Modify your car for better gas consumption.  That's a good one.  Why don't you try a new transportation diet ?  Use your car LESS.  It's a combination of walking, biking, mass transit, and your car.  25% of each.  I spend very little money on gas, because of this diet.  Plus the less you use your car equals less expenses on your car.  Which translates into more money in your pocket.  It's a no brainer.  If your only conclusion to save gas money is to modify your car.  I feel sad for you.  Let's remember that suburban America created this high cosumption fossil fuel usage.  Getting out of the suburbs would be a great step, and into a smaller community where you don't have to travel so far to shop, and just live your daily life.

Peaceful Regards

OK, lets not be so hard!!! Not everyone can walk to work or the market.  I do agree however that using your car less is a step in the right direction.

Unfortunately, I don't have the answer.  There is a group of people who call themselves hypermilers.  If you go onto google and type it in you will find specific ways to help get the most out of your vehicle.  One way I know they suggest is not to drive above 50 miles an hour I think.  Going high speeds uses more gas.  I checked out the sites and they do actually have specific suggestions. 

http://niryariv.wordpress.com/2007/01/04/hypermilers/.  Good luck 

I see someone didn't see my profile to know where I'm from...hehe. I live in a small town in the middle of the New Mexico oil patch. We have no mass transit system, and when we lived in Dallas it was cheaper to drive than take the mass transit. I haul crude oil from the well site tanks to the pipeline stations that feed all over the country. I took this job after 9/11 to do my part for the country since I have a family and can't serve in the millitary.

I ride to work on a motorcycle that gets 62 mpg on good days. I ride in a little Focus that gets 32 mpg on nasty weather days. When I get my family of 6 together to go to town I drive a 1995 Chevy Suburban 4X4 that I've modified to a point that it's getting 20mpg with us and our stuff. I still have more to do, but I'm sure that I can get it up  to 27mpg. That's as good as Ford's little hybrid SUV which is not big enough for my family.

   The question I posted is an honest one. We can talk about conserving gas all day by doing other things. I want to know how many of us are willing to get our hands dirty and clean up our MPG in our vehicles that we already use. Let's not point fingers and get all high and mighty on each other. Just let each other know what's working and what's not. 

Observe the world as though you were a child and enjoy the wonder of it all.

I checked out the site that Vicki R. suggested and they do have some ideas to help with vehicles you already own. Have you seen it?

The other idea would be to support elected officials who support finding alternative fuel.  As long as we are dependent on oil, and not finding better ways to make our vehicles more efficient, we are doomed to repeat what we have been doing.  You seem like you are trying. 

OK I saw the site. I think maybe I didn't explain well enough what I mean here. I'm referring to mechanical, physical, or chemical modifications made to our vehicles in order to conserve fuel...

My example is as follows:   I bought a used 1995 Chevy Suburban LT with a Throttle body fuel injected, 350 V8 with a 4 speed with overdrive automatic tranny. Upon delivery it was only getting 12mpg on the highway. First thing I did was fill the tires to the recommended 50psi for a 1 mpg gain. Next I added a Tornado brand vortex generator to the air intake for a 4mpg gain. I changed the air, oil, fuel filters, added Havoline high mileage oil, and ran 2 bottles of fuel system treatment through the fuel on a trip to our aunt's house over around the Dallas area. This added another 3mpg for a total of 20mpg.

   Next mod will be a cold air intake vent with an external air scoop from a Mack CL model big truck which will be frenched into the front right quarter panel. I'm also considering adding Zmax or Lucasoil friction modifiers to reduce internal parts friction in the engine, tranny, transfer case, and front and rear bell housings. If everything goes right I should have a "Gas Guzzler" that gets fuel mileage as good as the hybrid SUV's.

    If all this works I'll be getting personalized plates to show that a Suburban can get good fuel mileage.  I hope this shows what I'm hoping everyone can convey for the rest of the group. I guess this one is aimed at the get your hands dirty conservation crowd so lets get our hands dirty and conserve our gas and our greenbacks!

Observe the world as though you were a child and enjoy the wonder of it all.

It does not matter to me where you live.  The facts are we are going to reach peak oil production in a few more years.  Which means after that peak.  Each year after that their will be less oil each year to drill out of the ground.  So my point from my earlier post is...It's time for all of us to  be less dependent on these fossil feuls.  It time to think about alternatives, and they do exist.  This change even involves a complete lifestyle change.  Could even mean moving to a community that is easier to commute in.  Of course Americans simply do not want to hear this !  Peaceful Regards

I'm not missing the point. I'm getting a Vectrix Electric cycle as soon as they're available in my area. I did move to an area where I commute less. It's only 2 miles to work here versus 25 in Dallas. Now I get to sleep in my own bed every night versus being away a week at a time.  This thread is supposed to be about what we're doing with what we've got already.

   I am absolutely impressed with the strides you folks at NASA are making regarding energy use. I mean who would have thought the Mars rovers would still be going today? You all proved that an ion propulsion engine was a feasable option! I'm not trying to be argumentative I'm just trying to stay focused on a very small part of fuel conservation here is all. We've got other threads going about lifestyle changes and such regarding oil conservation. I just thought I'd try hitting it from a different angle, but nobody is biting at this one. 

Observe the world as though you were a child and enjoy the wonder of it all.

This topic is a little too intricate for me.  I don't really know enough to be helpful or more informative.  It seems that you have the topic covered and are really making great decisions to help conserve fuel.  If I hear of anything more, I'll post.  Sorry!!

Your right "not many biting at this one".  Simply very few things you can do on this topic.  Even more of a reason to get that electric cycle.  Giving your fossil fuel vehicle timely tune ups, drive at slower rate of speed, proper tire inflation, and maybe use high grade fuel on occasion.  Are about the only things I can think of.  Two miles is not too far.  How about peddle power transportation even part of the week, but that would be off topic.  That's it for me Sir.   Cheers to a more green future. Peaceful Regards

Where's the Love...Can't we all get "along"......zoom...zoom...

SirTravers . . . keep it up.  You're trying to get better gas mileage and that's good, especially for your pocket book. 

However, make sure to calculate all of the costs related to your Suburban's engine modifications in order to accurately figure out how much gas you're actually saving.  It's like buying a hybrid car that costs $4,000 to $6,000 more than its fossil fuel equivalent, it can take years for you to realize the gas savings.

As far as picking up walking or biking to replace your driving commute, that's a complete joke.  If you live in a major city center or a tiny town, maybe, but for the rest of the evil Americans that live in  . . .gasp! . . . suburban America, that's like asking to replace all of your electric powered appliances and elecric toys for wash scrub boards and sidewalk chalk, not to mention asking to give up our PC's and laptops for the old pad and pencil.  It ain't gonna happen.  I love biking and I bike a lot . . . for recreation and fun, but I like progress too.

 In regards to hitting the peak of oil production in the next handful of years, that's another joke.  Carter said the same thing in 1979 remember?  We were suppose to run out of oil by 2000, completely out.  Technology helps us reach oil we couldn't reach affordably 20, 30, 40 years ago.  What I do agree with is that in the next 50-70 years we may reach the peak of cheaply accessible oil.  That's to say we could run out of cheap oil, but not oil as a whole.  Oil should still be accessible but at a much higher cost.  That real increase in extraction cost should finally move the consumer of oil and its products (i.e. all of us) to alternatives.  That's how life usually goes isn't it?  We normally don't change our habits or our lifestyles until we're forced to do it.

Anyhoo, keep it up SirTravers!

   I agree totally on watching costs on performance mods. The tire air is free at the local gas station "That's rare nowadays." The Tornado I got on sale at Autozone for $50 bucks. I'm getting the cold air intake on Ebay for $28 and installing it myself. I think the fuel treatment cost me $12 versus the $70 dollar dealer fuel cleaning. The cheap stuff works just as good. The air scoops are $20 for a pair. I got the Fram air filter for $9. Oil is an extra dollar a quart, but it really helps out the old engine.

    Thanks for the support, and I hope to see what others are doing along these same lines.

Observe the world as though you were a child and enjoy the wonder of it all.