What worked for me.

[ex-x-fire]

The vehicle that I drive every day to work is not the greatested one to get good mpg. I need a truck, so I found a 92 S-10. It's a standard cab short box, it has the 4.3L V-6, 4spd auto tranny, 3.08 axle ratio. It has working a/c & cruise, thats about it as far as options.
It averaged about 24mpg on mostly hi-way commutting. I know these engines are very knock sensitive(pinging) so I run 91 octane all the time. Ok so I did a tune-up & advanced the ignition timing from 0* to 12*, which helps w/ making more manifold vacuum but requires premuim gas. Mileage improved to nearly 26mpg. I know this is a fairly big engine in a light mini truck, so I invested in a Gear Vendor add on overdrive, this combined w/ the th700r4 overdrive gives me nearly 50% overdive. The lowest speed I can go is 52mph at 1100 rpms, & it runs fine at that speed, at 30mpg.
The waterpump went out so I changed it from the oem iron one to a aluiminum hi-flow pump, went from a 192* to a 205* thermostat, which helps out over all mpg. The problem is the long warm-up time hurts my mpg. I did a full heater core by-pass during the summer months which helped but was impractical to do every year. I installed a 1500 watt block heater that works good. On large vechicles the warm-up really impacts mpg.
I average about 32mpg on my summer commute, taking the secondary hi-way at 55mph. Its down to 29mpg in the winter. You know a crazy idea I have been thinking about is if this truck body gets too rusty I could stip it down to the frame & see if I could put a 2nd get camaro fiberglass body on it, they have the same wheel base.

[thatguitarguy]

Sounds like you've done pretty well for truck mileage, but I'm wondering, if you need a truck what good would a Camaro body be?

[ex-x-fire]

That just a crazy idea I have, those fiberglass camaro bodies are expensive, but they do look light & slippery.

[thatguitarguy]

They do look cool. Maybe drop one on a Metro chassis, and keep the truck as a truck?

[Allch Chcar]

Originally Posted by thatguitarguy

They do look cool. Maybe drop one on a Metro chassis, and keep the truck as a truck?

If his truck sits on the same wheelbase as the Camaro it won't work on a Metro.

The S10 frame is a good start for a kitcar.
But 30MPG at 1100RPM dang. That Vortec has some torque .

[bondvagabond]

Originally Posted by ex-x-fire

The vehicle that I drive every day to work is not the greatested one to get good mpg. I need a truck, so I found a 92 S-10. It's a standard cab short box, it has the 4.3L V-6, 4spd auto tranny, 3.08 axle ratio. It has working a/c & cruise, thats about it as far as options.
It averaged about 24mpg on mostly hi-way commutting. I know these engines are very knock sensitive(pinging) so I run 91 octane all the time. Ok so I did a tune-up & advanced the ignition timing from 0* to 12*, which helps w/ making more manifold vacuum but requires premuim gas. Mileage improved to nearly 26mpg. I know this is a fairly big engine in a light mini truck, so I invested in a Gear Vendor add on overdrive, this combined w/ the th700r4 overdrive gives me nearly 50% overdive. The lowest speed I can go is 52mph at 1100 rpms, & it runs fine at that speed, at 30mpg.
The waterpump went out so I changed it from the oem iron one to a aluiminum hi-flow pump, went from a 192* to a 205* thermostat, which helps out over all mpg. The problem is the long warm-up time hurts my mpg. I did a full heater core by-pass during the summer months which helped but was impractical to do every year. I installed a 1500 watt block heater that works good. On large vechicles the warm-up really impacts mpg.
I average about 32mpg on my summer commute, taking the secondary hi-way at 55mph. Its down to 29mpg in the winter. You know a crazy idea I have been thinking about is if this truck body gets too rusty I could stip it down to the frame & see if I could put a 2nd get camaro fiberglass body on it, they have the same wheel base.

So did you calculate the break even millage of buying that gear vendors unit? they are spensive! I calculated mine with my yearly fuel consumption and it was like 18 years to break even, of course that dose not take into account how super expensive gas will be in 18years, or the environmental pluses of using less gas. Cheers

[MadisonMPG]

I agree with thatguitarguy. What good is a Camaro good for if you need a truck?

[ex-x-fire]

I think I have about $2500 wrapped up in the GV unit & new driveshaft, I did the install myself. The beauty of it is you can fit it to most rwd trannys, so its something you can swap to another car or truck.
The body & bed are getting rusty, so I'd just get another truck & build the fiberglass camaro on my s-10 frame, but like I said its just a crazy idea I've had. Too many projects.