My Beast (4x4 Suburban)

[Sporty Modder]

Originally Posted by MGB=MPG

it is well established that an airfoil shaped strut will have less drag than a round one .. one could fabricate trailing edges for those upper bars.. effect would minimal except for visual .. a little thought on the fabrication could shoot the air flow up towards the top of the windscreen ..idk if that is good thought for aero FE but keeping the bugs off the glass is worth it.

I was thinking more along the lines of making it a huge grill block, adding some clear poly in front of the lights and solid in front of the grill and bumper, continuing into a bellypan.

For the e fans I am thinking of finding a large ff gm or ford sedan maybe a caddy, early 90's or so.

[MGB=MPG]

stagger a couple 14"s on there.. .. my 91 ford has a clutch on the belt driven fan..
then my rad blew up the other day ...

kinda makes me wonder about grill blocking

[Sporty Modder]

Ouch!
I would say that is more of a problem with plastic end caps than grill blocking. As long as you have flow through the rad and working fan/s the heat should be controled. Plastic under years of heat cycling gets brittle and normal rad pressure can/will blow them out.

[Sporty Modder]

First mod...
Removed my roof rack.



The roof rack weighs 75-100 lbs.
I did leave the tabs. 90% of my commute is highway 15mi round trip.
I get paid tomorrow and will be filling her up to track mpgs.
And aired up to 45 psi.

[oil pan 4]

On a 6000lb surburban 100lb will reduce rolling resistance enought to get you 0.1mpg, then with the better aero get closer to a full 1mpg increase.

[Sporty Modder]

Thanks Oilpan, every little bit helps right. I remember reading, dont try to remove 100 lbs from one place, remove 1 lb from 100 places. I think that was from a drag racing mag but the concept is valid.
This sub is more worktruck than anything, man windows, locks, rubber floors, front and rear bench seats, no 3rd row, no rear heat or ac
My focus is not on weight reduction so much as the celica is. Aero will be the focus as it will be most effective. A bellypan too as I can actually climb under the rig without it on jackstands.

[oil pan 4]

That 3rd row is well over 100lb. My 3rd row seats are in nearly mint condition.
So is the 2nd row.
I pulled my second row seats because they were trashed and have a lot more room for hauling spare tires, tool boxes, bales or fiberglass and so on.

Another one you can do is a power steering delete, for me it should net about 0.9mpg at 65mph.
I cant do a power steering delete because I need hydraulic power for power braking. So I am clutching it.

These things need a lower hanging front bumper or air dam or chin spoiler or something because the front air flow on these trucks is messed up. They dont cool right in stock form.

[Varn]

Until you get the mechanical right I would not spend the time on putting aero stuff on it. Having a stumble means that you are wasting a lot of gas. Get it to run as well as it can first. Of course in this poor economy nothing wrong with doing totally free stuff like taking your roof rack off. Take out unused seats and other things that you don't need. I think you are on the right track by airing your tires.

If you haven't done it put on new spark plugs and plug wires. You might want to check out the engine compression. Seems like I remember that some of the older GM v8s had trouble with cam wear although I may be thinking older models.

Probably the biggest thing you can do would be to spend the money to get your other car rolling again and save this one for those times you really need it. Also walk or ride a bike more places. (I'm on a roll). Fuel consumption is more than fuel mileage. Just use it less if possible. Keep your speed down to 55. My Econoline gets its best economy at 52-53 mpg according to my ultragauge. The engine gets more efficient above that in top gear but the drag penalty goes up faster. It has a 5.4 v8 automatic. I have more important things than to try and make the Econoline, which is only driven fully loaded. into an economy car. It weighs about 4700 pounds stock empty. Guess I have the luxury of only using it to haul. If I am not hauling my loaded trailer I can get almost 19 mpg for the tank. Running the AC costs about 2 mpg the way I drive.

Good luck to you.

[Sporty Modder]

Thankyou for your intrest Oilpan& Varn
I have been chasing this misfire for 6 years now very frustrating to say the least. I have changed spark plugs put 8mm wires cap rotor replaced all vac lines pcv o2 sensorair filter exhaust ignition boxupgraded the oil pump and water pump dual batterys, trans cooler shift kit aloy wheels, and I am sure I am fogetting something. The engine feels very healthy when it is in closed loop mode (cold) once it warms up and goes into open loop it develops the misfire right off idle until I get some rpms, and only after sitting at a light for a while, then it clears up and runs great. Highway driving is fine as long as my speed or rpms are up(no tach) 65 or above in od and 45 and above in d.
Needless to say I am trying to improve what I have until I can get my Celica back on the road. I try to drive as little as possible, work is right on the edge of the city I work in and the only way into town is a 70 mph 2 lane highway with 2narrow bridges. I dont feel safe riding a bike into town. I typically do 65 & observe 14 highway mpg w the roof rack12 in town. The aero mess of the roof rack is off so I figure to pick up 1mpg or so or 7%, I also removed the rear mud flaps before my neighbor called asking for help.
Just filled up today 27.65 ga into my 42 ga tank hoping it lasts the 2 weeks to next payday.

[Sporty Modder]

The truck was very useful last winter when we got 20" of snow over three days, put her in 4 low and drove through itpushing snow with the front bumper. I have drove it 30k mi from the time I got it back in 06. When I first got it, it was getting 7 mpg, I fixed it by rebuilding the tbi and replacing the clogged cats. When rebuilding the tbi I found the intake manifold was cracked so that got replaced with a preformer manifold.

I don't meen to snap at anyone, sorry if I have offended or hurt anyones feelings.
I have had some rotten times recently, but it is getting better.

Btw I would much rather go 300 mi on 9 ga of gas than 500 on35 ga