Thread: Gas Milage

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Hey guys-
I have been looking for anything that will give me possitive gas milage on my 99 Chev. Suburban. If you guys can think of some parts that will help please let me know
sry this doesnt have anything to do about hotrods but im putting too much money into my gas tank to build one!
thanx

A good set of LT rated tires inflated to 50 psi will probably give you the most significant increase in fuel milage.

Always travel downhill???

The small economy car for daily use and leave the large barge parked til you need it is a good plan. My "junk truck" cost me $500. bucks 3 years ago, doesn't owe me a thing now.

Might try the K&N filter and a less restrictive air intake. A good cat back system might do some good.

PEace,

heh. good gas milege? for me 6 miles a gallon would be fantastic!! my 48 year old 283 v8 with a Rochester 4 bbrl get me tons of get up and go but the gas dont last long about 4 miles a gallon my 57 still has a lot of potential! most people jsut dont see it in a rusted 1957 chevy bel air i do though and its already paying off!

later

Sorry-There is no way of significantly increasing your gas mileage.
Gas mileage is a direct proportion to the weight of the vehicle.

Get one of those Fred Flinstone cars with the footholes in the floor.

A 7,000 lb truck, a computer managed port injected engine..I think if there was easy milage to get, Chevy would have gotten it. As said above, your trying to move a huge amount of mass, and it takes a huge amount of energy to do this. My wife wants a new Suburban, but I looked for a diesel and saw that there is none, and I told her no way. I'm not going to buy her a truck that requires as much per month in fuel as the payment and ins combined! I suggest that you sell it and get a diesel Ford Excursion. Its similar in size but gets 14-16 MPG with the turbo diesel. If only the folks here in the USA would get thier heads out of thier kiesters, they would all notice that the rest of the world operates fuel efficiant and powerfull turbo diesels from the smallest of cars to the largest of trucks. I have been all around this world, and I find the US to be very unique in this aspect, and we are not wise in our choice. Imagine the same truck you have there but making 16 MPG and have more power to tow your 40 foot flatbed trailer with your twin race cars.......and get 12 MPG while pulling the race cars!

I recently looked up the specs on the "new" smaller 345-hemi from Dodge and could not help but think that rodders are perpetuating old technology. The new idea of running on only four cyl out of 8 in cruise mode for about 3 mpg additional may become a standard in the future. Of course there is no easy way to retrofit this idea with a computer control because the valves are closed in the Dodge arrangement on the four cyl not used, so even if you convert to fuel injection and turn off four injectors you also need to close the valves to the four cyl not in use. Then assuming you can swap in the whole engine, you need the Dodge computer. Still some rodders should start messing with the new hemi as far as swapping it along with whatever computer controls are needed to make this feature work because it looks like a neat way to have it both ways, a V8-hemi when needed and a V4-hemi once you get into cruise mode. It is extrememly unlikely there is any cost effective way to make this swap for an old Suburban (although technically you can swap anything into anything) but hopefully some rodder group will do the work to make this swap possible in the near future along with the V4/8 mechanism.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

you can use one of the syntheic oils, make sure tire pressure at max allowable. See anyone makes a economy EPROM for your burb. Draft behind semi traliers. Change your rear end ratio to a higher one if you got a low one. get off gas early when braking. Kept truck waxed. A water injection system will let you run cheap 87 gas.

"Draft behind semi's"
Gotta love that idea, truck driver probably wouldn't like it too much.
My Suburban has a 454 and it's 4x4 3/4 ton, that sucker stays parked in the driveway alot. We cruise in the 6cyl Lumina.

Originally posted by Don Shillady
I recently looked up the specs on the "new" smaller 345-hemi from Dodge and could not help but think that rodders are perpetuating old technology. The new idea of running on only four cyl out of 8 in cruise mode for about 3 mpg additional may become a standard in the future. Of course there is no easy way to retrofit this idea with a computer control because the valves are closed in the Dodge arrangement on the four cyl not used, so even if you convert to fuel injection and turn off four injectors you also need to close the valves to the four cyl not in use. Then assuming you can swap in the whole engine, you need the Dodge computer. Still some rodders should start messing with the new hemi as far as swapping it along with whatever computer controls are needed to make this feature work because it looks like a neat way to have it both ways, a V8-hemi when needed and a V4-hemi once you get into cruise mode. It is extrememly unlikely there is any cost effective way to make this swap for an old Suburban (although technically you can swap anything into anything) but hopefully some rodder group will do the work to make this swap possible in the near future along with the V4/8 mechanism.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

i sure hope they have made some improvments over the first 4,6,8 syatems. they didnt work.

Taller tires and make sure they stay properly inflated.

lt1s10, I don't know how well the V4/8 hemi works but they are putting them out on the street, so it may take a year or so before the practical verdict is in as to whether it is really worth 3 mpg or not. Maybe this is the right place to ask a related question which could help on theSuburban. I have seen some large vacuum gauges mounted on dashboards to indicate to the driver when the engine is in an economical range of operation. I would think it might be annoying to use that gauge but maybe over time driving habits might lead to SLIGHTLY higher mpg. Anybody try one of those and if so are they completely worthless?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Originally posted by Don Shillady
lt1s10, I don't know how well the V4/8 hemi works but they are putting them out on the street, so it may take a year or so before the practical verdict is in as to whether it is really worth 3 mpg or not. Maybe this is the right place to ask a related question which could help on theSuburban. I have seen some large vacuum gauges mounted on dashboards to indicate to the driver when the engine is in an economical range of operation. I would think it might be annoying to use that gauge but maybe over time driving habits might lead to SLIGHTLY higher mpg. Anybody try one of those and if so are they completely worthless?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

the caddy system didnt work at all.

I wouldn't use one to try to increase gas miles,(it works for some people), but i always mounted one in all of my race cars for diagnostic purposes. best tool in the world for checking a miss.