My mods: MPG/Performance

[60DRB]

You beat me to it on the air dam drag- Pinto story. Wouldn't work for me unless it had a Batmobile drop/retract capability for offroad use. I do think fiberglass is the only practical material for that amount of surface area. Even then it would need some bracing at the bottom edges. Profile drag is the greatest issue affecting truck mpg, and the one we can realistically change the least.

My experiments agree on the accelleration theory...slower accelleratin to cruise speed is less efficient than moderate. I have found 55-65 mph to be the most fuel efficient speed for my truck; 2006 4x4, S-CAB, 6 1/2' bed, 4.6L, and stock size 17" tires. At that speed I get about 18-19 mpg on county and state roads with occasional town traffic (a 50/50 mix of rolling hills and flat ground). My only mods are the Gryphon w/base 87 tow setting and the gotts mod. Also, I admit I buy the cheapest gas all the time. I still haven't made an "interstate trip" since installing the Gryphon.

For some reason the Gryphon consistantly indicates 2 mpg better than my pencil and paper calculations. I actually got a momentary Ave Mpg reading of 22.1 once. I'm likely going to install an e-fan in the near future, then get a custom tune.

[Longshot270]

60DRB, you could try the higher tier brands like Shell and bump the timing up .25 in the custom options menu.

Over here, today, the cheapest gas was $3.18 while Shell was $3.23.

3.23-3.18=.05 difference per gallon. If you fill 20 gallons it only costs $1 more to have good gas over poor gas. For me cheap gas will occasionally be so bad that the truck wont run right while top tier gas has a smooth idle and better performance. In city driving I can also have as much as 1-2 mpg swing from poor gas to good gas so for me it is worth paying a few cents more at the pump. Now that I only use the better brands I've bumped up my timing just a hair. This has also translated to better fuel mileage since I never need to lay into the pedal. Two weeks ago I checked mileage and got 15 mpg in stop and go traffic where I used to be happy with 13.5 ish mpg. *Note, this is on paper. I stopped watching economy PIDs a long time ago.

[60DRB]

...but I get so pissed off when the "top tier" CEOs get 1 million dollars per months served severence deals when they [resign] get fired during the annual corruption investigations. I know all those millions of "extra pennies" are going straight into their fat pockets and it makes me crazy. When there are are not even ten gasoline refineries left in our country, I really have a hard time believing there is any real difference in gasoline brands. Each company adds a little something with a trademark on it and they all pull from the same few facilities. I can put a bottle of "Regaine" in a couple times a year and I see no difference.
I've actually tried using Shell, Chevron, and BP vs "the cheap gas" for periods of time and I've seen absolutely no difference in mileage or running performance in my truck, car, or motorcycle. All those CEOs can "eat my shorts", as El Barto says.
At the moment, the cheap stuff is about $3.14 here.