1-6x17" cardboard piece & +10 MPG! Yup no lie

[Mountain driver]

Originally Posted by DBASRA99

Do you have and pics of your warm air mod and grill cover?

No, I don't. I'm a dinosaur when it comes to pics and uploads (I know, it's probably quite simple) .

I set them up per AbCaRed00 in my signature. (He provided some beautiful pics).

I used an aluminum roasting pan (crudely cut) to fit around the cat, used some soft steel wire to hold it place (not pretty at all), cut a hole in the upper right corner of the pan to accomodate some 3" aluminum ducting (dryer duct), aluminum taped it in place, stretched the duct around the right side of the plastic engine cover, and aluminum taped it to the air intake. (Tried it without tape first, then with tape. Better mpg with tape) Had to flatten the duct a little beside the engine cover to get the hood to close proper.

Used some black foam rubber 1/2" pipe insulation on the lower grill bars. Cut notches to accomodate the 'slats' on the grill.

[EDC]

How much of improved mpg is due to air flow- or is it due to leaner air fuel mix set by the computer? Can the inputs to and the output of the computer be adjusted to get the lean air-fuel mix at any(reasonable) air intake and engine temperature?
ed

[Mountain driver]

Originally Posted by DBASRA99

Do you have and pics of your warm air mod and grill cover?

Originally Posted by Mountain driver

No, I don't. I'm a dinosaur when it comes to pics and uploads (I know, it's probably quite simple) .

I set them up per AbCaRed00 in my signature. (He provided some beautiful pics).

I used an aluminum roasting pan (crudely cut) to fit around the cat, used some soft steel wire to hold it place (not pretty at all), cut a hole in the upper right corner of the pan to accomodate some 3" aluminum ducting (dryer duct), aluminum taped it in place, stretched the duct around the right side of the plastic engine cover, and aluminum taped it to the air intake. (Tried it without tape first, then with tape. Better mpg with tape) Had to flatten the duct a little beside the engine cover to get the hood to close proper.

Used some black foam rubber 1/2" pipe insulation on the lower grill bars. Cut notches to accomodate the 'slats' on the grill.

The dinosaur is learning! My wife is going to help me attempt to upload some pics, hopefully it goes well.

1st pic is looking down and behind the engine at the cat (now covered with an ugly roasting pan), you can see the O2 sensor protruding. I made a hole in the upper corner and (aluminum) taped the ducting into it.

Pics 2, 3, and 4 show routing to the air intake. The aluminum tape is visible. I had to mash the duct some to get the hood to close proper (very ugly again, but functional). After mashing, the duct is still at least as large in area as the air intake.

The rest show the foam rubber pipe insulation on the grill, and net result on the dash display after a commute home last week (mostly downhill run). Got 74.2 today. Not bad for a cvt, can only imagine how an mt would respond.

(oops, looks like I can't send all the pics at once, so here's 4, and the others will be in the next post)

..Bob

[Mountain driver]

Here's the others.

[Need4Speed]

I also use the pipe insulation...needed to cut a few small V notches in the top piece to get it to fit good. If you shop around you can find the insulation in black...blends in much better than the gray color most places have.

[thomas]

at the risk of sounding too much like a surfer from hawaii, i ignored all the advice for making lower grill blocks, and used fiberglass surboard laminating cloth, which is very easy to work with and flexible, and UV cured surfboard resin to make a pretty kickass custom lower grille block. take off bumper, shape it like you want it, thread under the lower grill insert, add resin, cure it in the sun, and bam, high strength windblock, if u can surf on it, it will hold, air isnt as strong as water. then, because hawaii is warm, i put political sign behind the a/c radiator to force all incoming air through radiator only since i dont use the a/c anyway. over 72mpg, and no overheating problems.

[rayholan]

Originally Posted by thomas

at the risk of sounding too much like a surfer from hawaii, i ignored all the advice for making lower grill blocks, and used fiberglass surboard laminating cloth, which is very easy to work with and flexible, and UV cured surfboard resin to make a pretty kickass custom lower grille block. take off bumper, shape it like you want it, thread under the lower grill insert, add resin, cure it in the sun, and bam, high strength windblock, if u can surf on it, it will hold, air isnt as strong as water. then, because hawaii is warm, i put political sign behind the a/c radiator to force all incoming air through radiator only since i dont use the a/c anyway. over 72mpg, and no overheating problems.

Slick idea, man. I'm on the mainland near the Great Lakes where the only time we use the word "surf" is when ordering "surf & turf" at a restaurant

[Need4Speed]

Thomas - how hard would it be to make a piece that seals the upper grill opening? Open the hood, set it in there and shut the hood. On hot days, open hood, remove, shut hood.

[myfastski]

I put the 16 x 7 card block in, wow 9 mpg improvement on my CVT with studded snow tires. now at 56 mpg. I am thinking about how to make a simple warning system to prompt me to remove block ( besides taking it out with the snow tires). A light or buzzer in series with radiator fan and block present switch seems to be a decent solution. Does anybody know how much that the fan runs. I am guessing very rarely.

[Need4Speed]

Everyone is really ticking me off. I have dropped 12 to 13 mpg since my summer high mpgs of 77-78 mpg, now am only managing 65 mpg. I am running about 95% grill block, and a warm air intake system keeping my intake air temps Round 100f. How do I get back the 12 mpg I have lost to the colder temps?