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Old 08-03-2014, 12:53 AM   #1 (permalink)
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Greetings from new member ijames

Hi everyone, just found this site a week ago, started reading way too many hours a day, signed up, and wanted to give a quick intro. As far as vehicles go, I'm a drag racer at heart, with an 86 Buick T-Type turbo 3.8L V6. Best time on 93 octane so far is 11.87 at 114 mph in everyday street trim, but that was an exceptional day and 12.1's are more typical. My other vehicle is a 2005 GMC Sierra 2500HD Duramax diesel automatic extended cab short bed (6.5'), 2WD, open bed. That's the one I'd like to make some improvements on. My overall average for 95,000 miles logged is 18 mpg, driving maybe 75-100 highway miles per 300-350 mile tank of fuel with the rest the usual red-lite to red-lite crawl. I do make 2-4 800-2500 mile trips a year, so that helps the average a good bit. On the highway I have gotten 24 mph twice, running 55 mph and using the truck lanes on the mountain uphills at 45 mph. Above that the mileage falls about 2 mpg per 5 mph, so maybe 22 mph at 60, 20 mpg at 65, 18 mpg at 70, 16 mpg at 75. The usual when you are essentially pushing a sheet of plywood through the air :-). I try to run 62-65 mph unless I need to get somewhere in a hurry. I've been wanting to get a bumper sticker printed up that says "I buy the fuel - I set the pace", for all those people that like to tailgate me in the right lane of a four late interstate. Nothing that hasn't been said here many times :-). At least with a 3/4 ton pickup truck I don't have to worry about people not seeing me or trying to push me off the road. Well, now I hope to improve that somewhat. First step is a 40% tonneau cover that I threw together and installed today. While I log a few tanks I'm going to research lowering the truck maybe an inch in front and 2-3 inches in back. Right now it sits with a pronounced rake, about 1-2 inches higher in the back, so I want to level it and lower it some. I use a grill cover in the winter, which seems to help get it warmed up sooner, but I have never been able to document any difference in mileage with it on. I know lots of guys fab their own, but this is a flexible quilted cover that attaches with about 10 snaps that glue to the grill so it is easy to put on and take off. It also came with a screen cover for bugs, but I don't bother with that in the summer. It has two flaps that you can open, and with them open I can leave it on even in the summer, but as I said, I never could tell any difference. Anyway, pretty nice for about $100, nicer than I can fab. I'm hoping between lowering and the cover I can add 2-4 mpg at 75 mph for when I need to hurry, and maybe 1-2 at 62 when I'm trying to be frugal. After that, we'll see - of course I have fantasies and mental designs for a full aero cover floating around already.

Backround-wise, I'm an analytical chemist whose specialty is instrumentation to analyze stuff, and my real specialty is mass spectrometry. Think of the machines you see on CSI or NCIS, where they go back to lab and put a drop of sample into a little glass vial and drop that into a machine, and in a few seconds they have the "answer" rolling off the printer. Well, they really aren't that fast but it makes good TV. I've done a lot of different stuff with lasers, ultra high vacuum systems, superconducting magnets, ion optics, analog and digital electronics, computer interfacing and programming, and even built a laser and a couple of mass spectrometers from scratch. I kind of got out of that and spent the last while doing project management at a small company that makes lab equipment for biology labs. Some engineering, development, purchasing, qc testing, the usual several hats everyone wears at a small company. Hardly any chemistry but I did improve my mechanical engineering and 2D Autocad drafting skills a good bit, and I got to play in the machine shop and weld shop when I wanted to. Now I'm trying to get back into chemistry research, so we'll see how that goes.

Well, time to go back to working my way through that massive "you might be an ecomodder if ..." thread. Thanks for the great site.

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Old 08-03-2014, 07:27 AM   #2 (permalink)
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Welcome James.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ijames View Post
First step is a 40% tonneau cover that I threw together and installed today.
Good start.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ijames View Post
While I log a few tanks I'm going to research lowering the truck maybe an inch in front and 2-3 inches in back. Right now it sits with a pronounced rake, about 1-2 inches higher in the back, so I want to level it and lower it some.
There has been some discussion that the rake may be beneficial keeping the rear of the vehicle closer to the template. Don't believe there was any mention of pickups but with the 40% tonneau rake might be good. Lowering can also increase mileage. So you you may want to test the different configurations.

While your truck isn't old you may want to compare it a newer model and see if there are any ideas worth stealing.


Quote:
Originally Posted by ijames View Post
I'm hoping between lowering and the cover I can add 2-4 mpg at 75 mph for when I need to hurry, and maybe 1-2 at 62 when I'm trying to be frugal.
Not going to happen that way. Your own numbers show a 6 mpg fall off from 60 to 75 mph. Even with mods you will see less of a increase a higher speeds.


Quote:
Originally Posted by ijames View Post
After that, we'll see - of course I have fantasies and mental designs for a full aero cover floating around already.
Guys having done this report good results.


If you haven seen this a great place to start. Driving style changes are free and have the highest payback short of changing vehicles.

100+ Hypermiling / ecodriving tips & tactics for better mpg - EcoModder.com
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Old 08-03-2014, 12:50 PM   #3 (permalink)
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Hi Emo, thanks for the comments. I've thought about lowering the truck some for as long as I've owned it, just to make it easier to get in and out. I'm 5'9" and it is just high enough that I cannot step directly into the truck, I have to use the step rail to get in and usually to get out as well. Mine is 2WD and has the rake, the 4WD's of the same generation are the same height in the back and enough higher in the front to be level. I'm "assuming" that given how much ground clearance there is, a little lowering has to be good simply from cutting the frontal area, but it will all be bolt on and reversible if need be. I guess I'm thinking that the faster you go the more important aero is and the greater the percentage gain from a mod. Then you multiply that bigger gain times a smaller initial mpg and you may or may not get a bigger actual mpg change, but of course I'm hoping for the best. If you gain 2% at 60 mph and start at 22 mpg the gain is 0.4 mpg, and if you gain 6% at 75 and start at 16 mpg the gain is 0.96 mpg. Ok, 2-4 was wildly optimistic; it was way past my bedtime :-). I will definitely be reading that thread, it's just that there is so much good stuff I haven't gotten there yet.

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