DID YOU KNOW:
...That we once performed a three pick up mileage maker test with brand new Ford F-150s? Each tester was responsible for developing their own test loops of 150 miles with different road types. We then tried different mods to each of the trucks to see which mod had the greatest mileage effect. The goal was to have the mod pay for itself in less than a year of use, so we were looking for significant mileage increases.
Having Ford’s wind tunnel data, we know that the tailgate down (clearly a mod that was free) was not a good idea. In fact it hurts miles per gallon; not significantly, but enough to make it a bad idea no matter which of us shade tree engineers felt it must work. Mythbusters also developed a great demonstration that proved this point.
One truck got a bed shell: the most expensive mod. We tried and though the miles per gallon improvement was good (about 3 miles to the gallon), it would take about two years to pay for itself. Another truck installed a bed cover, and it too netted an improvement: about 1.7 miles to the gallon and this one would pay for itself in less than a year.
On my truck, we tried a Flowmaster cat-back exhaust system. At first this hurt mileage, the full being the truck sounded so good and the performance was just better enough that we had to learn to keep our foot off of the accelerator. Once the new driver behavior was mastered, the miles per gallon improved by 1.3 miles to the gallon. The new exhaust system would pay for itself in 13 months. Here’s where the testing turned weird: our testing dragged into winter and the temps started to fall; so too did the mileage. Concerned, we called the head of Ford Powertrain and were reminded that the colder temps mean thicker air. The truck, or car, has to push itself through that air and in so doing it uses a bit more fuel. Sure enough, on warmer days the miles per gallon went back up.
Reminder: Tire pressure, fuel level, and weights in or on the trucks had to be kept at a constant testing level. Trucks were kept clean and air filters were checked or renewed before each test.
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