Howdy Y'all

[Big Dave]

Greetings and salutations!

I have been lurking this site for a while, but thought I'd jump in.

I don't think I'll ever qualify as a hypermiler - you cannot stuff my porky bod into an Insight or Prius, and there are things I just can't/won't do - but I do probably qualify as a "Supermiler" or "sortagoodmiler."

Over the last few years I have modified my 2000 F-350 diesel to get 35% better MPG than stick while retaining the wide range of utility a pickup has to have. I the summer, I get in the high 26s and in the winter the low 24s (US MPG). Not bad for a 8,000 lb truck.

I like what you guys are doing and think a lot of people can benefit from doing some of it. America needs to give its auto-enthusiast community a chance to make a visible contribution.

[98CRV]

Those look like great numbers. You may be able to help some of the others here who are stuck with their pick-ups.

[Blake]

great numbers with such a big truck!! Don't sell yourself short when it comes to the label of hypermiler... its not about getting super high FE.. its about improving your vehicles FE over what the EPA says it should get on average. With the numbers your getting I'd say you more than qualify for the hypermiler title!

[Big Dave]

I think that while it is important that folks with hybrids lead the way, the real work of reducing national fuel consumption will come from improvements in other vehicles. Not that hybrids aren't A-OK, but it is just a matter of numbers. Pickups probably outnumber hybrid 1,000:1 if not more, so just a couple MPG improvement becomes huge over that volume.

I have been looking at the "boat-tail" Honda. If all goes well, by next spring I'll have a half-baked pickup version. I already run a "fastback" fairing and a close air dam. what I'm looking to do redesign the bed. It still has to be able to execute the classic pickup functions (haul 4x8s and tow a trailer) but i think I can make that happen. A one-ton pickup will preclude getting as radical as the "boat-tail" but what I envisage is something that approximates a 1964 Cobra daytona coupe. That was an aerdynamic classic. It was so slick that Daytonas powered by 289s could outrun Ferraris down the Mulsanne straight at LeMans. The much sexier looking GT-40 needed a 427 to whip the Prancing Horses.

What is tough about pickups is that there are million and one missions for these vehicles. Extreme performance (MPG is just another corner of the performnce envelope) requires compromises and some compromises will exclude some missions. I do what I can.

It is funny how much of what we do has all been done before.

[basjoos]

I've been talking with a guy at work who wants to aero mod his full-sized Chevy 4x4 pickup that he uses as a work truck for his floor tiling business. He just needs access to the back of he bed, so he is thinking of building a Phil Knox style bed cover sloping down from the top of the cab to the top of the tailgate. At the back end of the bed cover there will be a hinge that attaches to the top of the boattail. The boattail will cover the back of the tailgate and step bumper, and its underside will blend with the smooth underbody he is planning to install under the truck. To access the tailgate, the boattail will flip up on its hinge so it is sitting upside down on top of the bed cover. Most of his towing is with a flatbed trailer using a towing fixture that drops the tow ball below the level of the truck's Reese hitch. He thinks that the low towing position combined with the truck's high ground clearance will mean that his trailer will be sitting below the bottom taper of the boattail. The boattail will be easily removable for towing taller trailers. He will need to build taillights and a licence plate mount into the back of the boattail, which will be connected electrically via a trailer electrical plug. It will be interesting to see this project develop.

For my own F150 4x4 longbed farm truck, I have installed a grill block last spring and am planning to install a smooth underbody. I need access to the back and sides of the bed and carry tall loads such as round hay bales, so I can't install a bed cover. Will probably also install wheel well covers since the low-set wheels of a 4X4 truck barely occupy the wheel well. This truck is mostly used for short local trips and rarely gets over 55mph. It gets 20mpg in local driving. On the highway at 55 to 60mph it gets 23mpg in the winter and 26mpg in the summer.

[Big Dave]

I need to talk to you some, basjoos.