In the quest for MPG who has thought of...

[icanfixall]

Ever see the underside of a NASCAR race car.. Its really "clean" under there. Thats to cut down on wind resistance. Now talk about wind tunnel work.. Those teams spend many o hours in them getting the best they can. Anyone read much about the rules that Pentske broke.. Really nothing but.. What they did was drill out the holes the rear suspension u bolts fit thru in the trailing arms. You ask what does that do.. Well it allows the sku of the car to be more going down the track. You will very seldom actually see a front on viedo of the cars going down the straightaways. The front of the car is farther towards the left than the back of the car is. Sku is what its called. It creates more turn in the car and better down force too. NASCAR is trying to take out the sku.. Wonder why.. So what Pentse did was not tell NASCAR they drilled out the bolt holes. So it was not declared in the inspection.. Cheating.. Well its what all the teams do so is it cheating or just being competative...

 

[Brad S.]

Please don't take anything mythbusters does as science. Its just hollywood entertainment and their findings have been proven wrong.

Yep your right, and it is fun to watch them blow stuff up.
So your saying it's better with no tailgate or tailgate down.
Kinda what I always thought.

 

[NO_SPRK]

Mercedes w124 and w201 cars set a record for drag coefficient. On par with today's Prius. This is also because of the near full length belly pans the cars used to complete the aerodynamics.

Smaller mirrors, wings for tall trailers. Front spoilers. Wheel mass. Gearing. Not much else to do for a truck.

Real trucks don't use aluminum driveshafts. Soft ****. Touch it once and its bent

 

[Brad S.]

What about synthetic oil for the differentials and in the crankcase??
I know some here used synthetic oil in the crankcase, less internal drag, but oil usage might go up..??

 

[Hydro-idi]

I find it entertaining when people think their vehicle gets an amazing increase in mileage after switching to synthetic oils. Now don't get me wrong, I am all for synthetics, and I do see the benefit of using them, but mpg isn't drastically affected. I would love to use synthetic oil in my truck, but it is expensive for me, it burns a little oil (not much), and it's a diesel.......not a sports car that "needs" synthetic oil.

 

[FORDF250HDXLT]

Why do people who drive 3/4-1 ton diesel trucks always complain about mpg? not bashing the OP or anything or saying he is complaining. i just don't get it. you buy a big ass truck to get the job done and do work.

as a business owner you want two things.
1.as high a wage as the market can bare.
2.as low overhead as possible.

lets take my truck for example.i drive 20k miles per year.id like to own my truck for a total of 15 yrs.fuel is $4 a gallon.
lets say i get 14.32 mpg lifetime average (i do actually.143 fill ups.)
at this rate,it costs $5,583.00 per year in fuel alone.
what if i could get my FE up to 16 MPG (optimistic for a dually box truck yes, but it's just hypothetical,and perhaps not impossible.)
if fuel goes up as we know it will over the course of my remaining 12 year truck ownership (again,perhaps a bit optimistic again sure,as it's already 20 yrs old.but she is dang near restored now and just barely at the 100k mile mark on whats never been replaced yet,so not impossible by any means either)
then one could say it's not impossible to bank well over 10 grand in fuel savings.i dunno about you,but that 10 grand in the bank towards retirement rather than needlessly burnt out the tail pipe is enough to make you think or at least hope for better fuel economy.
the main reason why we are all concerned is because life is expensive enough.with these $4 a gallon fuel prices it's outright murder brother.

 

[gatorman21218]

Why do people who drive 3/4-1 ton diesel trucks always complain about mpg? not bashing the OP or anything or saying he is complaining. i just don't get it. you buy a big ass truck to get the job done and do work. now say your towing a 5'er camper to a campsite. now yeah, i would wan't to get "decent" mpg, but if your camping budget is so tight that you are doing anything and everything to gain every ounce of mpg you can to save money, then how can you afford to go camping or even drive the big truck in the first place?


like i said, not directing this at anybody in this thread. it is just something that i notice when reading through the diesel forums.

thats really funny you say that. its absolutely true too. Along the same lines as when I went to the Annapolis boat show a few years ago and the number 1 selling item was fuel consumpion. Because if I had 500,000 dollars to spend on a new boat, I wouldnt want to burn 20 gallons an hour. thats too expensive.

 

[fordf350man]

when i was in college i would drive 2 hours every weekend one way, i did my own fuel mileage experiments, with the tailgate up or down i noticed no difference in fuel mileage, when i put my tonnoue cover on i seen a big difference in fuel mileage, also on the trip south would be 112 miles to my college and on the trip north would be 115 back home, i also found out how to shave about 2 to 3 miles in my trip, every turn i went to the inside lane, the inside lane is a shorter distance and thus making the trip shorter, i didn't think it would make a 3 mile difference but it did, also i would do the speed limit and then 5 over and 10 over, doing 10 over only saved me 20 minutes in the trip and burnt up much more fuel, same with 5 over, only saved me a small amount of time but cost me more in fuel, my advice is keep up on maintenance and drive accordingly,

 

[Knuckledragger]

These trucks have so many things going against them for mileage efficiency, the driveshaft is about the last place to spend time/money/energy looking for better MPG. X2 on the tonneau cover. I installed one a couple months ago and found that not only do I get better mileage, but the road noise has been cut down too. Keep tires inflated correctly, that will help a lot. A belly pan or diverter will help some, but that is going back to the basic question of need versus cost. Unless the truck spends a lot of time at highway speeds, you will not need those features so much.

Synthetic oil has no magic properties, but it does keep seals in better shape longer than natural oil because it is formulated not to attack the rubber.

The single easiest way to get better mileage is to slow down. 5 MPH slower on the highway will result in much better mileage. The slant noses will get pretty good mileage if driven under 55 MPH on the open road, but who does that? Also, starting up from a stop as if you have an egg under your foot (very slowly) will help with mileage. The major improvements on MPG are a result of changing driver habits, not equipment changes.

 

[KyleQ]

I wonder if a ghetto tonneau cover out of painted plywood would be worth it - keeps the turbulence down at a low cost...

 

[FordGuy100]

Mercedes w124 and w201 cars set a record for drag coefficient. On par with today's Prius. This is also because of the near full length belly pans the cars used to complete the aerodynamics.

Smaller mirrors, wings for tall trailers. Front spoilers. Wheel mass. Gearing. Not much else to do for a truck.

Real trucks don't use aluminum driveshafts. Soft ****. Touch it once and its bent

That is a big part of it, no doubt! I think I read somewhere that Mazda's Mazda3 has beaten out the Prius nowadays.

 

[idiabuse]

great read so far, alot of people call BS on MPG gains but just about all new vehicles for the last 10/15 years all come with Alum/Carbon Fibre driveshaft's
I say MPG for certain based on just that alone.
As some of you know I have a 1969 Ranchero I used to flog at the race track and back when I built it I bought a new steel drive shaft.
Well after some time and looking at junkyards full of Alum DS I decided to try one out.
A Crown Vic Police car DS was a direct replacement for my car.
After the install I noticed it immediately when dropping the clutch.
At the track it picked up in the 60ft by 1 tenth of a second and .5 mph overall average
Never realized a MPG improvement other than the vehicle got 20mpg and put down 370hp to the wheels.

So I was just wondering if anyone had the same experience.
I will be hunting the junkyards for a shaft.
Another thought, I know some trucks have a super long one piece DS in a large diameter alum unit instead of a 2 piece.
Since I have a Gear Vendors I may be able to switch from a 2 piece to a single unit shaft.
This will absorb vibrations better than steel and will have less ujoints to fail.

Just a thought guys...


Javier

 

[Knuckledragger]

Going from two to one piece will help MPG a little, it takes HP to drive an extra u joint.

 

[Brad S.]

Does anyone know if a topper has the same effect as a tonneau cover???

 

[pr0craztinazn]

Does anyone know if a topper has the same effect as a tonneau cover???

Keep in mind that a topper will add much more weight than a tonneau cover will (even the aluminum ones I've seen weights for are around 80lbs at best), so your fuel savings would likely end up at a draw.

Manufacturers of newer trucks have been using front air dams, aluminum drive shafts, light weight wheels, and weight reduction to improve MPG numbers. I'm not sure I could justify anything more expensive than a front air dam that would yield a noticeable increase in fuel economy.