Fresh blood..

[Chris D.]

Hi everyone..

My name is Chris and live in Modesto CA

I've joined up after reading a few interesting articles of Phil Knox's exploits with both his CRX and his 1998 Toyota T-100 that hes Areomodded for mpg and would like to see what I can do to get the most miles per gallon out of my vehicle.

I have a 2002 Toyota Tacoma 4x2 extended cab..


I was commuting with my truck with about 95% of my 70 mile drive being highway and I was really watching my mpg and keeping track of it.
By doing so I was able to get a jump on maitnance things like spark plugs, air filter, ect..

I once took a trip from Modesto CA to Huntington Beach CA and averaged 28mpg and thats with the a/c going full time on an easy 95-100 degree day going though the grapevine and everything with an average speed of 78mph..

I've done a few things to get started by dropping some weight with the wheels and lowering it slightly.

Lightweight wheels:
16x7 Rota Slipstream wheels (13.9lbs each) compaired to the stock 15x6 steel wheels (25lbs each) These are inexpensive wheels that cost me about 450 out the door, a 15x7 version weighs in at 11.5 pounds.. www.18racing.com is who I dealed with..

I got my wheel weight information from www.wheelweights.net and when i got my wheels, I scaled them at exactly 13.9lbs..

Lowered suspension 2/3

Front:
Belltech 2 inch lowering springs with 1967-1969 Chevy Camaro spec shocks. The Camaro shocks have the perfect expanded and compressed measurments for my setup and they were inexpensive..

Rear:
leaf springs from a 4x4 2001-2004 Tacoma era with one leaf removed from the pack, no blocks...

I have a catback exhaust and I'm not sure if thats helped or hurt my main goal for more mpg.. But it sounds nice I'm fairly certain the nex exhaust system is much lighter than stock.. So the weight factor helps..

Any advise would be greatly accepted..
I'm all about the DIY projects and I have a home depot less than a block away..

[Daox]

Welcome to the site Chris D. Take a look around. There has been tons of threads and talk on truck aerodynamics recently.

[SVOboy]

Welcome to the site, you should definitely buy a
Scangauge first off!

[Chris D.]

Can you guys give me the most popular abbreviations of words on here?

I'm seeing alot and their over my head..
I recoignize SG, but there are all sorts of others that I'm missing out on..

[Daox]

I don't know if we have a list really. I'd just ask when you don't understand. We'll be more than willing to explain.

[LUVMY02CREW]

Originally Posted by Daox

Take a look around. There has been tons of threads and talk on truck aerodynamics recently.

Oh so true...For me it's cause I'm still stubborn enough to want to keep my truck and extract every mpg out of it I can till my wallet can't stand it any more.....or when the family has to start skipping meals so I can fuel up.

And yes, after dinner tonight I'm gonna properly intoduce myself too....kinda got the intro then post thing outta order.