19bonestock88's 2004 Saturn "Ion Green Line" build...

[19bonestock88]

So I wanted to update on this car. Couldn’t calibrate speedometer or swap the cluster (local dealer couldn’t do it, might look for another one). Working on modding bumper cover, debating between air curtain built into side vents, or a simple plastic air deflector at the leading edge of the wheel well. I’ve also decided to add heat extraction vents to the hood, both to reduce drag and to reduce coolant temps during spirited/aggressive driving, especially since the new bumper cover has less grille area than my current one (if you count the unblocked upper grille), being that it has no upper grille.

[MeteorGray]

Quote: "...I’ve also decided to add heat extraction vents to the hood, both to reduce drag and to reduce coolant temps during spirited/aggressive driving, especially since the new bumper cover has less grille area than my current one (if you count the unblocked upper grille), being that it has no upper grille."

I installed a couple of louvers in the hood of my Mazda3, mostly to increase longevity of the battery in my semi-tropical climate. Besides, I was going after the classic XKE Jaguar look. :-)

When I installed the hood vents, I also added a gauge under the hood to track temps there. I don't know what the temps were before the louvers, but with them the engine bay temps are about what the ambient temps are. IE, when the car is moving, if it's 50F outside, its 50F under the hood. If it's 90F outside, it's 90F under the hood. Until, of course, you stop the car. Then, the under-hood temps will temporarily rise to maybe 150F or so until the hot air is able to escape on its own without the aid of the forward movement of the car.

I know that it is arguable that keeping temperatures under the hood high is better for fuel economy, but I can't tell any difference. Besides, I think cooler temps in the engine bay are better not only for the battery, but also the computers, sensors, belts, hoses and plastics that are subject to degrading heat from the engine.

The hood venting doesn't affect my engine coolant temps. The engine coolant is controlled by the thermostat, and coolant temperatures haven't changed at all for me. However, if I covered the grill (which I don't), I'm sure the hood louvers would supply some amount of relief should coolant temps rise due to the air blockage.

[19bonestock88]

Been working on the car a bit lately. I picked up a rare-ish set of wheels meant for a mid nineties Saturn SL2. Supposedly only 14lb and decent aero even before blanking the holes out/attaching a pizza pan to them. Less rotational mass is always a win!

I’ve also worked on mirror delete blanks. Got the shape cut out of coroplast and refined to a decent fit, just working on mounting them.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by 19bonestock88

.... wheels meant for a mid nineties Saturn SL2. Supposedly only 14lb...

Weigh those puppies before you put tires on 'em. Let's find out how much they weigh!

[19bonestock88]

I’ve been away for a while, but that doesn’t mean progress has stopped. I’ve somewhat solved mounting for my mirror delete blanks and have been cruising around with no mirrors. The mounting isn’t perfect, the blanks need weatherstripping on the backside, and the white coroplast screams “self modded” but they seem to work. I even grabbed the interior corner trim from a higher level Ion that had power mirrors so I don’t have a hole in my corner trim for the adjuster.

I’m also in process of making pizza pans fit over the wheels I got (still haven’t been weighed bc I don’t have a scale)...

...aaaand, I’m delving into engine tuning by means of tricking the sensors. A friend made a circuit to put a potentiometer in line with the MAP sensor and the thought is to trick the PCM into reading more vacuum than it has, in order to advance timing. Being that it also affects air fuel ratio at wide open throttle (to be fair it skews the mix everywhere but in closed loop the car will use the oxygen sensor to correct) I have only made slight adjustments and have been logging data and watching fuel trims to make sure the car can still correct enough to have a proper air/fuel ratio. So far though I’ve gained (I think) 1.5-2 degrees of timing at cruise, 1 degree throughout the range at WOT, and like 6-8 degrees at idle. The car idles normally and drives fine around town and on the road, but being more responsive/powerful. Since this affects the UltraGauge readings I have no way to say for certain what it does to economy, it seems about the same on the gauge but I’ve no way to verify it’s accuracy. My tank average is shot due to having a lot of long WOT pulls on it from the tuning, and to be honest I just don’t drive it much. With my work all but shut down I don’t really drive much at all at the moment

[Piotrsko]

Did you verify that less signal from the map sensor decreases fuel quantity? I am under the possibly mistaken impression that map sensors work in reverse, the less vacuum measured the more signal voltage output.

[Vman455]

Originally Posted by MeteorGray

I installed a couple of louvers in the hood of my Mazda3, mostly to increase longevity of the battery in my semi-tropical climate. Besides, I was going after the classic XKE Jaguar look. :-)

Sorry to head off-topic, but do you have any pictures of these vents?

[MeteorGray]

Vman, I do not have pictures of them installed on my Mazda, but here are some pictures from the source I bought them from for both my Jeep and the Mazda. I chose them because they add a little flair to the vehicle while venting the engine bay of excessive heat.

With both my Jeep and the Mazda, I positioned between the hood braces so the hood strength was not compromised. They were placed like in the pictures:

https://www.hylineoffroad.com/jeep_p...l_hood_louvers

[19bonestock88]

For my other front clip I’ve marked the hood for about where I want the vents to go. The issue is I haven’t found any pre-made ones yet, that aren’t super expensive. I did however finish up my OG VX style fender vents, also trimming/folding my inner fenders to fit. Since we’re ordered to stay at home, I’m doing all the work inside my apartment. Thankfully my GF is very supportive.

[California98Civic]

That trunklid spoiler mount looks smart. You have more pictures?