So as some of you may have saw my thread in GD, I'm going to transfer colleges next year and drive commute down there. I'm hoping to get my schedule set up to where I only have to commute 2 or 3 days. Anyway I've decided to keep ol red and hope to not take too big of a hit in paying for gas. So I was wondering whats some things (engine wise) that I could do to improve the MPG without giving up any HP and possibly gaining HP. I have a K&N CAI with Gryphon canned tunes. Other than that the motor is bone stock. I have been wanting to add some get up and go, since these 35's bog the truck down if you don't get into the throttle early and keep the RPM's up.

I was thinking/wanting to add a supercharger at some point to this truck if I was going to keep it, which I have decide to do. Whipple Supercharger + a aftermarket cam and long tube headers. What should expect out of the obvious HP gains? Should I except my MPG to go up as well as long as i'm not hot rodding? Or will the extra HP actually suck the MPG down?

Whats the best viable option without taking the 35's off. Because quite frankly I'm wanting to but tires anytime soon since the tires are wearing suprisingly good for mud-tires. BTW I have the 5.4 with 3.73 gears. Oh and if I decide to do what I meantioned above, I'd deffinately but an engine rebuild kit since I have 130,000 miles on the motor. The tranny still shifts good. I suspect that it would have to be rebuilt too at some point or another if you add that much extra HP. Money really isn't an issue, not wanting to get crazy but stay around the 6-7k mark at tops. And If adding a supercharger isn't nessecary then I'd only like to spend 2-3k. Thanks for any input.

Oh Btw here's ol' red

 

Nice looking truck Dude love the paint scheme. Yes you will see better MPG but only to a certin point. Ive had 2 diffrent blowers now and one i never installed. Now heres the catch with my old powerdyne set up I could get close to 30mpg at 65mph with a big blower pulley 2.72 and only saw 6psi=( now even when i keep my foot out of it with my 2.25 pulley i saw about 19 to 22 mpg not geting on it at all? Of course theres a lot of other factors in the whole blower set up like supporting mods. Headers,biger fuel pump, zero cats and a good cat back system,bigger FI's,bigger throttle body,air to air after cooler,water/meth, and so on. Oh and yes a bad *** tune before you every thing of driving the truck. Im sure you know the tires are going to bring your MPG down big time. for 7K you should be able to do every thing plus some if you budget it right and do all the work your self!!!

 

Check my old post!

Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: SoCal & Lake Havasu, AZ
Vehicle: 2001 Blown SCrew
Posts: 593

You guys won't believe this! I did the math!
When I got my truck, I was getting 14mpg. Then I added a tornado which promised a 10% increase. Then a Gibson exhaust that promised 8%. Then a new MAF good for 10%. Then my tonneau should give me 5% increase. The chip promised me 6%(when driving helium footed) Then the E-Fans were good for 10%. Increased the tire pressure for 3%. The TB spacer claimed 7%. K&N FIPK was good for another 8%. Now, do the math!
14x1.1=15.4
15.4x1.08=16.632
16.632X1.1=18.2952
18.2952x1.05=19.20996
19.20996x1.06=20.3625576
20.3625576x1.1=22.39881336
22.39881336x1.03=23.0707777608
23.0707777608x1.07=24.685732204056
24.685732204056x1.08=26.66059078038048
26.7mpg rounded off!
I'm getting 26.7! And I didn't count the supercharger which they say can help mileage when towing.

I keed, I keed!

 

whats your gas mileage now?

i get 13 with my setup

 

Well if your talking on the highway, Lets put it this way I drove down to my hometown to meet up with my family for thanksgiving and thats a half hour away so 30 miles down, 30 miles back. So in a 60 mile round trip I got 12.8 MPG, thats with it spittin a little bit of rain, heavy winds and driving at 60MPH. In town I average 10-11 mpg. I'd like to boost it up to at least 15-16 mpg on the highway.

 

Good one deparado!

A 5.4 gets about 15 stock street maybe 17 freeway. A tune can go 1-2 mpg better. With eaton and good tune you'll be back to 15/17. Guys claiming 20 with a 5.4 must drive downhill a lot!!!!

 

I get about 14&1/2 MPG on the highway traveling at 70 MPH with 4.10 gears.
I average 5 MPG in town!

Phil

 

hahaha yeah,,,that's SPG (smiles per gallon)

Phil

 

Last time I did the calculations, I got 18.94 mpg on my way to charlotte. I used 18.75 gallons over 355.18 miles. I was going 70 mph the whole way.

Edit: That was the with the 3.55 gears though

 

95 f150-well it you loose those big wheels and tires, you could probably get back another 2-3mpgs. also many tuners offer custom mileage tunes. another thing if want mpgs from a boosted app., than go with a centrifugal supercharger or turbocharger, since the boost doesn't come into play in the lower RPMs as it does with a positive displacement.