[doctormario777]

Hi all!

I'm new to the forum, but so far I think it's really awesome! I saw a thread where a guy had modded his ford ranger and was getting 40+ mpg... that got me thinking: "Hey. maybe I can do something like that!"

Anyway, I'll explain my situation a bit. My wife and I are both in the USAF. I'm stationed out at Laughlin AFB and she's over at Randolph AFB on the east side of San Antonio. What that means for us is that I commute up to San Antonio basically every weekend. We got this assignment just after I bought a brand new 2012 Challenger. The Challenger actually gets decent economy, but I'd rather not put a ton of miles on my brand new car. Besides... we're thinking about getting an other vehicle anyway!

There's really two things that I'm looking for: highway fuel economy (Speed limit is around 70 mph) and utility. I hunt and fish, so I'd like a truck to be able to haul stuff around. Being that we'll only be in this situation for about 2 years, I don't think it's worth it to have a truck AND a fuel efficient vehicle. So I think a fuel efficient truck is what I need.

So I think I could either buy a ranger (v4 or v6? which is better at highway speeds?) or I could work on modding a 1978 f100 I have. I know I'll never get close to the mpg a ranger gets, but I wonder if it would be possible to get around 20 mpg out of the f100? Anyone tried economodding an older truck?

Phew... lots to say and not much organization! I guess my question boils down to:

1. What kind of fuel efficient trucks should I look into?
2. Is a v4 or a v6 more efficient at highway speed?
3. what is the best fuel economy I could expect from a light to moderately modded 1978 f100?