bought a truck
 

I sold my 89 s-15 2.5L 5spd and replaced it with a basic 2000 gmc sierra 1500. It has the 4.3 v6 and a 5 speed manual, it's 2wd long bed reg cab (max payload configuration for 1500). I plan to only used for hauling stuff, mostly firewood. I think it has promise for FE with it's tall gearing and low rpm torque, unfortunately the tank holds 35 gallons so it will cost an arm and a leg to fill the first time. It runs around 1700 rpms @ 60 mph and according to the original window sticker is rated for 23 mpg highway. In the end I hope to bring home more wood per gallon of gas;), and I think it will . Besides, my 89 was rusting off it's frame:( .

I think about making a Phil Knox inspired aero cover for the bed that can lift open for loading purposes. Maybe some disc hubcaps and a grill block too. As long as I can still haul 1 1/2 face cords of wood per trip:D .

Whooee!!! Jamie has hit the big time. No more junkers. Red or blue?

If you get a ScanGauge for your truck, you will probably learn some things that will benefit you in the Geo. And you can tell how much fuel you are using without a $125 fill. Besides you don't want to be hauling around an extra 200# of gas.

It's white but may gain a blue fender soon:) . I bought it from my bro in-law and he crumpled a front fender and never got it fixed. I found a blue one in a junkyard that I'll probly get and may paint it white or not. ScanGauge is tempting, I could use it in my wife's thirsty taurus too.

Congrats. Sounds like a nice rig.

Paint the fender, jamie. A lot easier to do while it is off the truck. And you will look and feel a whole lot better.

Did your bro-in-law ever check his mileage?

Thanks bill.

CO
I probably will paint it.... red:D , no really, I'll paint it white . Brother in-law said he never really checked the mpg because the tank took too much to fill.

Go for the phil knox style cap! We need a diy on that posted up! :)

nice! personally with a truck that old and dilapidated (dont worry we have a car that soudns about like that) i woulda driven it till it blew, till soem kajor repair came along and then either junk it or sell it off to someone for a cheap price. but least you happy with what you got.

but one thing: i belive the disc hubcaps are going to do jack mpg wise.. since its a truck with high stance and big front end...

yea those are geared for tourque out the yang. mmm least you got manual :D i do like long beds tho. im looking for one for my s-10...

I just can never bring myself to junk my old vehicles. I usually just sell them cheap. I ended up getting some cash and my old yamaha maxim motorcycle back in a trade from a co-worker for it. The truck I sold had about 98000 miles on it so it would have taken a while to wear out the drivetrain. Much longer than the body and frame would hold up in michigan:( .
Yeah, I would have trouble mounting them on my rims anyway. They are american racing alloys.

oooh nice! i would not scratch those. i have some chrome american racing rims on my s-10 and they are a PITA to keep from getting a tiny cip and then they rust...so i gotta keep cleaning them and putting wax on them to keep em clean...i take them off in the winter and put my winter stock tires back on so salt dosnt really screw em up

Congrats, those are nice trucks. You should be able to get 23 MPG. I would stay around 55 on the highway if possible. It is a nice engine for very low RPM cruising. I have not gone through all of the ignition/o2 stuff on mine yet (92 1500 W/T with 4.3 and 5spd), and I got 22-23 on my first two tanks, although after filling up I have had a tendency to let her sit there. I was trying to buy land and the deal fell thru, so there is no work for the truck. I don't think I've driven it in a month. Soon I am going to have to drive it to work just to charge the battery.

Thanks,
When I do drive it I never go over 60 mph on the highway and 50 or less on rural roads.

I noticed it's probably a good candidate for an electric fan conversion. The stock belt driven one is quite loud so it is no doubt wasting lots of energy. It would be nice if the ecu already had an unused output for an e-fan relay.

so you haul wood alot? we can run our house on all wood in the winter so we to haul wood a little bit. how much do you go threw a year?

We have propane boiler heat and a Lopi woodburning insert. I try to burn as much wood as I can when I'm home (doesn't work well unattended). This last winter we went thru just over nine face cords. Probably the same last year. I am usually limited by my wood supply but not this year for a first. I usually end up having to drive a ways to get what ever wood I can get. I don't have a reliable source yet:( . I try to go a full year between propane fills. I estimate we are using less than one third of the propane we would otherwise use without the help of wood heat :) .

yeah we used around 5 which isnt bad. our house is around 4500sq feet so idk how good that is. we do run our heat a little when we are lazy but its a heat pump so its still not to bad. idk what our fireplace is called but it is connected to the heatpump/central air so we just set a temp and turn on the fan and make a big fire and it does the rest.

wow, that's a big house:eek: . I heat about 2500 sqft and think it's too big. Unfortunately my wood burner isn't tied to my central heat so I have to try blowing it around some. I do dream about putting a hot water coil in the woodburner and tying it thru an unused zone to my central heat boiler;) .

I just got my scangauge 2 for this beast. I wish I could use it in the metro :( . How far off could the scangauge be if I don't ever fill-up to verify the gallons used? I just drove it to work on the highway and averaged 22.5 mpg (driving normal for a base line). The ave speed seemed low at 37 mph but mph read out agreed with my speedo whenever I checked it. It seems like it should have been closer to 45 mph (30 min to go 22 miles or so). It took a couple miles to reach closed loop :( and idle uses about .4 gal/hr. My wifes taurus went into closed loop with-in like 20 seconds just idling :thumbup: .

I am pretty sure these trucks have a clutch on the fan so it does not take too much extra energy to spin when not needed. I do notice the fan is loud while the engine is warming up, i don't know why.

I've got a thermostatic fan clutch on my 4 Runner that does the same thing when you first start it up. The reason is the fan clutch is sorta like a torque converter with just a bit of silicone oil in it. So when it sits the oil collects at the bottom and gets a good grip on the torque plates. Shortly after it spins up for a bit the oil spreads out and slips much more.

E-fan gives better temp control and no parasitic loss IMO.

I was able to average 26.5 mpg on my trip home from work driving more consevatively but no hypermileing techniques. I think this truck can do as good if not better on gas than my wife's thirsty taurus 24 valve.

if you are hauling fire wood any distance, then you might look in to getting a trailer as well, we have one that is about the same cubic feet as the bed on the ranger, only it's lower, so it's more reasonable for loading and unloading, and if we have to go any distance, it alows us to dubble what we can carry.