first time on, intro, looking for a nissan-aholic

my name is Harry, my '01 nissan frontier pick up, 4cyl, 5 speed got 32 mpg for a few tanks in a row, now has dropped back to 30. I have developed tranny trouble at 228,000 and and am rebuilding my manual w/ a 240sx fifth gear dropping my rpm's about 350 at 60mph, leaving my city mpg the same, and increasing my hwy mpg to possibly 34-35 mpg. I have heard there is a rear gear 3:54 versus my 3:7 final drive to fit my truck potentially getting me close to 37-38mpg I drive about 30-35% heavy Orlando traffic and 65-70% open road. I make about 15 stops a day, so I am thinking I am doing well chasing the mpg's, any thoughts will be taken under advisment
the xe model truck mixed w/ the sx model car gives my truck a designation of S(X)E5/3:54 and for some reason I really like the sound of that

[theholycow]

Welcome, Harry!

I wouldn't sweat a 7% loss (30 vs. 32) unless it's over a long term...in the short term it's likely just an inaccurate pump shut-off while filling, some winter mix gas, bad gas, cold weather (if you get any in FL), wind, etc.

Where are you getting the math that gives you predictions of increased MPG from gearing changes? I agree that you're likely to see an increase, just wondering how you predicted specific numbers.

It sounds like you're doing a significant enough amount of city driving that you can experiment with driving techniques for a significant improvement. For your highway driving, gearing may help, and aerodynamic mods are very likely to help.

[shatto]

What ya do, scare him off?