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aardvarcus · 04-08-2015, 08:16 AM

Mikeyjd,

My driving route is roughly 80% of my miles driving 50 miles each way to work or other destinations, most of the rest are shorter 5 to 10 mile each way trips out in the sticks. I mainly am on two lane and some four lane country highways, so there is a 55 MPH or less speed limit which I obey. Since I am in east TN, there is not very much flat so you are constantly either climbing a hill or going down one, this is probably the biggest drain on my MPG. I mainly use cruise control, but I do a bit of “hill assisted” pulse and glide, aka coast down hills if they are steep enough. I want to get my aerodynamics better so that I can coast down more hills, right now they have to be decently steep for me to not loose speed.

Yes, cracking the big 30 is the initial goal, I can beat it on single long trips but with the shorter trips the average never keeps up. Winter temperatures have really punished the MPG. I am trying to increase fuel economy, off-road ability, and utility, so many mods are compromises to one goal or the other, with mostly added weight impeding MPG (LT tires, recovery gear, tools, etc). I average engaging 4WD about 2-3x a day to navigate sections of unpaved roads, graveled hills, trails, etc.

The projects on the immediate horizon to break the initial 30 goal are finishing the half bed shell and switching to an electric fan and controller. After that I will be starting on the underbody, I have some thoughts but no decent designs yet. I am trying to design the belly pan underbody panels as light underbody protection, no steel plate as it is not for serious rock crawling but for minor hang ups. I am thinking of using light steel frames skinned with either aluminum or UMHW / HDPE. My biggest concern is overheating, and I will be leaving it open under the exhaust.

Wdb and others,

As for the progress on the shell, I removed the temporary bolts (clamps)from the epoxy work and snapped a few more pictures of the shell on the truck. The epoxy seems to have bonded the pieces together nicely. A rough overlay shows it seems to fit AST-2 well, so my adjustment seem to have worked. I am hoping it stops raining for this weekend, I can only fiberglass outside so rain kills progress.

04-08-2015, 08:16 AM	#43 (permalink)
aardvarcus Master EcoModder Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Evensville, TN Posts: 676 Deep Blue - '94 GMC Suburban K2500 SLE 90 day: 23.75 mpg (US) Griffin (T4R) - '99 Toyota 4Runner SR5 90 day: 25.43 mpg (US) Thanks: 237 Thanked 580 Times in 322 Posts	Mikeyjd, My driving route is roughly 80% of my miles driving 50 miles each way to work or other destinations, most of the rest are shorter 5 to 10 mile each way trips out in the sticks. I mainly am on two lane and some four lane country highways, so there is a 55 MPH or less speed limit which I obey. Since I am in east TN, there is not very much flat so you are constantly either climbing a hill or going down one, this is probably the biggest drain on my MPG. I mainly use cruise control, but I do a bit of “hill assisted” pulse and glide, aka coast down hills if they are steep enough. I want to get my aerodynamics better so that I can coast down more hills, right now they have to be decently steep for me to not loose speed. Yes, cracking the big 30 is the initial goal, I can beat it on single long trips but with the shorter trips the average never keeps up. Winter temperatures have really punished the MPG. I am trying to increase fuel economy, off-road ability, and utility, so many mods are compromises to one goal or the other, with mostly added weight impeding MPG (LT tires, recovery gear, tools, etc). I average engaging 4WD about 2-3x a day to navigate sections of unpaved roads, graveled hills, trails, etc. The projects on the immediate horizon to break the initial 30 goal are finishing the half bed shell and switching to an electric fan and controller. After that I will be starting on the underbody, I have some thoughts but no decent designs yet. I am trying to design the belly pan underbody panels as light underbody protection, no steel plate as it is not for serious rock crawling but for minor hang ups. I am thinking of using light steel frames skinned with either aluminum or UMHW / HDPE. My biggest concern is overheating, and I will be leaving it open under the exhaust. Wdb and others, As for the progress on the shell, I removed the temporary bolts (clamps)from the epoxy work and snapped a few more pictures of the shell on the truck. The epoxy seems to have bonded the pieces together nicely. A rough overlay shows it seems to fit AST-2 well, so my adjustment seem to have worked. I am hoping it stops raining for this weekend, I can only fiberglass outside so rain kills progress. Attached Thumbnails Last edited by aardvarcus; 04-08-2015 at 08:22 AM..