Commercially produced aerodynamic pickup bed cap

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by cons

Thanks Phil, and what mods do you have on that? I wonder what else I should be doing.

cons,sorry for late response,just now catching your post.
On the Phoenix trip I had:
Moons
Full bellypan/rocker panel extensions/2.5-degree diffuser
Modified nose with jet turbine inlet and ogival piston valve grille block
Full hood blister
Front wheel arch gap-fillers
Aeroshell bedcover
Note: Boat tail is damaged,I didn't run with it,maybe lost 2-mpg accordingly.

[cons]

Hello Phil, after just reading ecomodder posts this morning, I was inspired to go see what the best score I could get was. Filled up the tank to the max, then drove 80 miles at 45(uphills)-70 (downhills)mph, though I had to slow down a dozen times for people pulling in front of me, etc. Refueled at the same pump, and got 46 mpg. If there were no traffic to disrupt my flow, I think I could have gotten another mpg or two. It'd be cool to get better HWY mpg than a prius. But my city mpg is half that.
I really dig your jet turbine inlet. Where'd you get something like that?
The moons are on the way, they sent the wrong size. I might tuck in the passenger side mirror too next run. Hopefully I'll get 50 mpg then if nobody cuts me off. I'm also wondering since my truck is tuned to sea level and I'm at 6,800 ft, if that's a reason I'm getting such good mileage. But I'll see in the fall when I move to MA.
Picasa Web Albums - Conor - Greenhouse

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by cons

Hello Phil, after just reading ecomodder posts this morning, I was inspired to go see what the best score I could get was. Filled up the tank to the max, then drove 80 miles at 45(uphills)-70 (downhills)mph, though I had to slow down a dozen times for people pulling in front of me, etc. Refueled at the same pump, and got 46 mpg. If there were no traffic to disrupt my flow, I think I could have gotten another mpg or two. It'd be cool to get better HWY mpg than a prius. But my city mpg is half that.
I really dig your jet turbine inlet. Where'd you get something like that?
The moons are on the way, they sent the wrong size. I might tuck in the passenger side mirror too next run. Hopefully I'll get 50 mpg then if nobody cuts me off. I'm also wondering since my truck is tuned to sea level and I'm at 6,800 ft, if that's a reason I'm getting such good mileage. But I'll see in the fall when I move to MA.
Picasa Web Albums - Conor - Greenhouse

Conor,was surfing net,got back to EcoModder and caught your post,so am playing tag.
At 46 mpg,you may already be ahead of some of the Prius.I know a few local owners and they report lower mpg than what the Ranger is doing.If we could get traffic congestion licked,you'd be getting city figures like the Prius.
The T-100 will 39-mpg at a constant 45-mph,it would do a bit better at 35-40 mph.The way traffic lights are,I'm looking at low 20s in town.That's not the way to get the U.S. off foreign oil.
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My 'turbine' inlet is a stainless steel trashcan lid from a unit sold years ago through SAM's CLUB.I had to do a lot of tracking and horse trading to get one.It's virtually identical to a jet inlet and has the least drag of any known orifice.That's why all the Big-Dogs use them.
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With respect to the new elevation,I suspect that the electronic fuel injection will fully compensate for it.Had you bought a 'high-altitude' version Ranger locally at your new digs,it might have had different gearing to help with the grades.My CRX which I bought in the Dallas/Ft.Worth area was actually a high-altitude variant,and it wasn't until years later that I found out about it,which explained the higher rpms in all gears,and lower than claimed mpg.
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There could be a number of factors working to deliver the numbers your coming up with.If you'll keep a good logbook you may see some sort of trend,or cause and effect emerge from the 'noise' of all the data.
The only thing I might caution you on with the short distance testing is that the slightest inaccuracy during filling can show a really wide discrepancy
in the results.
If you've packed the tank,and you can visually see the fuel standing motionless in the filler neck "before" and ditto upon completing the run,then that's about all you can do.
The other thing would be thermal expansion of the fuel,should the fuel be dispensed into a ambient temp environment higher than that of the storage tank it came from( sometimes above ground now ).If this were the case,a full tank of fuel which had gained in volume as you drove,upon refilling after testing,would reflect an otherwise higher mpg.

[cons]

Hey Phil, that's a hilarious "turbine" story! I agree with your analysis on the inaccuracies of filling up a small amount. So for the trip, I filled it up until it stopped, then topped it up both times. But I agree I don't know how precise that'll get me. Also your gas expansion is a good idea. It only had 1.5 hours to heat up though, and I only put in a few gallons in the first fill-up anyway, so the other 12 gallons were already warmed. On another fill-up, a one-gallon run, I got 53 mpg but I discounted that for these reasons. But after getting 46 on a 2 gallon, I thought there might be some truth to it after all. I'll just have to do a longer drive sometime. But 1,201 miles averaging 35.2 mpg is a solid count. My guess is if I did a full tank's drive, my mileage would increase because I only accelerate once, and the gas tank gets lighter as I go.

[Frank Lee]

See my Sport Coupe mileage? Yeah. Short fills and looking at one or two trips doesn't mean much of anything.

[Aphelion]

Just posting to say thank you to Bondo and everyone who's kept the "aerocap" concept alive here. I found this thread back when it started, looking for ways to improve my father's F-250 diesel pickup. I now own a 2006 Tacoma and am thinking of ways to improve it's lackluster 18 mpg (the F-250 gets that! ).

If I still had free time I would mock up some molds, but I just started medical school and I am barely managing to find time for the wife and dog anymore... hopefully I'll be able to buy an aerocap in 4 years after I graduate!

[fourfa]

I get 19-20 in my 2005 Tacoma (double cab/long bed) with 32"AT tires and quite a bit of extra weight. Nut adjustment alone should get you to 20.

[KamperBob]

Originally Posted by fourfa

I get 19-20 in my 2005 Tacoma (double cab/long bed) with 32"AT tires and quite a bit of extra weight. Nut adjustment alone should get you to 20.

Agreed. I can get 20+ highway from my 02 Tundra 4WD 4.7L with open box, and 22 with fiberglass tonneau. Nut adjustment really works!

Cheers
KB

[Aphelion]

I'm new so I searched the internet and the forums for the "nut mod." It only took me three threads to figure out that I'm the nut (or, until her Civic gets repaired, my wife is the nut). When her steering boot gets replaced, I'll find a nice wrench to see if I can't adjust the nut a bit tighter...

[LongRangeR]

I was quite thrilled today after stumbling upon the ecomodder site and this thread in particular. I just the other day had a thought of making one of these aerocaps as I know know them to be called. Long story short, I googled something along the lines of truck hatchback cap figuring that if I had the idea, others have too. All I can say is, I am impressed. I do however have one question, directed at Bondo. A while back I was watching an episode of mythbusters. They coated a ford Taurus in modeling clay, and cut dimples out of the clay making the vehicle resemble a golf ball. Now this clay coating added over 600 lbs to that ford Taurus, and increased its fuel efficiency by over 11 or 12 percent if my memory is correct. I was wondering if you had ever tried such a dimpled surface on one of your aerocaps, and if you had, did you see any further improvements? I've barely heard anything about that dimpling sense that episode of mythbusters and now I'm curious about it and if it'd further aid in reducing my donations to the fuel pump gods.

-Paul