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Old 04-30-2008, 03:40 PM   #14 (permalink)
Daox
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Germantown, WI
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CM400E - '81 Honda CM400E
90 day: 51.49 mpg (US)

Daox's Grey Prius - '04 Toyota Prius
Team Toyota
90 day: 49.53 mpg (US)

Daox's Insight - '00 Honda Insight
90 day: 64.33 mpg (US)

Swarthy - '14 Mitsubishi Mirage DE
Mitsubishi
90 day: 56.69 mpg (US)

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Nice bellypan edbso! What kind of mileage were you getting before having it installed?

trikkonceptz, I removed the lower block when the outside temperatures started to rise. With both of the blocks in place I noticed that the radiator fan would come on quite often in city driving which my wife does a lot of. It definitly wouldn't overheat, but the fan going all the time would probably negate any benefits of the block. However, if the Matrix was only really used for highway driving I would have probably kept the block in place. I believe the large gap between the bumper cover and support member of the car allows plenty of cooling at highway speeds (see the first picture in post #6). I'd still highly recommend a scangauge or similar device to accurately read the coolant temperature. The dial gauge on the car is not accurately telling you the temp of the coolant.

I definitly believe that the grill block has helped though. In the winter I noticed an immediate increase in mileage despite the weather getting colder. Now that its summer my wife (primary driver) has been pretty consistantly getting 36+ mpg. You can click my signature to see my mileage log. Unfortuantely, I don't have notes saying when I installed the block.
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