Hello from WA trying to put lipstick on a pig (pickups)
 

I've been browsing the forum extensively the last few days and trying to take it all in. A lot of the mods talked about here are a little too extreme for my personal taste but there is plenty of low hanging fruit to be had as well.

I'm starting with a pair of bricks. I've always preferred pickups and am willing to pay the economic penalty for driving them but that doesn't mean I can't extract a little more efficiency.

Truck #1 is a 90 F250 4x4 7.3L diesel, 5spd, 4.10 rear. It's big, it's boxy, it's over geared - it's a lost cause. Currently getting about 17mpg highway at 60 mph with a typical canopy on it (and an external sun visor, which I just deleted today). I don't drive it much, it's usually only for hauling and towing. I will however be making a 800 mile trip later this month so I might as well put an air dam on and block the grill for that trip and see if that helps. If I could eek out 20 mpg on my trip I'd be thrilled.

Truck #2 is where I want to see major gains. It will be my daily driver when finished. It's a 98 F150 4x2 5spd, 3.08 rear. I'm about halfway through the conversion to a 3.9L Isuzu turbodiesel. I've lowered it 2" already and am looking for about 2" more. It has a tonneau cover now and I'd like to build an aerocap later. I'd like to consistently average 30 mpg with this truck when it's finished.

This site is a great resource and I'm glad I found it.

Here's a thread about a similar F250: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...250-16798.html He drives 50 to 55 MPH to get those mileage numbers.

And we want to know more about that Isuzu diesel conversion.

Thanks. I have a build thread going at 4btswaps but I could put one up here once it's done. I just don't like updating it on every forum I'm a member of lol!

I think a link and a pic or two would be fine.

I've pondered doing a similar swap in a classic car for my next daily driver.

Oh, and I tried applying lipstick to a pig too (just w/o the diesel swap) and gave in and bought a Civic instead. Link to my Silverado mods in my signature.

I've tried switching to a car on a couple occasions but the lack of cargo capacity keeps turning me back to my trucks. I ride my motorcycle when feasible but it's seems I'm always having to haul something around.

There's a lot of great diesels available for a classic car conversion but plenty of pros and cons for each. I think the Isuzu is the finest motor available in the 4.0L range (better in many ways than the 4BT) and is perfect for a half ton truck but is pushing it for a car. It's about 750lbs with all accessories.

Well that was a disappointing first crack at ecomodding. I did a full grill block and deleted the sun visor. No measurable change. I got a consistent 17mpg over 3 fillups. No change in driving style. I did succeed in overheating climbing a mountain pass on the second tank so I had to cut holes for air but the grill block didn't help anyway.

I could never detect an fe change from grille blocking either but the faster warm-up is nice.

Hey hello there, I used to lurk around at 4btswaps years ago, hadn't been there in a while. Is the Isuzu much lighter than the 4bt? I know the 4bt was very heavy, don't remember anymore.

You should look up aerohead on this site. He has done some wild and crazy mods on truck to improve economy and he may have a few good ideas you can use.

ShadeTreeMech, the Isuzu is very close to the same weight as the 4BT, 50lb lighter at the most but probably more like 20lb.