Thanks for that.

I am that hypothetical F150 owner and these are the exact mods I'm looking at. I have the Edge tuner ordered and I'm looking at an Outlaw intake and some E-Fans. I'm not sure about the exhaust yet, that's the expensive one and I'm not sure it really makes that big a diff, although I haven't really researched it too much yet.

Anyway, this helps me to feel better about the intitial cash outlay.

 

There is no guarantee whatsoever that $2000 worth of mods will get you an extra 2 mpg, much less 4 mpg. There's a post around here somewhere where someone put an exhaust on and LOST 1 mpg.

 

I have to laugh when I see people consider spending hundreds or thousands of dollars to gain 2-4mpg. When we then see someone post the amount of time it would take to just break even, we can really see it's not worth the money. However, I can certainlly see why people spend the money to get slightly better response. While I don't know that it's worth it, at least I can see the point.

 

Once again, isn't it great how excited we truck owners can get about a 1 mpg gain. I love it, to h3!! with economy

 

Ya know, when I bought my new model T, I bitched about Ford's new 21" tires and how poor the car rode, not take turns so fast, the need to hand crank, low engine compression, poor fuel octane, poor ignition system etc. so I just changed all that stuff with parts that cost more than the car did new!

Get over this need to keep looking for mileage and power that is to expenive to keep trying to get for the return. None of the other makes do very much better. You can't beat the cost the way the mfger spreds them over the number of vehichles sold and still end up with a net gain over investment.
The smallest V8 is only 281 cu/in. smaller than in 1968 and your pulling around well over 5000 pounds. What would you expect to burn for fuel amounts? It still take a certain min amount to move the weight. You CAN'T get around it.
A small motor takes a larger throttle opeing to pass air to make enough power, a larger engine still takes a min amount of throttle opeing to make enough power. It works out about the same.
The young and foolish thinking, will always disagree, until reality is caught with.
These are the people that keep the vendors in bussiness.
Air intakes, filters, oils, fans, lift kits, tires, bead covers, exhaust and the list goes on.
I hope these same people would not expect even an empty dump truck to get 16 mpg. It's no different.
If you never changed anything on your trucks but the oil and OEM airfilter, it will run just as far and long as with any changes you make.
The thing is you just have to admitt it to yourselves or do your thing and stop bitchin about it and trying to convince other they have to make changes when they don't.
Now this is a discussion and a point of view fro age and experiece do don't get all fired up.
The point is there are some people who might benifit from this view, some who will disagree until later when they find out the truth on their own.
Like when you smack up a truck with all that stuff on it and the insurence company says no to replacement because that is not the basis of which they contracted to insure the vehichle for.
Then the eyes begin to open wide.

 

There's not a full sized 1/2 ton truck in the world that gets good gas mileage. It's a TRUCK. Use proper maintenance practices and keep your foot out of the firewall and you are gonna do as well as you can with what ya have. If you wanna play, you gotta pay.

 

Jerk!!

 

What's your problem Dan99Hawk.. That's a great post by Marylander and I agree.

Mine ran like it was constipated and the milage was sh^t untill I opened her up on both ends

 

I think MRaineys' point was that it's certainly possible that one will recoup their investment over time and actually start saving from then on. True, it is provisional on an actual mpg gain, which most of these mods promise but may or may not deliver. My understanding is that you can enjoy better mpgs over stock as long as you don't burn up your savings with a heavier foot, which ironically, the mod will tempt you into having with the increased performance.

 

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Trouble is it is not possible. Not only does Ford have to balance emisions with power.. but economy has to fit in. you can not put any mods on that will increase economy beyond stock that will pay for the modification. Period. If Ford could have done it, it would have. You don't think that Ford would be able to claim 22 MPG hiway if they could? You can recoup your investment over time... if you have 20 years to spare.....

 

Try a K&N, they cost $70 up here and just say you get 1-2 mpg better and in my case my Expy is used mainly for highway so I can easily recoup the cost. And not having to buy another airfilter alone will get your initial cost back. This is just my case, I've heard of no gains at all with a K&N. I'm sure Ford can do alot of things which they don't care to share with us.

 

I can't say I'm an expert on this at all, but I've read a lot on here and I do think Ford could do better, but doesn't because it's cost prohibitive. If they put efans, a tuned CAI, less restrictive exhaust, etc. and dyno tuned every vehicle the F150 would no longer be anywhere near the best selling vehicle in North America since it would cost a whole lot more. It's a vehicle made for the masses, that's Ford's mantra, so they work on economies of scale and that means the vehicles aren't optimally tuned for the best performance, which should not only provide increased horsepower, but better fuel economy as a result. Instead the stock vehicle provides a reasonable level of performance that Joe Six Pack finds acceptable. For the rest of us, there's aftermarket mods. There looks to be enough feedback on these that there is no doubt that increased performance can be gained. This can also translate into better fuel economy if that performance is tempered by a light pedal. Question is, whether one can resist punching it to keep the fuel economy positive.

 

i changed back to platinum plugs and put my 75mm BBK on and went from 14mpg highway to 22mph highway and 18 city

 

What brand of intake you usin Fast...

 

My best fuel mileage mod? MY RIGHT FOOT!
Since this thread started, I did a small experiment. First tank, I drove my normal way...90% highway driving = 16.04 MPG
Next tank full, I lightened up my foot, didn't go over 1700 RPMs on the highway unless I had to and eased into the pedal while taking off from a stop. Same deal, 90% highway driving = 17.76 MPG
So the cheapest mod available is the one that works best.....of course, it was HELL at times not to open 'er up and hear the exhaust scream