Edit: I barely drove two miles and was not yet on the freeway when my Ultragauge began warning me of overheating, so I removed this and decided to try again later. Unfortunately, I had already given up when I realized that the Ultragauge itself was overheating, not my car, although my engine must have been warm if I turned on the heater--the Ultragauge was right in front of a vent. Also, it seemed impossible to shrink the plastic without creating holes. Despite having most of the plastic left, I have never wanted to attempt this again because even Ecomodders were ridiculing me.
Original post:
This was an abject failure. It was It was 89°F and 81°F when I did my "A" drives on a 51.3-mile route, 46.1 miles on the freeway and 92°F when I finished the grill block and attempted the "B" drive, but my car started overheating before I got on the freeway. I tried again at sunrise, when it was 66°F, but my engine reached 219°F and I got 31 MPG compared to 31.4-31.5 for my "B" runs, with a cooler engine.
The idea was that the plastic would be less noticeable and I chose the aluminum tape because I thought that it would withstand my heat ray better, but it certainly is visible, especially with the pieces covering the random holes.
I do not know if it is possible to shrink the plastic tight without creating holes. I do not plan on using this material again.
I did my baseline run just after 1pm. I live 2.6 miles from the freeway entrance and I chose a loop that allowed me to stay on the freeway as long as possible.
A: 89°F
Precipitation: 0%
Humidity: 7%
Wind: 4 mph [according to Google, not everything can be deduced]
I put my Ultragauge on page four so that I could see my engine temperatures. They stayed between 192 and 199°F as I accelerated to seventy and coasted to fifty. Curiously, the engine cooled seven degrees as I accelerated and then warmed back up as I coasted. Note: Eighty-nine outside, no functioning air conditioning, so I was sweating. I probably should have used ear plugs and rolled down the windows, but I would not have gotten:
31.5 MPG (Not fully calibrated).
B: 92°F
Precipitation: 0%
Humidity: 6%
Wind: 2 mph
My Ultragauge started screaming before I got on the freeway, so I slowly drove home.
So much for the hope that my car would be so aerodynamic that it would run cooler.
Hopes are not always rational.
I had planned on installing a fan indicator. As we discussed elsewhere, run wires from the fan fuse through the firewall to an LED where I could see it. Would I need to do anything special? Someone wrote that you always wanted to put... something... (a fuse?) ...whenever you added wiring, and they talked about speaker systems.
I did not figure out the details beforehand, so I decided to do it later.