Aeromods for the Vue - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

BenArcher006 · 10-04-2015, 12:27 AM

So I have my Saturn Vue for almost 2 years now and I've been hypermiling for a year with no aeromods whatsoever. All I have installed on the Vue is a Vacuum Gauge and an Ultragauge.

My hypermiling attitude was on and off this summer, but now its really back on as I did my best tank ever with a 8.23L/100kms (28.58 us mpg).

So I finaly thought it was time to aeromod that shoebox shaped Suv. Started with a full front grille block and extended the front air dam about 2 inches with lawn edging and some rivets.

And did more thinking and since we're in elections here in Canada I will use the coroplast that grew on lightpoles lately to do an undertray belly pan.

Hope I'll be able to get some interesting numbers before cold temperatures.

Here ate the pics:

kafer65 · 10-04-2015, 09:50 AM

The family car has come a long way! How are the Contis treating you so far? I 've had the same problems with tire choices. Now, I find myself very satisfied with the OEM tires for once.
I gather that you're forgoing the more radical aesthetic mods from the name you gave your car? Oh! So close! It just has to have wheel covers, mirror deletes and skirts

BenArcher006 · 10-04-2015, 11:37 AM

Family car because our other car was a 98 Tercel 2 Doors, so not that practical when you have a Family.

Contis are perfect, about 10 000 kms on them, running at 45psi and they barely look used. Silent, and great handling in curves and absolutely no aquaplaning even in heavy Rain

Future areomods would be:

-Radio antenna removal
-Undertray belly pan made of coroplast
-Flush wheel covers
-Roof racks removal
-Lowering springs (mostly for look, but it helps getting better mpg so hey!)

As for wheel well gap filling, won't do it because winter is ultra harsh here in Québec and we use salt and for mirrors delete it is illegal here to remove them so....

Might install an engine kill switch next summer.

Just bought 0w20 Mobil 1 syntec oil for the winter and might continue using it next summer.

kafer65 · 10-04-2015, 04:03 PM

I just got a Blackstone oil analysis back on that oil over about 7500 miles and it looked very favorable for a 10k OCI. Its what mine calls for but I was a little worried about it in summer but it works well.
I've already had to tighten the front arch covers today. I may need to make new ones to have the integrated nut/bolt to clamp harder on the plastic lip. Lowering would be better but I need the height to get in and out easier with my rheumatoid arthritis.

BenArcher006 · 10-09-2015, 06:56 PM

After browsing the aeromods forum, I landed on the Cng Aero Toyota Camry and thought about what I could do to upgrade the front aerodynamics of my Vue.

Well I use coroplast to fill all the uneven surfaces to makes the front as smooth as possible.

So I made templates out of cardboard and then cut the coroplast to the template's shape. After I used Black Gorilla Tape and zip ties to install the pieces that I cut.

I installed one around the car's logo and have fill the gap between the hood and the grille. Then I did the 2 faux grilles on each side of the big front grille.

After looking at the truck front bumper, I wasnt satisfied with my lower opening block. It wasnt flush with the rest of the bumper. I wanted something smooth to get the best and smoothest air flow possible. So I made another template and coroplast piece so it would fit as tight as possible in the opening. Smoothed everything with Gorilla Tape.

No much People know that most Gm cars get air to the radiator from an opening under the front bumper right in front of the air dam. I was feeling that, with my lowered and widen front air dam, more air got into the opening and was making a parachute effect. I had to close that. 4 zipties 1 piece of coroplast sure took care of that.

Finally everything was closed, but I was thinking, Now the engine still needs air. So I made an small opening in the center of the lowest air trap and under the bumper I left two 4 inches opening on each sides.

Now everything is flush as it can, so Im pretty air flow around the truck will be smoother and hopefully give better gas millage!

Cant wait to see the numbers!

Next: undertray belly pan, rear tires spats and passenger side mirror delete...

kafer65 · 10-10-2015, 10:03 AM

Looks good! Getting the roof racks off will help alot. In winter you could put poole noodles or pipe insulation around the air opening to help keep in the heat when it gets colder outside. I bet it could be completely closed in winter.

You did better than I did by including your vehicle model in the thread title but one thing I've learn, however, is to post pics bigger than thumbnail sized. I know Frank Lee, in particular hates thumbnail pics (others too). I got around this by posting pic in my album and copying the bb code that is presented when you open the picture there. When you paste the bb code to where you want your pic it will show in all its glory

BenArcher006 · 10-10-2015, 10:13 AM

Yeah I know about the Roof rails, problem is I need to buy the Roof trim with no rails, I can't Just remove the rails.

Now I will remove the passenger side mirror and will do an air box mod so the engine will suck in warmer air from the engine Bay.

As for the thumbnails, Im not quite sure I understand what you mean. It you click on the pics you get to see the picture in "full size" but it was compressed a lot to fit the forum max size.

Even in my album, cant upload anything lager than 196kb.

kafer65 · 10-10-2015, 11:40 AM

Present your pictures in your thread so viewers don't have to go through the extra steps of having to open them up. In your album open one of your pictures. Look below the picture where it shows you the file path like "http://ecomodder.com/image path...". Below that is a box that has the bb:" [IMG]and image information[/IMG]". Copy that information including the hashtags and paste it in your thread and the resizing is automatically set to display an acceptable size pic in your thread. I learned this from argonne and some others here.

BenArcher006 · 10-10-2015, 01:39 PM

Here you go!! Thanks for the tip!

Today I drilled a 3in hole in my air box so hot air from the engine would be sucked in!

I'll try to do my passenger side mirror delete later today!

Xist · 10-10-2015, 06:05 PM

I always try to save and manipulate images with the highest resolution possible, but members have complained when they were large enough the sites scales them down, so I finally started resizing everything 590 pixels wide, which usually makes an adequately small file. I attach the image, copy the link, click on the image icon, and paste the address.

I do not think that I have had complaints yet...