I found tire pressure WILL HELP. I have a 87 F 250 and going 15 over
on the pressure made a big diff......

 

I will agree with the tire pressure wholeheartedly. I run 36 psi all around, and keep a good alignment. The only downside to this is that they will wear slightly faster, but if it saves even .2 MPG, then it will more than pay for itself in tires!

'77 F100, 302 (the aftermarket Prodigy), C4
Cadet Second Lieutenant John F. Daly III
South Carolina Corps of Cadets, The Citadel
The TorqueKing

 

right now i'm running a 302, and AOD from an 84 ltd,with 3:50's, and i'm gonna swap in 4:11's when i find a set. i'm running 235/75 r15's and it only turns aprox, 1400rpm @ 60 mph.. anything under 60, i run in drive and get alot better mileage... a cheap way to get a aod, is buy a usd 83-85 LTD crown vic. they were rarely used hard, and have lots of use left in them.. i've put 100,000 km's on mine(had 2:73's, then 3:50's) and it had 300,000 km's on it when i put it in.. still runs strong.. it's a great mod...

 

Interesting thread! Here's another opinion.
Rule #1. Anything you do to try and increase gas mileage over and above what the OEM has done, other than tire pressures, driving style, and so forth, will not be cost effective unless you drive a zillion miles a year. Having said that, there are some gains to be made, and if you don't mind just doing it for the fun, or challenge, or whatever, go for it.
I think I'm on the same wave length as Mr Keller, and I suspect he's done about as much as can be done with a carburated engine, maybe even with EFI.
It's in the manufacturer's best interest to get the best power and best economy that they can from their vehicles, given the emmissions constraints, and safety factors that must be built in for inconsistant fuel quality and just plain dumb drivers. The only way you can improve on Ford's considerable engineering expertise, is to eliminate the emmisions constraints, and dumb driver factor, and tune for best compromise between economy and power, or take your pick, depending on your goals.
I've got an EFI 460 in my Class A motorhome that I've been trying to get the best of all worlds with, economy, power, and reliability. I decided not to get in to the internals of the engine, but rather, do the best I could with engine management. I installed the complete Banks "Power Pack", headers, and exhaust and KN intake as well as a good quality aftermarket inductive discharge ignition. According to my testing, power increased, about half of manufacturer's claims, and mileage actually got a bit worse. I figured the only way to really see what I could do would be to try aftermarket programmable engine management. After much research, I chose the Haltech E6K, which may or may not have been the right decision. I have Ford information that states that best power is obtained at about 13.0:1 A/F ratio, and best economy at 18.0:1. The 13.0:1 sounded reasonable, but 18.0:1 sounded way too lean, but I tried it, and found the engine would run at light load at that ratio, but barely. I used those figures to build my fuel maps so that the A/F ratios would be about 17.5 to 18.0:1 at light throttle cruise, and increase gradually to about 15.0:1 medium throttle cruise . I increased it to 13.0:1 at the point I really needed power and kept that ratio to WOT. I taylored the ignition curve to be 2 to 4 degrees before pre-ignition at WOT and left the part throttle advance stock, because I felt it was quite aggressive to begin with, and nothing I did to modify it made any improvement.
Bottom line is, after incredable amounts of time spent, and more money than I care to admit, so far, my mileage has improved 9.4%, and according to my testing, power is down 4%. But, I suspect my power testing is not accurate, because I can climb a local hill in a gear that I would have had to drop a gear before the mods.
Again, be wary of any quick fix mileage improvement claims, drive with a light foot at reasonable speeds, or do like me, and see what you can do, just don't expect miracles.
Regards,
Robert

 

Tape a raw egg on the the gas pedal and if it breaks your mileage will suffer

Tim

 

note: always drive with the wind.....sorry

 

95 f150 4x4 I started out with stock truck and added to it a K&N air filter felt and sounded like it made a differance then I put on headers and dual exhaust ... made a difference both in noise and gas millage(better) then saw an add for underdrive pully's 135$ canadian to my door so I picked them up10 -15% they claimed in power and millage I agree(best improvement) so I then bought the computer chip....also claimed 10-15% and for the 375$ canadian....not worth it I dont notice anything till I wind her right out (3500 or better) and we dont get any better millage with it so money not well spent there
I work out of edmonton so I drive from s'toon every two weeks and I have been watching it and it has gotten better by about 1/4 tank per trip used to take just under both tanks not takes 1-1/2 tanks to go thats with the cruise on and at 125 klm/hour about 70 -75 mpham thinking of doing thatmod to the round cone K&N filter but havent yetsorry for the long winded message hope it helps
Rob.G.

 

Sorry to re reply but the muffler I put on was a Buick grand national two in two out 2-1/4 " dia muffler
Rob.G.

 

It's been a while since you asked your question, but I think this website may have some info that is what you are looking for:



http://www.himacresearch.com/



The basic premise of the various ideas you will see at this site is that the the internal combustion engine was designed to run on vapor, not liquid. Otherwise, your engine wouldn't stall from flooding.




There are powerful forces suppressing this information - oil companies, car manufacturers and the federal government.



Check it out.