2002 Celica Modification (Grill Block)

[aardvarcus]

---Intro---

Hello all,

Some of you may remember a few months back I posted a pickup truck project. I have worked on it some in my limited spare time, but I ran into a few issues with some of my ideas. While I am still committed to working on that project when I have the time, my daily driver (2001 Celica GT Auto) has been replaced with a new daily driver (2002 Celica GTS Manual). Since I am planning on keeping this car for a while and since I drive it a lot more than my truck I am putting a priority on getting some mods done to this car, and will deal with the truck when I am happy with the car.

First off, I am doing general maintenance and upkeep to the car, and am establishing a MPG baseline. My next step is to get some instrumentation and do some partial grill blocks. Further out would be a belly pan and other aero mods and distant future would potentially be a gear swap.

---Body---
Attached is a photo of the car. This car has the “Action Package” front end on it, which has a LOT more openings in it than the normal front end (shown in the small side picture) that was on my old car. In my opinion, there is way too much air getting into the engine bay, the car takes forever to get warm, and never really gets to the “normal” temperature on the digital display. So obviously I am looking at doing some grill blocks. There are seven openings on the front of the car in five general groups. There is the Hood Scoop, Upper Grill, Lower Grill, Fog Lights, and Fake Ducts.

Lower Grill- This opening feeds the radiator. My plan is to do a full size plug that fits against the wire screen that protects the radiator. I would incorporate one main opening in the center of the plug to let air to the radiator. I figured I would ghetto in a temporary, and then fix it up real nice when I know the size opening I want. I am guessing about a 75% block would do nicely. I am also considering making a few additional smaller plugs towards the sides that could be added or removed for summer/winter adjustment in the final version.

Upper Grill- This cools the upper part of the engine bay, and hits the exhaust header. I am planning on blocking most but not all of this opening, probably 90% or so. Based on how the engine compartment is laid out, I don’t think the air through the radiator gets to this part of the bay that well. I will investigate this some more.

Hood Scoop- Ok, I don’t have a clue what benefit the air coming in here has, it looks to be mainly hitting the firewall. I think a 100% block would be fine here.

Fog Lights- This area is pointless, and I would do a 100% block, but I worry a little about my fog lights overheating. I was thinking of a block that included a Lexan cover with a small opening to let a little air hit the light.

Fake Ducts- I don’t even know the intended point of these, except possibly for track cars to remove the covers and duct them to the front brakes. The covers jut out, and I am planning to replace them with something flush.

For material, I am planning on using Extruded Polystyrene Foam board cut to fit and painted. After I tweak the design and get them good, I may redo them and cover with fiberglass. I have looked at a lot of the projects on here and have grazed a lot of ideas.

So, does anyone have any thoughts or ideas on my endeavor?

[Daox]

Sounds pretty good. I know grill blocking REALLY helps out the Prius and even when I had my Matrix I ran a full grill block in winter. It helped warm up times quite a bit.

recommendations:
Get a scangauge or other mpg guage! Its invaluable.

[aardvarcus]

Thanks for your reply.

I actually ordered a gauge today (other brand), unfortunately the one I ordered is on backorder and I might not get it for a bit. I have wanted one forever and I don’t know why I just now ordered it. To anyone reading this and still on the fence about gauges: one added benefit of some gauges is the ability to read and clear codes. That will save me gas from driving to the auto parts store to get the code read.

[Sporty Modder]

Just from looking at your pic, I would say block everything but about half the lower grill. Btw I am jealous of that motor you have.

[serialk11r]

Gear swap? You already have the best gears...:P We 1ZZ folk (and most of the Honda crowd) are stuck with the ultra short 5th gear that is complete garbage on the highway. What are you planning to change out? Final drive is VERY hard to replace in these Toyota transmissions. If you want to swap trannies the only thing that would make sense would be a used Euro 6 speed with the 3.9 final drive, a MWR built 4.3 final drive wouldn't really make sense. Luckily for you, C60s go for a good amount of money.

I see your 36mpg average on the old Celica, this new one should do even better.

[UltArc]

How long have you had the 2002? Do you have any fuel data? I look forward to seeing your progress.

[aardvarcus]

Thank you all for your replies.

Yes, the 2zz motor is quite nice. Yeah, the front end is really really (really) open.

The "gear swap" I referenced would be the final drive ratio gear. One of the reasons I went with the GTS was the lower 6th gear. Yes, the final drive gear would be very difficult to change, definitely not DIY at least for me. MWR actually has a c60 rebuild that had the 3.9 final drive ratio as compared to my 4.5. I will probably be waiting until I have some sort of transmission or clutch service needed before I could seriously consider the swap. My hope is through better aerodynamics the car with a 3.9 could be just as "peppy" as it is with the 4.5 stock.

I haven't had the 2002 for very long, so I don't have a good fuel baseline. I had been diagnosing a few engine issues with the lift mechanism that engages the secondary camshaft, so I had to do a lot of high RPM shifts to test it's functionality, so my fuel data from those tanks isn't the most useful. I am settling back into my daily commute now, so I should have useful data for comparison in a week or two.

[aardvarcus]

Just as a quick update, I have been working on the grill blocks. I installed a piece of clear plastic (Lexan) over the green and orange areas on each side. I tried to make a frame, but gave up and just screwed it directly to the car. I’m not in love with it, but it is working for now. Showing dirt is the biggest “problem.” There has been no big noticeable difference from the small area covered; the front is still so wide open it will need more attention before the numbers start to move.
I have had a few starts on the yellow upper grill. I tried making a flush contoured removable plug from expanding foam covered in fiberglass, but I had no inner reinforcement, so the plug changed shape as it cured. I trimmed and trimmed to get it to fit, but I then had major issues applying the fiberglass to the surface. I have scrapped this idea, and am moving on to other methods. My idea of the moment it to make a textured plug that looks like a grill and paint it black. This is similar to what I have seen done on some newer cars.
In the near future the car is going to receive a belly pan, but I am waiting on a friend to help me get the materials.

[aardvarcus]

Finally had (made) some time to snap a few pictures of my in progress aeromodding of my Celica. One of the reasons for the delay was several false starts, several failed methods, and my temporary testing pieces just looked horrible (as many people told me). I finally finished my grill blocks and am satisfied with the results. As you can tell, I used punched aluminum to create new aggressive looking grills for all my openings. What (hopefully) isn’t apparent is that behind this aluminum are sheets of lexan acting as the grill block. I tried just the lexan with nothing in front of it, but it was very obvious that there was a sheet of plastic there. With the aluminum in front to distract you, you really don’t notice the lexan. Then you just cut the lexan away from where you want to let intake air in. My lower grill is 40% lexan blocked, plus the aluminum is a 60% block, resulting in a net 75% block. The upper grill is 85% blocked, it needed a little air or my intake temps got too warm for my tastes. The hood scoop and lower side grills are 95+% blocked, aka I tried for 100% but they aren’t perfect. If you look at my earlier pictures you will see that I used the lower side covers to span over two different openings. Most people assume the grill is just for looks, and don’t know it has an aerodynamic benefit, thus I don’t get as many negative comments.

I also discovered from my testing that I needed the front part of my bellypan in place with large amounts of lower grill block, or else the limited air I was letting in was flowing under the car and not though the radiator. Thus you can see the start of my belly pan, which consists of an extruded aluminum frame, 0.060 aluminum sheet, rubber spacers to cut vibration, and stainless steel sheet metal screws. I have enough material to finish the rest of the car in this manner.

You can also see another mod, though non-aero, are my 205/65/16 Michelin Energy Saver tires, which are 26.5” in diameter, as opposed to the stock 205/50/16 which are 24” in diameter. This has lowered my RPMs by 10% and also helped my rolling resistance. I know it has hurt my aero, by raising the car an inch, but when I finish my belly pan and get some tire spats that should greatly reduce the downside. My (very) long term plan is to regear when the transmission needs work, and at that point I will probably revert back to stock sized tires.

All these changes, plus the warmer weather, have taken me from the low 30s (29-32) stock to the high 30s (37-39) modified, with no substantial changes in driving habits between the numbers.

[aardvarcus]

Made some more progress on the belly pan over the weekend, got a roughly 4’ by 4’ section in the middle of the car installed. Sorry I need to get some pictures. Next I am going to bridge from the front pan to the middle pan under the engine bay using dzus fasteners for engine access.

Also I am re-evaluating my grill intake air as the temps rise, wanted to get some opinions on using a velocity stack as a grill air intake. It is 8” diameter at the entry point and 5” at the back point. I know one big hole should be better than a bunch of little holes.