Hello,
I'm new to the list but have been lurking a while. I actually have 4 vehicles, but I don't have much interest in ecomodding the others for now. about 6 months ago I bought a Ford Excursion, 2001, 7.3, 2wd. The previous owner included an engine reprogrammer, but as far as I can tell that is pretty much it for mods.
I've been pretty impressed with it's mileage on the highway, but not so much in town. My highest sustained MPG run (over 350 miles on the highway) was 25 mpg (per factory computer) on a drive to California in the winter. I've gotten as low as 14 in town with a lot of stopping and waiting, but generally hover around 16-17 in town. I haven't done much in the way of testing the computer for accuracy but my rough estimates comparing miles to gallons during fill ups show me the computer has been pretty accurate.
My original plan was to move to west texas and start processing my own biodiesel but family needs dictated I come to College Station, TX, and I will probably be here a few years. It's gotten tricky to get used veggie oil without paying enough to make it not all that worthwhile, so I decided I should go the ecomod route at least for now.
I ordered a scanguage II but I might end up just using that on my 2012 ford focus, that doesn't have MPG tools built in.
First things are the simple things like the cattle guard, tire pressure, etc, then I'm going to look in to the belly pan, which might prove tricky, as the truck is really pretty big and will require a lot of pan.
Other ideas people can advise me on: Are running boards a big wind block? would it be worthwhile to build fenderwell covers for the back tires? I'm not very worried about looking odd, and wouldn't rule out something as crazy as a boat tail for the thing if I thought it would make a big difference.
My other cars include a '76 volare muscle car and a '69 lemans convertible.
