Aeroing a Pickup Truck

[Atclarkson]

Originally Posted by Big Dave

Yeah, I had more to talk about but you made it clear you would be unable to follow up. I understand. None of us are Warren Buffet.

FWIW, I was going to mention that you have a very good candidate for exploring the combined benefits of aero mods and gearing mods. There are scads of aftermarket parts for Chevy trucks where all the maddening little details have been worked out.

For instance there is a company in Virginia that converts Caprices of the 94-96 vintage to manual transmissions using a T-56 six-speed. They even have chips that reflect the fact the automatic is no longer there, so the thing doesn't throw codes. If they can convert a Caprice, a truck would be easy. Maybe in your case a T-56 would be overkill. I have always held that the optimum drive train for a half ton truck would be a Richmond Gear five speed (actually a close-ratio four speed but the top gear is straight through 1:1 to allow hot rods to use economical gearing for street use) and a Buick ten bolt with a 2.73:1 gear ratio. You 4.3 six-banger would push this OK, particularly after you had done some aero mods to reduce aero load.

All this would probably set you back $5,000 to $7,000 and no college student has that kind of bread laying around.

Phil Knox has worked wonders with his Toyota T-100 with nothing but aero mods and good driving. He is stuck there because there is almost no aftermarket equipment for a T-100. He has to do it all himself. GM vehicles lend themselves nicely to aftermarket stuff. The project I described, while it would need some salty parts, is almost a bolt-up. can't say that for many vehicles. even my ford is not easy to find aftermarket parts that promote MPG.

ah, ok cool man. I just wanted to hear your ideas really, whether I could afford em or not! I def couldn't afford that, and I also look at it in a sense.... 5-7000 dollars buys a LOAD of fuel for my pickup.....It would pay itself off, but I won't have my pickup in a few years.

Thanks for explaining!

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by Jay2TheRescue

Its not a common option, but you can get a full size Chevy/GMC with a manual 5 speed tranny from the factory.

Unfortunately, you can't get it in many configurations. IIRC it's only available in regular cab trucks with the V6 and 4.8L V8 engines...but if I'm wrong it's still something like that.

[winkosmosis]

Someone posted this on pirate4x4 in a thread about expedition aerodynamics! It's a small internet

http://pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=717703

I think someone suggested making an aero soft roof for a lot cheaper than one like that.

[Sludgy]

A company called Snugtop used to make a cap with a rounded rear end. It wasn't perfectly aero, but it was a lot more aero than either a tonneau or a cab-high truck cap. It was called Top Gun.

BUT They didn't make it for an F350

AND It's not on their web site anymore, so I'm not sure whether thay make it anymore.

It seems to me that if Leer, Snugtop, or one of the other cap manufacturers made a cap like that, it would improve FE a lot, and add 10 mph to the top speed.

It would sell like hotcakes based on speed alone. Are their marketing people obtuse?

[bobc455]

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by Sludgy

It seems to me that if Leer, Snugtop, or one of the other cap manufacturers made a cap like that, it would improve FE a lot, and add 10 mph to the top speed.

It would sell like hotcakes based on speed alone. Are their marketing people obtuse?

Top speed on most new trucks is electronically limited, not limited by vehicle ability. Most people are far more concerned with seeking a particular look to ever tolerate a cap like that.

[Jay2TheRescue]

I think it looks pretty cool, and if they're available by the time I buy a new truck I'd buy one if they're reasonably priced.

-Jay

EDIT: Bobc455 didn't get all the pics... Here they are...

[theholycow]

I think it looks cool too, but the owners of these trucks probably wouldn't agree:

[Jay2TheRescue]

The low rider is hideous, but I don't think it would look bad on the second one. However, the low rider + the fastback cap would probably get pretty good mileage.

-Jay

[Sludgy]

Originally Posted by theholycow

Top speed on most new trucks is electronically limited, not limited by vehicle ability. Most people are far more concerned with seeking a particular look to ever tolerate a cap like that.

I agree that stock trucks have speed limiters, but there are plenty of aftermarket chips that can remove the speed limiter. Anybody that wants to go (insanely) fast in their truck can do it for $500 and 20 minutes of installation time. Especially diesels.