[aardvarcus]

Finally had (made) some time to snap a few pictures of my in progress aeromodding of my Celica. One of the reasons for the delay was several false starts, several failed methods, and my temporary testing pieces just looked horrible (as many people told me). I finally finished my grill blocks and am satisfied with the results. As you can tell, I used punched aluminum to create new aggressive looking grills for all my openings. What (hopefully) isn’t apparent is that behind this aluminum are sheets of lexan acting as the grill block. I tried just the lexan with nothing in front of it, but it was very obvious that there was a sheet of plastic there. With the aluminum in front to distract you, you really don’t notice the lexan. Then you just cut the lexan away from where you want to let intake air in. My lower grill is 40% lexan blocked, plus the aluminum is a 60% block, resulting in a net 75% block. The upper grill is 85% blocked, it needed a little air or my intake temps got too warm for my tastes. The hood scoop and lower side grills are 95+% blocked, aka I tried for 100% but they aren’t perfect. If you look at my earlier pictures you will see that I used the lower side covers to span over two different openings. Most people assume the grill is just for looks, and don’t know it has an aerodynamic benefit, thus I don’t get as many negative comments.

I also discovered from my testing that I needed the front part of my bellypan in place with large amounts of lower grill block, or else the limited air I was letting in was flowing under the car and not though the radiator. Thus you can see the start of my belly pan, which consists of an extruded aluminum frame, 0.060 aluminum sheet, rubber spacers to cut vibration, and stainless steel sheet metal screws. I have enough material to finish the rest of the car in this manner.

You can also see another mod, though non-aero, are my 205/65/16 Michelin Energy Saver tires, which are 26.5” in diameter, as opposed to the stock 205/50/16 which are 24” in diameter. This has lowered my RPMs by 10% and also helped my rolling resistance. I know it has hurt my aero, by raising the car an inch, but when I finish my belly pan and get some tire spats that should greatly reduce the downside. My (very) long term plan is to regear when the transmission needs work, and at that point I will probably revert back to stock sized tires.

All these changes, plus the warmer weather, have taken me from the low 30s (29-32) stock to the high 30s (37-39) modified, with no substantial changes in driving habits between the numbers.