F150 Ecomods(?)

[Steven Wrigley]

Hi from Coatesville Pa! First post here. I have prolly the worst car for ecomodding. Its a 1995 F150 4x4 with a 5.8L engine. 5.8! It gets like 11 city if that and not much more highway. So With my Senior year of highschool aproaching fast along with a 40 mile daily commute, Thats easily 4 gallons a day! I guess I could ride the bus but that means getting out of the house at 6:30. The commute I take is pretty stop and start with a 5 mile stretch of nothingness with a massive hill I can coast down the a traffic light then another hill. So my question for you ecomodders is what can I do to increase mpg? I have a friend who get 18 mpg highway with his truck and the only difference is it has a bed cap. I want to try a front air dam on my truck along with a lightweight homemade aero cap. Im pretty handy and love making things (especialy model airplanes) so I know how to build light! Any help will be greatly appreciated!

[Frank Lee]

Ride the bus. It's paid for and you can actually read your textbooks on there. You can put up with it for a few more months and driving to school isn't the end-all be-all of coolness.

[cleanspeed1]

Get rid of the full size pickup and get a Ranger with a 4 banger. Unless you're ok with putting loads of cash into a truck to make marginal gains for the thrill of it, switching to a smaller vehicle as a primary will make better economic sense.

But if you insist on modding the big gasser, here's a start.

Convert the speed density system over to mass air. That change alone will pick up 2-4 mpg. Kits are available through Ford Motorsport.

Give dpTuner a call for a custom programming if you want to keep the speed density system.

Full tune up.

Check to make sure that the emission controls are functioning properly and that the catalytic convertor (s) are not plugged up.

Put a Scangauge or other similiar device and learn how to drive by it.

Change your driving style; that's going to be the biggest thing that affects mpg.

Look at the efficiency and hypermiling tips and use them.

[Steven Wrigley]

Id love to get rid of the truck and get a small car. For a number of reasons I cant. We actually have another f150 thats been parked for 3 years due to rust. We are going to get it back on the road with some work here soon. Its a stick shift 2wd so it gets marginaly better mpg. Ill try those cleanspeed! I might have to use the MPGuino on it because its not OBDII (I think) since its a 1995 model. My bus rides atleast a hour and a half and I stay after school alot. Im going to tape up the gaps on the truck today.

[Daox]

Seriously, buy a beater car that gets 30+ mpg. Driving a huge truck like that daily is rediculous. A small car will pay for itself in no time. Here are the numbers:

40 miles a day @ 11 mpg is ~4 gallons a day. 4 gal @ $3.50 = $14 a DAY or $70 per week.

40 miles a day @ 35 mpg is 1.1 gallons a day. 1 gal @ $3.50 = $4 a day, or $20 per week.


In a month you'd save $200, and in 6 months you'd have $1200 saved. So, as you can see, driving the truck is basically like throwing tons of cash out the window.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by Steven Wrigley

Id love to get rid of the truck and get a small car. For a number of reasons I cant.

I didn't realize schoolbooks have gotten that heavy

Seriously, and realistically, why does a highschool senior need a truck ?
If you do - for whatever valid reason rather than the usual bogus reasoning I see mentioned for desperately wanting a truck - why would you need to drive the same truck to school everyday
There are far better suited vehicles for that.
You can get one on the truck's fuel budget with that lousy mileage.

You can dump money, time and effort into the truck, and it will likely get a bit better, but it won't ever return good mileage.


A similar vintage hatchback with manual shift will easily get you up to 40 mpg - and beyond - cutting your fuel use by 75% or better.

[cleanspeed1]

I guess the question is really going to come down to why do you need something that big to commute in, considering the present day realities?

That thing will cut into your fun money something fierce.

[Steven Wrigley]

I dont need a truck to commute. I want a small car but cant spend any money on one. My family has rental properties so money is real tight. If I could Id sell the truck, keep the stick shift f150 and get a older civic.

[Daox]

I'd focus getting the other truck on the road. Once you have the 2nd truck running you can sell yours and get a car.

Its possible to mod the truck, but you're gonna spend more time and money trying to get a few MPG vs just getting a car that will over tripple your mileage.

[Steven Wrigley]

Ill do that. It doesnt make sense to have 2 trucks.