MPG

[chevymotocross]

You're doing great with those numbers. Mine is an 87 as well but with the 305 and gets the same mpg as yours.... but you probably have lots more power with the 350.

[Edahall]

i spent $468 on food last month and about $128 in gas.

Track how much you spend in food vs. gas, then report back.

My point is look at the big picture----- 17-18 is pretty good for a pickup.  i assume it's paid for?   So, you're total cash output for this truck is not as high as you might think.

We all do want to get better mpg though;  You may want to check out my in depth mpg thread, which i admit i have updated in a while.


P.S. i think if your total transportation costs anually exceed 5% of your gross income you have a problem.  Obviously you want to get this cost as low as possible, but i think 5% is a reasonable number.

This is the voice of wisdom of here.  We're saving money driving an old vehicle like what we've got over paying payments on a new vehicle.  However, you can improve your fuel economy by installing a lip on your bumper and extending it down almost to the ground.  The next thing would be to install a cover that angles downward from the cab down to the tail gate.  Or you can do like me and just drive 55-60 mph on the highway.  At 60 mph, my Suburban diesel will get 27 mpg but if I drive 80 mph, the fuel economy plunges to 18 mpg due to the poor aerodynamics.

[bobcooter]

I think one time Vile posted a picture of a truck with a fiberglass bumper cover the looked like ground effects. I'll bet that would help with what the guys were saying about lowering the bumper and making sure your air dam is installed. If you keep the air out from underneath, it will help out. You get all wild and maybe tape off some the front grill like NASCAR guys do for qualifying . It would probably help the aero but it would look strange. 

[Edahall]

Here are several truck that were ecomodded to the extreme to give you an idea what I was explaining.

--And oh by the way, that 1994 Toyota T-100 went from 23.3 mpg to 32 mpg at 75 mph.  And that truck was a lot more aerodynamic than our trucks so there's even more gain to be had on our square bodied trucks.

[Edahall]

delete

[bobcooter]

That poor, poor Dodge. If trucks had emotions, I'm sure it would be humiliated.

[big bear]

hahaha

[Stewart G Griffin]

Also investigate natural gas conversion.   i think it's $2.30 a gallon now.

[Edahall]

Also investigate natural gas conversion.   i think it's $2.30 a gallon now.

It's even a lot cheaper than that if you have natural gas at your home.  However, you would have an initial investment of about $2000 for the high pressure pump and how ever much it costs to retrofit your vehicle.  Where I live out in the countryside, it's unavailable otherwise I would have gone this route a long time ago.  However, the reason the public is not buying into it is because only a few cars are appropriate for running on natural gas.  The retrofit adds a considerable amount of weight to the vehicle due to the extremely heavy tanks.  However, it would work like a charm on our trucks especially if they're 3/4 ton and have a big block engine.

[JohnnyCanuck]

I've put my '90 gmc 4x4 on dual fuel (gas/propane) the day after I bought it. The mileage is a bit less on propane, but over the years it's been about half the price of gasoline.  Right now gas is $1.31/litre ($6) and propane is .61; I run propane probably 98% of the time.

[Edahall]

I've put my '90 gmc 4x4 on dual fuel (gas/propane) the day after I bought it. The mileage is a bit less on propane, but over the years it's been about half the price of gasoline.  Right now gas is $1.31/litre ($6) and propane is .61; I run propane probably 98% of the time.

Unfortunately, propane is hardly any cheaper here in the states.  You could gain back a lot of the mileage by upping the compression but then it would run horrible on gasoline.

[JohnnyCanuck]

How much is propane there?  I do have 10:5 compression on my '90, but I install a dual curve ignition and it's set up very nicely to adjust timing between the two.

Here's a pic of it, the blue box on the left is the dual curve box:

[Stewart G Griffin]

UPDATE:

Food    $287.48
gas      $93.40
rent+utilities    over $950

[Stewart G Griffin]

UPdate:  New strategies for increased mpg, in my opinion:

Think ----higher compression and/or cam---mega rv type cam with massive bottom end torque and no top end.

-----jet down smaller in the carb.

-----electronic fuel injection is getting a little cheaper.

-----keep it at or below 65mph.

[jaredts]

UPdate:  New strategies for increased mpg, in my opinion:

Think ----higher compression and/or cam---mega rv type cam with massive bottom end torque and no top end.

-----jet down smaller in the carb.

-----electronic fuel injection is getting a little cheaper.

-----keep it at or below 65mph.

Wouldn't a higher compression ratio and high lift cam by themselves lower mpg's?  If you did those two things to allow you to run an ultra high gear maybe?