to make sure its the real deal, suggestions on previous sellers?

Thanks JAson

most the folks on here running them got them from ebay or redlineweber.com or you could do a little searching around on craigslist.. i know of atleast 2 people here got them from craigslist

Jason . . .before you spend one penny on a Weber. . .

Do a compression test.

You might have a worn out /slack timing belt.

Or something else mechanically wrong.

Weber's do not fix engines that have underlying issues.

You have a 22 year old truck
And if you throw a Weber on top of a worn out motor, you will be sad.

From my experince with B-2000's, with a 5 speed, they get 23 mpg. Stock.

If the carb solenoid goes out, they run rich, so mileage drops 10-15 % Maybe 20 mpg.

Or if there are vacuum leaks or some other issue.

You are getting a lot less. . .so I think something else needs to be looked at.

All the people telling you how Webers are a great investment won't be standing there if you flunk your emissions test.