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BabyDiesel · 10-27-2015, 12:28 PM

Finally! A chance to update! Quite a bit has been happening, including me moving out of my mom's and in with my dad. It has been a whirlwind the past week or so.

Since I have moved, I have new routes now. It is about 3-4 miles longer to work, but there is only 1 stoplight now

It is mostly country with small hills with a few miles of Interstate driving. I got 51.0 mpg on my first time out, so it looks very promising. It will be even better when I start preheating.

pgfpro & kafer65 - I have the dryer duct I use as a WAI laying directly on the exhaust manifold now. I'm seeing IAT's around 100* in normal driving.

hardline - That sucks to hear. I wonder if that can be tuned out with Sniper, SCT or MS3? I will be using either Sniper or MS3 for lean burn, though Sniper does not allow for VCT alterations....

The D molding I ordered from Ebay came in Friday! I quickly went to work sealing up my front end. To do so, I had to take my front bumper off, so I took the air dam off as well.

The molding, all 36' of it

Air Dam removed

I have to admit the car looks better without the air dam

Now I can't stand how tall it looks! I need to replace the struts soon so I will be cutting the stock springs when that time comes for a 1.5"-2" drop. The hardware to keep the air dam from bending was bent badly after 6 months of driving, as seen in the last picture. 1/4" aluminum bar just isn't strong enough to handle the air resistance and occasional scrape.

Front bumper off. The signal light gaps and upper grill are now blocked.

Headlights being sealed

Front bumper back on

I had to double up along the edges of the hood so that it would seal good.

With the bumper back on, let's check things out... oh no, a gap!!

Fixed

The results: In addition to the perhaps ~0.01 Cd reduction, the sealing seems to hold in heat longer in the engine bay. After the car sits for a bit and I come back to it, the engine has not lost as much heat as before the mod. So this mod is a definite win for fall/winter driving!

I'm going to try to get the wideband installed today. I have been slacking hard with regards to getting this done...

Also, removing the air dam has had next to zero effect on fuel mileage. I think at the most it has decreased my instant FE by 1 mpg, so it is staying off. I really want to do coast-down testing to see the overall effect on my Cd.

I bumped my tire pressure up to 68.5 psi last night from 54 psi and the car definitely rolls better now. We will see what effect this has on next tank's fuel economy!

10-27-2015, 12:28 PM	#355 (permalink)
BabyDiesel Lean Burn Cruiser! Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Johnston County, NC Posts: 931 Big Blazin' - '88 Chevrolet K5 Blazer Silverado SUV 90 day: 14.97 mpg (US) Chili - '00 Honda Insight Gen-1 Insights Team Honda House of Tudor Team Streamliner 90 day: 72.29 mpg (US) Thanks: 835 Thanked 490 Times in 309 Posts	Moved, no more air dam, and front is sealed! Finally! A chance to update! Quite a bit has been happening, including me moving out of my mom's and in with my dad. It has been a whirlwind the past week or so. Since I have moved, I have new routes now. It is about 3-4 miles longer to work, but there is only 1 stoplight now It is mostly country with small hills with a few miles of Interstate driving. I got 51.0 mpg on my first time out, so it looks very promising. It will be even better when I start preheating. pgfpro & kafer65 - I have the dryer duct I use as a WAI laying directly on the exhaust manifold now. I'm seeing IAT's around 100* in normal driving. hardline - That sucks to hear. I wonder if that can be tuned out with Sniper, SCT or MS3? I will be using either Sniper or MS3 for lean burn, though Sniper does not allow for VCT alterations.... The D molding I ordered from Ebay came in Friday! I quickly went to work sealing up my front end. To do so, I had to take my front bumper off, so I took the air dam off as well. The molding, all 36' of it Air Dam removed I have to admit the car looks better without the air dam Now I can't stand how tall it looks! I need to replace the struts soon so I will be cutting the stock springs when that time comes for a 1.5"-2" drop. The hardware to keep the air dam from bending was bent badly after 6 months of driving, as seen in the last picture. 1/4" aluminum bar just isn't strong enough to handle the air resistance and occasional scrape. Front bumper off. The signal light gaps and upper grill are now blocked. Headlights being sealed Front bumper back on I had to double up along the edges of the hood so that it would seal good. With the bumper back on, let's check things out... oh no, a gap!! Fixed The results: In addition to the perhaps ~0.01 Cd reduction, the sealing seems to hold in heat longer in the engine bay. After the car sits for a bit and I come back to it, the engine has not lost as much heat as before the mod. So this mod is a definite win for fall/winter driving! I'm going to try to get the wideband installed today. I have been slacking hard with regards to getting this done... Also, removing the air dam has had next to zero effect on fuel mileage. I think at the most it has decreased my instant FE by 1 mpg, so it is staying off. I really want to do coast-down testing to see the overall effect on my Cd. I bumped my tire pressure up to 68.5 psi last night from 54 psi and the car definitely rolls better now. We will see what effect this has on next tank's fuel economy! __________________ Remember, thank a fellow EM'er for a helpful post!!! I hypermile better in my cowboy boots Past threads: ZX2 modding thread Ecomodder's Top 10: How they do it! ZX2 Aerodynamics: Shooting for 0.15 Cd ZX2 coast-down testing for Cd & Crr Last edited by BabyDiesel; 10-27-2015 at 12:34 PM..