Engine mods

Does anyone know of any engine mods that will improve fuel economy on an

05 and up frontier? Also do tonneau covers actually help with gas mileage or is that a bunch of bs?
Reply to
Cornholio
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Whether or not the tonneau cover will help depends on the design of the truck and the tonneau cover. Have you ever watched the "Myth Busters" on the Discovery Channel? They have now done two segments on pick-up truck gas mileage. They determined that you get better mileage with the pick-up tailgate closed (compared to having it down) and you got better still mileage with one of the rear nets instead of a tailgate. This last one left me scratching my head. I can only imagine that the net provides the improved aerodynamics of the tailgate, without the weight. Or it might be that they would have gotten the best gas mileage with no tailgate at all.

My opinion - I doubt the tonneau cover will make a measurable difference.

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Reply to
C. E. White

CD

Reply to
codifus

I understand that having the tailgate down gives you the worst mileage. Every test I have seen confirms that you get better gas mileage with the tailgate up (closed), compared to it being open (down). What I don't understand is why they got the best mileage with the tailgate removed and replaced by one of the tailgate nets. I can think of two factors that might make this true - 1) the reduced weight of the truck results in slightly improved mileage, and 2) the net provides the same aerodynamic advantage as the tailgate being closed (or maybe even a better advantage). It seems to me that the next test should have been no tailgate at all.

My family has farmed in North Carolina forever. As long as my Father used full size pick-up trucks, the first thing he did when he got a new pick-up was to take the tailgate off and store it in the barn. As far as he was concerned the tailgate was just in the way. When he traded trucks, he'd pull the tailgate out of the barn and put it back on the truck. The result was a beat up looking truck with a perfect tailgate. After my Father started driving Rangers instead of full size trucks, he stopped removing the tailgates.

Reply to
C. E. White

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