2011 Ford Ranger XL Reg cab.
 

Looking to start Ecomodding. I got rid of my previous Nissan Frontier as the sychros/tranny was going downhill rapidly. I was offered a GOOD amount by a dealer and got me a little reg cab Ranger. 2.3L Dura 5-speed manual. As it stands I average 28-29mpg per tank 65% highway driving. I commute 26 miles 1way (~50miles round trip) to work per day.

I have been reading a lot about how this ecomodding works, and I achieve the 28-29MPG through mainly driving habits.

So I want to start aero mods, mainly grill and air damn for the time being as they appear the least extensive. I am lurking other Ranger pages here and came across this craveman85's post where he blocked the grill from behind the mesh/honeycomb

Now, my question is, I want to keep my truck "stockish" looking. So the way he blocked off the grill from behind the honey comb looks better. Is this less effective?

Another issue is how often I have to travel on gravel/dirt roads and on very wet/slimey roads. I plan on increasing the size of my tire from P225/70r15 to 235/75r15. The tires weigh an extra 5lbs.. I plan on getting a topper shell for the truck as well, and figured that could potentially increase highway mpg. At the moment I have a soft tonnue which Im not sure does much.

To shorten the post: would increasing the tire size and weight by approx. 5lbs per tire, and blocking off the grill from the inside actually help, or does the grill need to be flat from the outside? Also, living in Florida where temps are hot, how much grill can I block off?

After this I plan to try and block most of the gaps in the front bumper, but I dont want the truck to overheat. Any advice?

I'd advise getting a scangauge, ultragauge, or some other form of OBDII monitoring device. You can watch your coolant temps (and a ton of other things like mpg) and see if its getting too warm and if your radiator fan is running too much.

To answer your other question, blocking a grill from behind is less effective. How much, we can't really say as its application specific.

Thank you! Would blocking the grill from behind be more effective than not having it blocked at all? I might try to fabricate a new grille from fiberglass entirely but I just want it to look stockish

Oh yeah, a grill block from behind is still beneficial.

If you can stand to do something non-stock looking to your pick-up, this is where I would start. There are plenty of other examples of aero-toppers on this site.

tires
 

*If you're doing mostly highway,and maintaining a relatively constant velocity,the weight increase of the tires won't show up.
*Around town,you'll have more massive flywheels at all four corners,so technically,there would be a small penalty.
*The wider tires will have a slight aerodynamic penalty at speed due to their larger frontal area.
*And the larger aspect ratio,combined with the larger tire size is going to affect your gearing a bit,with fewer revolutions per mile,a little more difficult acceleration,more difficult passing,and hill climbing.
*The larger tires will also raise the Ranger a smidgeon which technically eats into its fineness ratio,roll moment,center of gravity.
*The 'rubber' gearing will slow the engines rpms and you may see a highway mpg increase from that.Especially with the streamlining.

Wow, thank you! I am going to try and do some fiberglassing this weekend.

How much of the grille can be blocked? I am going to try and start with that.

Keep in mind that modern temperature gauges do not accurately reflect engine temperatures. They go up to normal and just stay there. It is hard to say how much grill you can block. It depends on too many variables. You don't have big hills in Florida so that is good. I don't know if you plan to tow with your truck. It gets hot there and you may need AC. All of these affect how much grill opening you need. In my experience, towing and a hill in warm weather can max out your cooling system with no grill blocking. I used some temporary blocking and watched temps carefully till I felt comfortable.

I do occasionally tow a motorcycle or a 12ft boat. MAX weight with trailer would probably be 1500lbs. Maybe I can make the inserts removable with heavy duty velcro for things like that?

"stockish"

So what is stock-ish? Mild custom? Retro-custom? Low rider?

It would be hard to go wrong with a moderate lowering and Moon hubcaps. If you carry weight a lot, maybe airbags in back with a tank or a compressor. Eventually, maybe a diverter/bellypan/diffuser so all the aerodynamic tricks are on the bottom where no-one will see them.

The tonneau is better than no tonneau. Then a half-tonneau is better and an aerocap is best...-ish. The provided example is a good one. In another thread, someone suggested a half-tonneau that flips from front to back and closes either. The back half closed is most efficient.