I hope the header you purchased for the truck will allow you to keep your low-midrange pulling power/torque when going through the gears, to be able to short-shift it to save $ on fuel mileage.
I found some headers seem to want to cause the operator to spin the engine to achieve it's designed power-curve.
Thanks Bill. The truck is an auto, so no options as far as shifting goes, but a nice note would be good. I think it'll be fairly economical anyway as it's only pulling 1750 RPM @ 60 MPH, much lower than either of my Subaru's or the wife's Hyundais. I did think about converting it to a manual box, but my knees are shot, so driving in city traffic with continual up/down shifts would be a painful experience. Because it didn't come with any luxuries (aircon, cruise control etc) I'm thinking about getting aftermarket cruise control installed. I use it on my other cars all the time and it's great on long trips for fuel economy and just the ability to take my foot off the gas pedal on a long drive.
I had after-market cruise in my first Toyota Hilux work truck that I inherited from the previous manager, the company we worked for cheaped out when they bought the Hilux and didn't tick the "Cruise Control" box on the order sheet, but as both of us had an hour's drive to work and back each day, cc was a "Must have", for good fuel economy and it also kept us from attracting too many speeding fines. It was pretty expensive to get it installed from memory (the original unit sh1t itself and I had to get another one fitted) so that might rule it out, but I'll do some shopping around on the internet and see what I can find. If I do any interstate road trips to pick up bikes or parts, cc will be a "must have".
Aircon would be nice too, but I'm not going to bother with getting ac installed, and it's just one more thing that's sucking power out of my little 146 cubic inch/145 BHP engine. (I just saw a Youtube vid of an LS converted one, that would be cool, but I can buy a turbo kit for a couple of grand which would be easier....) I adjusted the ignition timing by ear yesterday and raised the idle to 600 RPM, and it's idling much smoother now. The TV in the wife's lounge room (I'm down the other end of the house) sh1t itself yesterday so I drove the truck over to the shop to buy a new one this morning, then over to the lumber yard to buy a nice slab of redgum timber to sit it on (different legs on the new TV too far apart for the little stand that houses her DVD player etc) so once again the little truck proved how useful it is.