2004 Silverado most bang for my buck?

[Lethedethius]

ok I looked at it, I used this crap a lot when I did construction. Not the greatest material, how would I make this seamless in the truck though? That's what I'm aiming for, unnoticeable aerodynamic mods.

[darcane]

Originally Posted by Lethedethius

So I went back outside, in the lovely ohio weather we have (cold as hell).

I realize gaping space is disastrous for aerodynamics however, I must ask, which should I block? does it matter in the sense of which is higher? I know the lower your car is the better gas mileage you get cause less air is getting under it, but does that count here?

What could I use to block these? would some spray painted duck tape work??

I'm sure I can do a mount for an underbelly, but I'm not sure I want to extend it too far, my concerns would be draining oil... (though I don't change it much hah)

LASTLY!!!! The retched antenna, could I run a wire to the body and just bolt it there? Would that cause any kind of grounding issue? Would it cause any issues with the radio?

Help me out here!!! I'm a noob at this stuff!

<Pictures snipped>

Did you check out the thread on my truck in my sig?
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ado-11135.html

It's got desciption and pictures of my grill block and belly pan for my truck which is the same body style truck as yours. Pics reposted on page 5 due to the dead links.

With the grill block, keep in mind that there are openings in the bumper that direct air to the radiator as well. Because of this, I blocked almost my entire grill, and would have done more except I was concerned about blocking airflow to the tranny cooler (which is on the driver's side, right in front of the radiator).


My belly pan extends back 4 feet, which is the width of a sheet of corex. This leaves the drain plug and filter accessible for oil changes.

I never did come up with a solution I liked for the holes in the bumper for the tow hooks.

They sell rolls of ~3/4" wide, adhesive backed, foam tape at home depot for insulation. This would likely fill gaps pretty well. I think others have used it on the forum. I'd recommend reading more and using the search engine for ideas.

[Diesel_Dave]

As far as the bed cover goes, I made by own with some leftover exterior plywood I found thrown out at a construction site and some glossy exterior white paint. Cost about $15 and looks pretty good if I do say so myself. Don't think I posted any pics of that, but I can.

As far as the grille blocks go, darcane is probably the guy to follow since his truck is the same as yours. For other ideas you can check out what I did here:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...wer-19810.html

As far as synthetic go, they'll probably do some, but they're not going to make a huge difference. When you figure whether or not it'll save you money keep in mind that synthetic oil generally gives longer oil change intervals. I use synthetic in my wife's Blazer because I change it myself and that way I don't have to change it as often. Don't forget that you can also synthetic gear oil in your axle. One of the advantages of synthetics is superior low temperature performance, so they help warm ups and cold weather performance. Ganted, like I said earlier, they're not going to buy you a ton. I definitely wouldn't go out and change to synthetic unless you're already due for a change.

As far as how high tire pressures help, the higher the tire pressure, the less the rubber flexes and absorbs energy when rolling. You can imaging if you had a solid steel wheel vs a wheel of foam rubber--the steel wheel rolls a lot easier. Same concept.

You might want to look into getting a block heater and/or an oil pan heater too. Helps with cold weather startups.

[Lethedethius]

Dave, I took two looks at your truck and I applaud your work, it is beautiful, is that card board with some wrap on it? That grill block is absolutely seamless like I want! However wouldn't it make more sense to place it on the outside of the grill? As for a block heater I can't do, I live in apartments .

Again, BEAUTIFUL construction.

[Lethedethius]

I apologize, Darcane yes I looked at your thread and it's very good! Your work is also very superb, what material is that?

[Diesel_Dave]

Originally Posted by Lethedethius

Dave, I took two looks at your truck and I applaud your work, it is beautiful, is that card board with some wrap on it? That grill block is absolutely seamless like I want! However wouldn't it make more sense to place it on the outside of the grill? As for a block heater I can't do, I live in apartments .

Again, BEAUTIFUL construction.

Thanks! The material is called Thermo-ply. It's kind of a cross between cardboard and particle board. It's about 1/4" thick. It's used for sheeting houses. I'm not sure as I could have picked this material as "ideal", but there was a bunch of it that was thrown out at the construction site next door. Sheet metal or coroplast would probably be better but the Thermo-ply was free (and I'm cheap ). I just primed it and spray painted it black. I'm hoping that keeps it from adsorbing moisture (so far it looks like it has).

Aerodynamically, it would be slightly better to put it on the outside of the grill. I put it on the inside for looks. I also did it to improve warm up times as well as aero.

[Lethedethius]

Dar, can you send me detailed pictures and descriptions on what you did? I want to add your mod to my truck-with an addition, I'm going to try to paint it the same color as the truck ;-)

[Lethedethius]

bump, Dar?

[Ryland]

Least aerodynamic parts of an average car are the underside, the back and the wheel wells, you already said you are not in to anything that draws attention so lowering the truck to help fill in the wheel wells or covering them over is most likely out of the question but what about smoother wheels or hub caps, racing style moon disks or the plastic racing style disks? is there a stock wheel that is smoother that you can start shopping for for the next time you have to buy new tires?
Crawl under the truck and look at it and ask your self if the sides of the truck looked like that wouldn't you be worried about the air flow?

Read your owners manual and see what it says for oil change intervals, it's most likely 10,000 miles or so and at that point synthetic oils seem more practical, synthetic transmission fluid is going to last years and is being pumped around so a more consistent, smooth, fluid like a synthetic might just be the ticket.
I don't often recommend fancy spark plugs like the Bosch +4, but from everything I read about them they tend to work in larger, American style engines, like you have.

[Lethedethius]

the way my vehicle works is it has a sensor within the crank, so whenever it needs to be changed it just blinks on my dashboard, it's average is about 10,000 miles. Putting moon disc would again bring attention, hubcaps aren't possible because I have rims on the vehicle. Unless you know of some sort of moon disc (not pizza pans) that connect to my rooms, that are safe, and won't roll off lol.

I appreciate your ideas though, and happy holidays!