I do have a tonneau cover on it. On my dads pickup, checking mileage before and after putting his tonneau cover there was no noticeable difference. I do think the intake should help, does anybody have any input on the one I linked to in my first post? At $80 it seems like it'd be tough to go wrong, but is it just junk?

 

I'm averaging 16 MPG over 2700 mixed miles with a club cab V6. Dad gets about 17-18 with his non-MDS hemi in a quad cab with tonneau

 

Common misconception. Bed covers do not help and may actually make it worse. A friend of mine has a 4 door s10 and drives 20 mi on the interstate everyday to school. He found with the tonneau he would average 15 and w/out he would get 17. He played with it everyday and the result was always the same. He always got better mpg with out the bed cover than with.

And magnethead, isn't it awesome that a 5.7 hemi gets better mpg then the awesome 3.9 ha?

 

They tested bed covers and driving with tailgates down on the television show "Mythbusters". They calculated every possible angle and proved that each made no difference during different types of driving conditions.It was a common myth so they wanted to set the record straight!

 

You may want to read up on cars aerodynamics, I have read probably 30 books on the subject.

You want a 12 to 11 degree slop from top of truck to top of tailgate. If that number happens "before" the tail gate, you will get better gas mileage with a cover. If it happens "after" the tail gate you won't see a difference. I doubt you could see worse gas mileage, but i'm not saying you couldn't. The longer the air stays "intact" the better your gas mileage will be. There is a gray area that would make no difference either way before or after tail gate, which varies truck to truck and I don't have a wind tunnel to test each and every truck.

This thread has tons of info in it: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...d-cap-583.html

 

who ever said CAI dont work is wrong

thats not true..i gained 2 miles a gallon with mine (roughly)..less restrictive.. its all about getting the hot air from the engine away from the intake.. i made a scoop or wing for mine and it helps and works

 

No, an engine gets better gas mileage with warm air. It may be smoother, so that may have helped with you gas mileage, but I doubt it. I am done with this thread, you guys didn't buy your trucks for gas mileage so don't worry about it.

 

We know we didn't buy em for mileage, but anything to help save money is good. I think you might be putting a little too much into the science side of it, not enough real world where there are other factors etc... When nearly everybody is reporting no mileage improvement with a tonneau cover, and even some with a decrease, I'd think maybe there are other factors at work. Same with the intake, maybe in theory it shouldn't help, but most report that they DO help, and increase power. Just my thought on it, no offense.
Also, I did order an intake that looked identical to that matrix one off ebay for $65 shipped, and it has the heat shield and stuff so I'll report back and see if it's made any difference. Thanks guys.

 

yeah, mythbusters even used a dodge dakota in their test

so get a mesh tail gate if you want the best thing they tested

 

The only way that a cover would hurt is in the city mileage, there is almost no way that it would hurt on the highway. If it does, there were other variables. Yes, I look at the science of it, but science is proven. A few guys testing a cover that don't want it to work isn't definitive. I'm not trying to say you're wrong, but more that the fact that science doesn't lie.