RaccoonJoe
10-07-06, 06:02 PM
I recently picked up a '96, with a 2.2L and 5sp manual. It's a great little truck for highway and distance driving. The mileage isn't all that bad compared to what i was pulling with my poor old Ranger, but it's not what I would expect from this new of a 4 cyl.
Here's what we've got: Over a distance of roughly 300 miles, mostly highway (40% freeway @70-75, 50% highway @ 55-60, 10% city), I'm averaging about 23-23.5 MPG. Now, I've got some friends with Sonomas and s-10's almost identical to mine, but they are pulling well over 26MPG, all city miles.
I bought the truck with 135K miles, and since that time, I've replaced the factory spark plugs and wires, done the oil changes and such, new alternator, and a high-flow K&N-style air filter. Fuel pump and filter have been changed, too.
I'm wondering.....If I put a heat shield around the air filter, will this help me out?? Also, is there some way that I can re-mount it (from the hole where the stock air box was) to get better airflow, but without the fear of sucking in water and hydrolocking the system??
For the racers and tuners here....does aerodynamics play much of a factor at highway speeds?? Due to a fender-bender before I bought the truck, I'm missing the air-dam that goes on the bottom of the front bumper, as well as a corner of the grille. Would it be worth my while to replace that?? I've also been told to drop the truck as far as possible. I was thinking something along the lines of 2" in the front, and 1" in the back. This is a daily driver, a work truck....so I can't have it too low to the ground. I'm not sure if this would be worth the time, or if it would actually have any effect on my MPG.
Sorry if I started to ramble on a bit there....been a long 48 hrs w/o sleep. =)
Thanks in advance for all the help!!
-------Key thing to remember here.....I'm just a poor college sucker...I can (and will) do the work myself...but I don't have a lot of cash to be throwing around.-------
--RaccoonJoe
Here's what we've got: Over a distance of roughly 300 miles, mostly highway (40% freeway @70-75, 50% highway @ 55-60, 10% city), I'm averaging about 23-23.5 MPG. Now, I've got some friends with Sonomas and s-10's almost identical to mine, but they are pulling well over 26MPG, all city miles.
I bought the truck with 135K miles, and since that time, I've replaced the factory spark plugs and wires, done the oil changes and such, new alternator, and a high-flow K&N-style air filter. Fuel pump and filter have been changed, too.
I'm wondering.....If I put a heat shield around the air filter, will this help me out?? Also, is there some way that I can re-mount it (from the hole where the stock air box was) to get better airflow, but without the fear of sucking in water and hydrolocking the system??
For the racers and tuners here....does aerodynamics play much of a factor at highway speeds?? Due to a fender-bender before I bought the truck, I'm missing the air-dam that goes on the bottom of the front bumper, as well as a corner of the grille. Would it be worth my while to replace that?? I've also been told to drop the truck as far as possible. I was thinking something along the lines of 2" in the front, and 1" in the back. This is a daily driver, a work truck....so I can't have it too low to the ground. I'm not sure if this would be worth the time, or if it would actually have any effect on my MPG.
Sorry if I started to ramble on a bit there....been a long 48 hrs w/o sleep. =)
Thanks in advance for all the help!!
-------Key thing to remember here.....I'm just a poor college sucker...I can (and will) do the work myself...but I don't have a lot of cash to be throwing around.-------
--RaccoonJoe