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i`m looking into find ways to maintain or increase hp and torque while increasing my gas mileage...
obviously not going to be entirely possible, but to my knowledge if i can use the same amount of gas more efficiently then... there we go. ?
my first thoughts are, drain the differential and replace existing lubricant oil with synthetics... (not to mention a new gasket while i`m down there)
next up i found a custom shop that does full exhaust systems here in santa rosa, thinking about stainless steel headers and all the way back, i do have a bad exhaust manifold gasket on the passenger side so that will be nice to have fixed while upgrading exhaust system.
i was going to turbo, but am being told now that i would have to change ALOT cause of a high compression engine...
i don`t need to "increase" hp or torque i "want" to increase gas mileage, i undertsand it will never be great but to get it as good as i can is my goal.
any suggestions? thanks for your time -Dave
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Synthetics aren't going to produce a lot of extra MPG, but they're good, long lasting protection that's generally more cost effective than standard lubricants. You may see 1/2 to 1 MPG using all synthetics,though. Its nice when you don't have to crawl under her every 3K for an oil change, which is why I switched.
That "5-6 MPG all synthetic lube mileage improvement" must be for the smallest cars on the planet,though, because I haven't seen near that in my 2500.
How's your granny-low in your tranny? Depending on how much low-end you're willing to give up, and how much highway driving you do, you might(or not) want to consider a gear change. Those high-ratio gears which give you all the power in the low end are gonna kill you for highway MPG. When I did my gear change I doubled my city mileage, and tacked 3MPG onto my highway MPG. I'm sure the lower revs are better for the engine, too.
i thought wider tires save more gas? in some weird scientific way, with a wider tire your covering more ground thus saving gas. or was that just a theory?
Synthetics aren't going to produce a lot of extra MPG, but they're good, long lasting protection that's generally more cost effective than standard lubricants. You may see 1/2 to 1 MPG using all synthetics,though. Its nice when you don't have to crawl under her every 3K for an oil change, which is why I switched.
That "5-6 MPG all synthetic lube mileage improvement" must be for the smallest cars on the planet,though, because I haven't seen near that in my 2500.
How's your granny-low in your tranny? Depending on how much low-end you're willing to give up, and how much highway driving you do, you might(or not) want to consider a gear change. Those high-ratio gears which give you all the power in the low end are gonna kill you for highway MPG. When I did my gear change I doubled my city mileage, and tacked 3MPG onto my highway MPG. I'm sure the lower revs are better for the engine, too.
Narrower tires save gas,too.
ya i don`t really see switching to synthetics in my diferentials as giving me an extra 5 - 6 mpg i was basically hoping for 1 maybe 2.
your very right with the gearing, the problem is i wanna keep the truck "close" to the purpose it was built for (23 years ago) which was towing.
like i said, i know i`m not going to get leaps and bounds better but if i can save a few mpg i`ll be happy.
exhaust manifold bad gasket that would contribute to loss of mpg i would think?
I think you'll be happy with synthetics because of the extra work they save you. The increase of mileage will just be icing on the cake.
You wouldn't want to change your gearing unless you do a lot of highway miles.
As to tires, first of all, larger tires have their place, and they're a great improvement, especially off road. But you get this improvement at the cost of increased drag, increased load on the braking system, increased load on the drivetrain, and subsequently worse MPG.
I was thrilled when I went to my larger truck with it's bigger wheels. It handles the road better, it's smoother, and they handle obstacles better. But since I don't face many off-road pulling or towing challenges, I opted to keep the factory size tires for optimal MPG.
A bad exhaust leak could lead to backfiring, which will eventually tear up your cam and valvetrain; look into headers, they'll sponge heat off that 454 the way cast manifolds never could.
gas/power/efficiency
