Quote:
Originally Posted by sheepdog 44
Just put on a choroplast grill block. At first i noticed it seemed like it was struggling to gain speed from a stand still. On the way to work i could notice the difference but couldn't tell if it was good or bad. On my way home i finally felt the difference. I was gaining about 2 mph extra on some downhills, and on the flats i could maintain 3-4mpg over before. I still need to make some more runs before i can quantify any gain that i'm getting.
My concern is that my car might be working harder for air on accelerating so i could be losing mpg. But i don't know too much about how cars work.
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Welcome to Team Honda! We're glad to have you here.
Some thoughts on grill blocks...
Grill block is generally a nearly always a successful mod. First, it limits the amount of air banging around in the engine bay. It also reduces the excess cooling of the air washing over the engine. Not a consideration in summer but in winter I can see nearly a 10 degree increase in engine temp because without a grill block it wouldn't come up to its normal level of 182 deg.
There are two things to watch out for with a grill block, as I see it.
- Use a digital temp gauge to ensure you're not letting the engine overheat. You don't want a check engine light or even the sound of the radiator fan running to be your indicator that it got too hot. I don't know if the Gen 1 Insight has a readout for that built in or not. I get it from my ScanGauge 2 ('97 Civic).
- Make sure you haven't chocked off the engine's air supply. See if you can find where the air intake is, or ask one of our Insight drivers here. If it's in the engine bay somewhere, you want to be sure you haven't sealed it off so thoroughly that it can't get air.
On my Civic, I leave a few small slots open, up near the hood. In summer, I do have about an 8"x10" opening in the lower grill block. It seems to need it for engine cooling.