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Originally Posted by slowmover
[B]
Back to the race boy theme: I am amazed that so few take any interest at al in improving the annual average so that the same annual fuel budget (constant fuel price) will pay for vacation travel towing altogether (5k miles is a near norm). I've had no takers the several times I've brought it up on three different RV boards (detailed long posts on the how-to from my own experience: percentage changes).
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It's funny that you mention this because I've been the racecar type my whole life, and I think the enthusiasm that comes with that is very easy to apply to ecomodding. Throughout the years I've noticed that most (not all) performance modifications that I've done to cars have also resulted in FE improvements, and that's always a consideration, so it's not a completely new thing for me. It's also not unprecedented for a hot-rodder like myself to care about the lifetime cost of a modification, in addition to the initial cost. Most of us are on limited budgets, which is why we are modding in the first place, instead of buying the newest gadgetry from Detroit or overseas.
That said, I bought a 1988 F150 about 2 years ago and economy (fuel and otherwise) is a close second to utility for this build. I've already rebuilt the 8.8 rear end (put in a new limited slip carrier since the spider gears were worn on the old one), the 4.9L engine, and I'm about to swap out the M5R2 5-speed for the ZF wide ratio 5-speed which I'm hoping will help both on the low end, especially while loaded, with a numerically higher 1st gear, and while cruising with the numerically lower overdrive. I think the current 3.55 gears with that new tranny will probably put it in that sweet spot while on California's 65 mph freeways, which unfortunately put my 4.9 at about 2150 rpm currently, a little too high for economy on that engine. Those are the mods I came up with by my past experience with modding cars.
After discovering this forum and cruising it for 5 minutes, I realized the goldmine of information that I stumbled upon immediately. I then signed up, and within a couple of hours, I was convinced that I needed vacuum gauges for both the F150 and my DD Saturn SC2, and they are currently in the mail. I also picked up a scan tool for the F150 to make sure all of my sensors are working properly. While I don't think I'll ever even halve the mpg number of the OP on this thread, I at least hope to get in the mid 20s with the F150 on long trips. My best tank so far was 15mpg. And since I've already increased my Saturn's stock mpg from about 23 city / 28 highway to 28 city / 42 (best, average is high 30s) highway with a few basic mods (intake, injectors and hotter ignition / bigger spark gap), I think I might be able to hit 50 with that little car by adding the boost gauge alone. Hopefully I can keep my foot out of the throttle and have just as much fun (without the trouble) as I did with my hot-rod days.