It's not the prettiest thing, but since the temperature's dropped 15F during the day today, and it's supposed to snow tonight through tuesday, I figured I'd rig up additional grille blockage.
The pieces:
Prep:
Finished:
Close-up:
It's straightforward enough-- Coroplast, spraypainted, and held in with zip ties. I left a gap in the center as a margin of safety, though I do have a little extra Coroplast left to fill it in if I'm feeling brave. I have yet to gauge how well it works, since the xB has temperature-idiot-lights (blue for cool, none for operating temp, and red for overheating). If the blue light goes off sooner than usual, and the red light doesn't come on, it will be judged a success.
Hopefully, this will slightly help to mitigate the 3-4 mpg I'm losing due to winter gas and cold weather.