Ok, I have my 03 ranger lifted on 35's and straight piped. Gas hasn't been that much of an issue, but I am getting closer to going to college and that means I am going to be poor =) hahaha.

So with that said, what is my best bet to get some mileage back, I am regeared to 4:56's so the smallest tire I can go is about a 33.

So I want to know do you suggest putting 33's on? Putting a muffler back on?

Whats going to help get the most mileage back? Or is it worth it? I have one guy with almost brand new 33's wanting to trade for my 35's so I don't know if I should?

Would the tires make more of the difference then the muffler?

Thanks for any and all help!!!

 

What mileage are you getting now?

 

Right now its about 200 to a tank, about 14.5 gallons usually I run it almost all the way down. I know its a 16 gallon tank. My odometer is off for 1 mile every bout 12 miles. So about 220 I guess, it just seems like I can watch the needle fall from F to empty so fast.

 

Wheels/tires are a trade-off for MPG.

In your case, I would rather do bolt-ons over swapping back to 3.73s and 28" tires or whatever the stockers are. So much rotating weight . . .

I get 3-4mpg better than stock with headers, muffler, e-fan, underdrives and synthetic motor/trans/rear end oil.

I would not waste money on putting a muffler back on provided you have it run out the back and don't mind the sound

 

well what kind of driving do you do? mostly highway or city?

 

I have a 02 Edge with 33's and Im telling you that it is def the tires. I went from just 31s to 33's and lost like 2mpgs.

 

If you're driving a 4X4 with 4.0L and 4.56 gears. I don't think smaller tires is going to help that much. Maybe 1 or 2 mpg. How much do you expect to drive when you go to collage? If you're going to school only 5 or 10 miles from home, it shouldn't be to bad with the set up you have now. If on the other hand you're looking at commuting lets say 40-50 miles a day each way. You might want to consider selling the truck and getting a compact car. If you're only getting 200-220 miles per tank, you could be filling up 2-3 times per week at $40-50 per fill up. With a small car you would cut your gas bills in half. 14-15 vs 28-30 mpg. I know that's not what you want to hear, but it just might be a necessity.

 

While those are all good mods. They're not really cost effective.

Headers= $350-750, muffler= $100-250, E-fan= $100-200, U/D pulleys= $200-350.
So depending on your eng and whether you install these parts yourself, you're going to spend from $750 to over $1000 for all these parts. You would have to drive about 30K miles just to recover what you spent.

Here's how it works. If you drive 30,000 divided by 20 mpg= 1500 gals used. vs 30,000 miles divided by 25 mpg = 1200 gals used. Savings 300 gals at $3 per gal. Total savings $900. You MIGHT recover your cost in 17-18K miles depending on how much you spend and how much of a gain in mpg actually get. Or if your mpg was to go from 15 to 20 mpg. Is it worth it? Only you can answer that question.

 

I do city driving mostly, and its a 2wd, and my stock gears were 4:10s haha..

I guess I will leave it alone for now then, I am in Vegas going to Chico cali for college, so I won't be driving alot, probably 50 miles or so a week..to the paintball field and back, everything else is right on campus..Thanks guys!

 

I have to write only to say that you can do it on the cheap.

I got mine JBAs new off ebay for $320 shipped
spintech muffler was $80 shipped
taurus fan was $22 from pull-a-part
Underdrives were $195 shipped
Custom made aluminum driveshaft (shortened Mark VIII from jy) $90
cutoff catalytic converter <60>, yes I got paid for it
Various oils $80

So I spent roughly $730 and I consistently get 23-24mpg with 80% driving around town.

So to use your math, I drive roughly 15,000 miles in a year.
At 20mpg (my first two tanks, bone stock) that is 750 gallons a year
At 23mpg that is 652 gallons a year

So with gas at roughly $3 a gallon, my savings are $294 a year.
So after 2.5 years, I break even.

At 24mpg, its $375 a year saved and it only takes 2 years to break even.

Hmmm, I wonder what gas will cost in 2 years?
Sounds like a FV problem to me

 

Forgive my ignorance Tyler. I'm not very proficient at computer speak. What does "FV problem" mean?

 

3.0 is a waste to put all those mods in to get that milage.

I have a 2.3 duratech in my new truck and it has almost the same hp and actually feels quicker and i know because I own both.

Did I mention I get 28mpg city driving

 

Future Value.

$200 now is not worth $200 two years from now.

 

Couple of things: one I don't have the money to get a new truck and I would never take the hit in the wallet as soon as I drive off the lot.

Technology changes everything.

How old is the design for the 3.0? 15+ years?!?

How old is the duratech 2.3 design?

Why didn't you buy a ls2 gto?
It makes almost 3 times more power as your ranger and gets the same mileage?

My 15 year old motor makes ~150rwhp and 171rwtq and gets 24ish around town and 27-28 on the highway. I am fine with it.

 

OK, so you did it on the cheap. So what? Let's go back and see what I said vs what you said.


Headers: My est $350-750. Your act cost $320.
Muffler: My est $100-250. Your act cost $80
E-fan: My est $100-200. Your act cost $22
U/D pulleys: My est $200-350 Your act cost $195

I won't use your other figures because I didn't use them in my example.
I want to compare what I said directly to what you said.

So My est total cost, MIN = $750. Your act total cost = $617. Difference = $133
When you factor in your Efan came from a J/Y and my est was for new, that diff shrinks to $55.

That's fine. My reaction is once again. So What?



To recover $617 @ a rate of $24.50per mo. ($294 per yr / 12 mo = $24.50 per mo.) it would take 25.2 mos.
At 15,000 miles per year you're driving 1250 miles per mo.
So it would take you 31,500 miles to recover your money. (1250 X 25.2 = 31500)


To recover $617 @ a rate of $31.25 per mo. ($375 per year / 12 mo - $31.25 per mo) it would take 19.75 mos.
So at best it will take you 19.75 mo or about 24,700 miles.
Or worst case 25.2 mo or 31,500 miles to recover what you spent.
The est in my post was 30,000 miles.

I fail to understand your argument. My estimates and your actual figures are not that far apart.



FV problem? Why would I have a problem with "Future Value?" It's not my truck and I won't be paying for the parts.
Go back and reread Garrett's (BMX4LiFE) post. It sounded to me like he was looking for a way to save some money.
You gave your opinion on how to do that. I gave a different opinion.
Nowhere in my post did I say you were wrong and I was right. If you'll go back and reread my post, my advice was
"Is it worth it? Only you can answer that question."

It seems to me that because I quoted your post, you took that as a personal attack on you. It wasn't.
If you saw it that way I'm sorry. I was just putting in my $.02 worth. What these forums are all about.
I came here to learn and exchange ideas. I think most of us did.

 

Not sure how old the duratech design is but it came out in 01.

also I didnt take a big hit when i drove my truck off the lot I got it at dealer cost due to xplan.

Also theres no way a ls2 gto pulls 28mpg CITY driving and anytwhere near 34mpg on the highway. I would know my friend owns a 06 ls2 gto Yeah it has power but no where near the milage. It gets the same milage say your 3.0 does before you wasted all your money into it.

 

 

So you guys come to a conclusion for me yet? =p haha, I will give you my address if you wanna send those parts right over =) haha Thanks for the help.

I was looking for a way to save money, right now none of this seems worth it, considering in another 5 months it will probably be driven barely anything when I go off to college. So for now I am going to leave it be, I talked it over with my parents to, they said its not worth it!

I appreciate all the help and ideas, but for now I am going to leave it be.

 

blah blah blah . . . .

The point is your maximums were WAY off. I mean just your maximum figure for the headers. $750?!? I could get custom made longtubes for the ranger for only $150 more.

Do they even make a set of headers for the ranger at $750?
Accufab? Kooks?

If you had just said "750 for everything" than I wouldn't even be writing this post.

Your total maximum cost is = $1,550

Thats quite a huge range . . .

Please. I could care less about someone quoting me in a post. I do however care when the truth is fudged, especially when I have done it to the contrary.

So were you playing stupid then or now?

For one, I am sorry you could not pick up on the rhetorical question of "I wonder what gas will cost in two years . . ."

The last part was simply that. You are arguing about how long it will take you to recover your costs when gas will cost who knows how much more and would effect our answers.

Say in 2 months, it goes up to $4 a gallon. When do we break-even?
Say next year its $6 a gallon . . . getting the picture?

I guess my internet typing doesn't translate

If your 4 cylinder DIDN'T make as much power with better gas mileage than the 3.0, you should use it as a boat anchor.

Maybe someone out there caught on that a 22 year old design cannot compete with today's technology improvements.

Maybe you could talk him into driving it for the week.

I just drove down to florida with a friend of mine in his 06 gto with a 6 speed. Has only a k&n and a flowmaster and it got 32mpg on that tank.

Maybe you should look into the boat anchor idea.

Only you would come into a 3.0 section and say its wasted money.

Not only is wasted a subjective term but you should tell everyone else in here to toss out their 3.0 so the fount of all automotive technology (the duratech) can take its place.

Again, I drive a whopping 15,000 miles a year and that is with a lot of un-needed traveling. Once I am done working at a shop 60 miles away from me, I am sure it will take even longer to recoup the money I "wasted" in my POS 02 edge

 

Like I said I own both the 3.0 in my 98 and a 2.3 in my 07 and the 2.3 is a by far superior engine than the 3.0.

The 3.0 is a good realiable engine until the cps goes out and causes you to lock up the engine, which is a common problem but im sure you knew that..

Have fun getting your 22mpg that you had to pay to get, while I saved 400 from not getting the crappy 3.0 that gets 15mpg city driving. I enjoy my 28-29 mpg city driving with a heavy foot to boot.

I dont miss the days of driving that gutless 3.0 that got the gas milage of a v8 and the power of a 4 banger.

 

Dude you needa chill, sorry I don't have more money to go buy a 2.3...

and mine 3.0 might get bad mileage but at least it doesn't sound like a rice burner =p

 

Tyler, If I tell you you're right and I'm wrong, will you stop whining? OK YOU'RE RIGHT. There, happy now?

Yes I did pick up on you're sarcastic remarks. Unlike you, I did not come here to be confrontational or to prove how smart I am. So I chose to ignore your comments. I even went so far as to apologized to you even though I didn't think I said anything wrong. You chose to respond by calling me a lier ("I do care when the TRUTH is fudged.") and stupid. ("So were you playing STUPID then or now?")

I do not take kindly to being called stupid and a lier by a still wet behind the ears, 22 year old smartass, know it all. Nor do I wish to get into a pi$$ing match and start trading insults with you. There are to many genuinely intelligent people on this forum for me to waste my time with the likes of you.

Just for the record. Next time, (and with you I'm sure there will be a next time) DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Before you start shooting off that big mouth of yours. If you go to the JBA web site, you will find that a titanium ceramic coated set of headers for a 3.0L Ranger engine LISTS for $915. The FACTORY DIRECT discount price is $672.53 plus shipping. I don't give a darn what you paid for yours. The FACT is you COULD pay $350 to $750 or more if you didn't know where to shop.

End of discussion.


Have a nice life.

 

cute but my 2.3 makes almost the same amount of hp your 3.0 does and Im sure its quicker now with the big tires you added so whos laughing when I pass you up and also while filling my truck up at the gas pump.

I own both the 2.3 is definitely a better engine.

 

Blah, nevermind

 

My stock '00 3.0/manual ext cab whooped my buds '03 2.3/manual reg cab on numerous occasions.. i wouldnt say the 2.3 is 'faster' because it's of newer technology with better mileage and on paper has similar HP, but.. remember torque?

Back on topic.. I'd say your best bet is to put smaller tires on, it seems to rob power/mpg like no other.