|
@ goodoak, the front grill cover was just a temporary cardboard peice cut out to fit in the opening and covered with black masking tape to make it watertight and discrete.
meanwhile my dad couldn't help ripping it off because some garagist said it was bad for the engine (i could have strangled him)
i never saw an increase in temperature, and not even the engine warming up faster (wich i hoped it actually would do, but it didn't) fact is that the engine still gets more than enough fresh air to keep cool, you don't need a direct frontal air supply. but i suggest you build something temporarely and see if your temp changes.
i have not found any acceptable method for getting wheel covers to hold on my rims yet unfortunately.
and im glad to hear you want to make a cap, im actually thinking of making a new one. i suspect that the cap i have now is too heavy and may actually increase my consumption at slow speeds below 50 km/h where its just more dead weight. and that the end-curb may be to steep downward so at speeds over 80-90 km/h the airflow detaches. im not 100% sure but i feel it happening once i go over 90 km/h.
the cap i made is just too solid, you can walk on it and i think it weighs around 60 kg (120 pounds?)
i would like to make a new one wich would be as light as possible with much thinner wooden beams, wich would not go down so low and would have plexi-glass windows. and also wich would allow the above part to be opened or even removed to haul large objects in the back.
i don't know yet with what material i will cover it, i saw that aluminium sheets are available in verry thin thicknesses and are cheaper than the thinnest metal sheets. im not planning on using fiberglass and polyester anymore, too expensive and hard to manipulate and can't be recycled. while a wood-aluminium combination is fully recyclable.
about the consumption with my current cap, the last 2200 km i averaged a verry nice 8.3 liters, wich is 2.4 liters under its EPA!
|