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Bruce
Dodge Dakota
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3/19/2002
15:56:41
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 Subject: Mileage and HP Improvement
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Which of the many add-ons I've seen you all talk about really affect mileage and/or performance? The 180 degree thermostat seems common, but is that because it's inexpensive and easy to install? How about the air intake mod. Which is the best (considering K&N doesn't make one for a 2000 V-6) and why? So far, the only things I've done are get a tonneau and use synthetic oil.
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R/Truck
Dodge Dakota
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3/19/2002
16:07:21
|  RE: Mileage and HP Improvement
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T-stat, IAT, Open Air Filter, Muffler are the cheapest most effective mods you can do. Less then $200 installed and worth every penny.
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no way
Dodge Dakota
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3/19/2002
16:25:31
| RE: Mileage and HP Improvement
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muffler? Hp and mpg mod - NOT!!
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Bruce
Dodge Dakota
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3/19/2002
16:41:13
| RE: Mileage and HP Improvement
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"T-stat" and "IAT" ?????
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IntenseDak39
GenIII
3/19/2002
16:47:45
| RE: Mileage and HP Improvement
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the k&n intake fits on the v-sixes... not like the eights but it will fit.
intense
"How's my driving?........Race me and find out!"
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DakotaDan
GenIII
3/19/2002
17:05:24
|  RE: Mileage and HP Improvement
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K&N FIPK on V6
see profile photo
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Anthony
Dodge Dakota
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3/19/2002
17:14:23
| RE: Mileage and HP Improvement
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Buy a bed cover or remove tail gate :) That's my first suggestion on getting better MPG.
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David S
Dodge Dakota
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3/19/2002
21:26:20
| RE: Mileage and HP Improvement
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There are very few mods mentioned that everybody agrees on, which means, I guess, either some of us are liars or we just REALLY want to believe that the money we just spent was a good investment. On this topic, however, everyone agrees that an electric fan and an underdrive crank pulley gains MPG & HP. David
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Bruce
Dodge Dakota
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3/20/2002
08:05:04
| RE: Mileage and HP Improvement
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Hmm. That's the first I've heard of those mods (fan and crank pulley). Can you tell me more? Does anyone have instructions or pix of them?
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Cotharyus
Dodge Dakota
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3/20/2002
08:11:31
| RE: Mileage and HP Improvement
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I installed an Airaid intake on my 2.5L - the buttdyno tells me its got more power, and I check my milage every time I fill up - I went from 23.5 to 25MPG on an otherwise stock engine.
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David S
Dodge Dakota
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3/20/2002
12:09:21
| RE: Mileage and HP Improvement
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I don't have a clue as to why the crank pulley benefits. They make underdrive pullies for the crank, alternator and power steering, but the consensus is that all three pull too much juice, so just do the crank. The electric fan, however is easier to understand. HP is needed to turn the stock fan. If you eliminate it and use electric power to activate the fan, you free up HP. The flex-a-lite Black Magic 150 is the best fan for our Dakotas. It pulls the most CFM. Bernd can furnish much more accurate detail on this I'm sure. David
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Crusty
GenIII
3/20/2002
12:13:18
| RE: Mileage and HP Improvement
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Whoever said a muffler wont increase MPG needs to pull their head out of their A$$. It increases scavenging, therefore increasing mileage. The problemis that everyone gets an exhaust and drives WOT to hear it, thats why MPG decreases.
2002 4x4
Modification Donations Accepted at Paypal.com
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R/Truck
Dodge Dakota
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3/20/2002
12:33:28
| RE: Mileage and HP Improvement
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Thanks Crusty-
I was beginning to feel like an idiot for suggesting the muffler until someone else stepped in. Anytime you free the engine up to breath easier you are allowing it to make more HP, your not adding more gas or weight. So the MPG should go up, at least a little.
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Bruce
Dodge Dakota
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3/20/2002
12:43:05
| RE: Mileage and HP Improvement
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OK. I've got my tonneau, so next I need to get a K&N fipk, then an electric fan, and then a free flow muffler. That ought to keep my busy for awhile, assuming I can afford them. Thanks, all.
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Crusty
GenIII
3/20/2002
13:07:12
| RE: Mileage and HP Improvement
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Well you can remove your belt driven fan, if you have and electric one already. Thats free, and a 180 t-stat is about $12. Muffler ~$70. Installed with factory tailpipe ~$100. And you can make an air intake at Home Deopt for about $50. Hope that helps. Just search for homebrew intake. youll find everything you need.
2002 4x4
Modification Donations Accepted at Paypal.com
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Bruce
Dodge Dakota
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3/31/2002
12:35:51
|  RE: Mileage and HP Improvement
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Thanx everyone. I've got my muffler and K&N fiter should be here soon. Then I'm going to make a home brew pipe for it. Checked my mileage with no mods or tonneau and it was 19.27, so I'm feeling pretty good about it. Speaking of homebrews (with PCV), I made an excellent bed extender out of it. Works like the commercial ones and cost $20.
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Toad
Dodge Dakota
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3/31/2002
20:31:34
| RE: Mileage and HP Improvement
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Anthony: I just need to pick on you and all the other fluffy ppl out there that are honestly convinced that taking your tailgate off of your truck will increase your mileage.
I am a mechanical engineer, and specialize in dynamics. so i can't explain why to extensivly as to why you are so completly wrong, but here it goes: basicaly when you have your tailgate up and locked in its intended postion, a vortex will be created inside of your bed and will increase in stagnation as your vehicle velocity increases. this stagnation thus creates an imaginary 'bed cover' that projects the wind flow lines from the top of your cab to the tail of you truck (or your top of your tailgate). inasmuch this decreases the backpressure (suction forces) and creates a more laminar flow.
--just think back when you were young and in back of your fathers pickup. remember that when you would lay down flat the wind would be less annoying? well that it was. geez children are smart!
So, when you take your tailgate off you have, in addition to cancelling out the benificial affects aforementioned, lowered the wind flow lines from the cab to tailgate, to the cab to your bed then flowing out your bed opeing (where the tail gate was). this increases backpressure, creates lift and thus decreases mileage.
If you think im lying or your personnal tests state otherwise then you must be in placebo heaven. You must understand that engineers make the body the way it is for a reason - to conserve energy! think about the contoured lines on the front end of our dakotas, do you think they are there for looks only? No! this decreases the Cd value in the drad equations - makes it more aerodynamic.
sorry for the lectures, but im tired of seeing rednecks with theyre tailgates down.
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Super Bee
Dodge Dakota
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3/31/2002
21:35:40
| RE: Mileage and HP Improvement
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good show old man
Bravo!!!
i hate the way trucks look without a tailgate, thats all, i might be confused with a god for saken chevy without my big DODGE across the back tailgait
woooooo
i have read in car mags that it does increase your mileage, or if you put on a "Turbo Net" but do i have my tailgot on and in it full and upright possition
YES
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toad
Dodge Dakota
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3/31/2002
21:48:24
| RE: Mileage and HP Improvement
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there are some trucks that it helps some. it depends on how the truck is designed. those magazines you read correctly quote that it improves truck mileage, BUT what it does not say is that it only pertaines to trucks that were designed without the aid of a wind-tunnel. such trucks as old toyotas, chevys, and you name it. on the otherhand our dakotas are engineered, and how it comes stock in the car lot is the most aerodynamic it will get, without putting on a bed cover.
i have personally seen air-tunnel experiments and the results of newer model trucks with and without the tail gate on, and the reults...well I already explained the results.
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DODGEZILLA
Dodge Dakota
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3/31/2002
22:27:18
| RE: Mileage and HP Improvement
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When i put on my tonneau cover..i got one extra trip to/from work out of a tank of gas (and being i work about an hour away..its alot better on the mpg)
However i have one question that was somewhat answered but not totally.
Will these mods improve my mpg? or just my hp? i was told that with a m-1, ported tb, iat adjust/placement, cold air, 180 thermostat etc... it would make the pcm to give it more fuel to the air ratio (and because its running colder than it should)..decreasing my mpg...now im a bit confused on what is good and not. im also confused a bit now as to what i would like to do to the dodgezilla...i mean i want the hp gains..but with driving an hour to work and back each day (2hrs driving total)'
is it really worth it?
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Texas97
GenIII
3/31/2002
22:39:04
| RE: Mileage and HP Improvement
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I agree with Toad very much and I would have said something before he did, but I just found this. I am also an engineer(civil), and I have had enough physics dealing with drag and aerodynamics to know that putting the tailgate down will not reduce drag. It messes up the way the truck was engineered in a wind tunnel. The cab is shaped so that it will deflect the wind line over the span of the bed and over the top of the tailgate. That was a very good way of it explaining it, Toad!
J.C.
Drive it like you stole it!
97 Dakota CC 3.9L 5 speed
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peedee
Dodge Dakota
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4/01/2002
21:11:46
| RE: Mileage and HP Improvement
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I know, I know this is not about tailgates, but i read a few posts up about the front end engineering. When I was doing some test runs to check the advantage/disadvantage of my drop-in K&N, the first two runs were with snow on the front half of the hood (about 1/2"). I got 2 mpg less. Form the engine heat when I stopped the snow fell off and I redid the before run and got my normal mpg back. I guess the engineers at Dodge really know what they are doing. Hey, just look at how all the Gm and Ford guys whine when Dodge wins the race... Oh, they have better aerodynamics... Oh boo hoo!!!
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BMAC
Dodge Dakota
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4/02/2002
06:40:54
| RE: Mileage and HP Improvement
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Hey Peedee,
I have the plastic bug/wind deflectors on the front of my 98Dak. Would you be saying that this is decreasing my mileage?
I know something is screwing up my aerodynamics with the windsheild wiper on the driverside not touching the windsheild on the way down.
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