QUOTE(no0b123 @ Sep 26 2007, 12:56 AM)
How did you get over 300HP? I want like 350-400HP. Whats the easiest way of achieving this?
First: Throw out what you think you know about horsepower... HP is generally a marketing piece, what you should really interested in is Torque... and at what RPM...
Second: if you want to put up 300-400 HP (or comperable torque numbers) you either need to
A: put a bigger motor in there
or
B: throw a turbo or super charger on there
+whatever other modification need to be performed to accommodate those things.
either way you'd be looking at about a $5K+ investment and a lot of work... make it $10K+ if you're not doing any of the work yourself.
either way more power almost always = lower gas mileage... you can't have your cake and eat it too...
Something like an exhaust has the potential to give you a small HP boost and a small MPG boost, but you wont be adding triple digit power to your vehicle with simple crap like exhausts and intakes.
QUOTE(no0b123 @ Sep 26 2007, 12:56 AM)
I feel like something is robbing my trucks gas mileage. When I reach top speed of 95mph, I can actually watch the fuel meter drop down by a millimeter every second! I know trucks are bad on gas (15 mpg for me) but DANG! Anything to improve this, I fully understand how to burn gas quick, but how can I improve fuel efficiency with my lead-foot driving?
What's robbing your truck of gas mileage is the fact that you're driving a truck...
it weights 4600lbs... thats almost 2 and a half TONS by comparison most cars weigh about 3000lbs
secondly since it's built for hauling crap it's got heavy duty transmission, drive shafts, diffs, axels and large tires... a general rule of thumb is every 10lb of rotating mass that the engine has the adverse effects of being as if you added another 100lbs to the weight of the vehicle. you figure an econemy car is front wheel drive, so it has no drive shafts, the diff is built into the transmission, the gears are smaller and lighter because they don't have to pull nearly as much weight, and the axles are maybe 1" in diameter... you truck by comparison has gears that are twice as heavy, a transfer case going into two large heavy drive shafts, going into two large heavy differentials going into 4 large and heavy axles and pushing large and heavy wheels and tires. The drive train alone probably adds another theoretical 1000lbs to your weight AT LEAST.
To make up for all this weight it's geared lower so that the motor can still pull it, and that means your revs are higher and you're sucking down more gas.
aerodynamically you're driving a brick and all that wind resistance is slowing you down and sucking down more gass... ever wonder why those hybrid cars are so damn ugly? it's because they're designed to reduce wind resistance as opposed to looking good. adding a spoiler to a car can swing gas mileage as much as 3mpg... imagine what changing the whole body shape can do.
If you've got an auto transmission they're usually a little worse on gas than a stick shift too as they're usually heavier and they don't make a solid connection so there is always some amount of power loss.
If you're worried about fuel economy you should have thought of that before you bought the truck...
Some tips:
1. ensure you've got the right tire pressure all the way around, if you live in an area with a frequently changing climate it might be best to invest getting your tires filled with nitrogen as the pressure wont change with the temperature (I run it here in NH because it's 70s to 90s in the summer and -10s to 30s in the winter.
2. make sure your engine is clean and running well, make sure the air filter is clean (if you run a K&N you should "recharge" it every 6 months) make sure the oil is clean, and the spark plugs are clean.
3. make sure your suspension is in good working order. Misalignment can cost you mileage, as can unbalanced wheels, as can dragging brakes, as can worn tires... keeping your vehicle maintained means it will get the best mileage possible.
4. run better fuel... not all fuel is created equal often times the cheaper fuel is cheaper for a reason... personally I've found that Shell Gas gives me an average of +3.5mpg over other brands, fill up at different stations and compare mileage... despite the fact that the Shell gass was 5cents more expensive then the Hess station next door I actually got more money's worth out of the Shell because of the better mileage. YMMV... literally.
5. invest in a toneau cover for your bed, no only will it look nice and keep the bed clean but that giant wind sail attached the back of your truck wont suck down your mileage.
In generally though you're driving a hippo... you wont be turning it into a svelt greyhound anytime soon... if that's what you wanted then you should have done more research before buying your vehicle.
This post has been edited by twistedsymphony: Sep 26 2007, 03:47 PM
First Truck, 06' Silverado
Sep 26 2007, 08:50 AM
Looks like no more upgrades. Thanks for answering my questions though, you can close this thread if you wish.