Been keeping up with what you have done to the hot shot truck over the past couple of years.
Would have been a good test (probably would have caused issues though) to have a standard piston in there to compare.
You ever think about bringing the compression ratio back up a bit? Wonder if bringing it up to about 18:1 would help with mileage?
Before I bought the FL60, I was strongly looking at building a 20:1 CR short block, current block is 17.5:1, mainly to chase efficiency/MPG.
To run same 400hp at 20:1 would probably bend stock rods and possibly cause problems with OEM main caps.
I know Dan Diesel performance ran 19:1 for couple seasons in a 2.6? Truck dropped a valve and took the engine out last year?
I've split stock LBZ/LMM pistons at ~275hp and 400rwhp.
I have also noticed and been my experience, stated earlier, ovals are less efficient than oem round bowls and run dirtier.. also to get same result one needs to add timing for ovals if everything else remains constant.
I also have never been able to match the mpg I got with OEM pistons with ovals while towing
Truck pulls 16-17mpg running 75-80 across the plains out west.. but loaded I avg solid 10mpg with ovals vs 11-12 with OEM even at 17.5:1