2007 Ford Focus wagon, 5-speed

[spacemanspif]

Originally Posted by ME_Andy

That looks pretty sweet. I'd lean towards trimming the ends nicely with a Dremel tool or something.

PS why are you driving 120 mi/day!? That's loco.

Same job, new living arrangement. I moved in with the future Mrs. Spif and the location is the best split of the distances to our works. I'm actively searching for closer work and so is she but for the time being I've got a no traffic 60 mile commute and her's is heavy traffic for 35 miles. We are making the best of the situation but gas and tolls are definitely having an effect on out bank accounts.

[spacemanspif]

And just like that I'm about to go from 120 miles/day to about 6. I had an application out to Clean Harbors and they just offered me the job today. A little more than I currently make plus available overtime. It's going to be nice filling up less and not paying any tolls but I'll miss my old job and co-workers who are really close friends. My commute wil be about 1 mile to the highway, 1 mile on the highway and less than a mile to the office. I'm also going to explore back road options and am seriously thinking about a small motorcycle for commuting in warmer months. If I had a place to plug in I'd seriously consider an electric but that's not an option in my apartment complex...but might be at the new office...

[spacemanspif]

Today I needed to get a couple keys copied and went to Lowes where I also looked for pipe insulation for a lower grill block. I wish I knew how cheap this stuff is earlier!! $1.50 got me 6' of insulation that I cut up and jammed into the lower grill of the car just like AK-Focus did. Left a small window open at the very bottom, center of the grill. I'll monitor engine temps on my drive into work tomorrow and report back but since I have AK-Focus already testing this method, I'm confident it won't be problem.

[Focus-Ak]

We live in different climates and mine is cooler, so do keep an eye on the temperature on you UltraGauge or ScanGauge. If you still use an SRI, it is probably a good idea the inlet temperature as well. For inlet temperature I have generally been running 70 to 85 degrees-F in an ambient temperature of in the 40s and 50s. Heat soak has taken that up into the 90s, and not over that except one time recently when it was briefly 130 following startup after being parked awhile. That temp remained above 100 for awhile, but had no noticeable effect on performance.

This is with a lot of grill block (as you mentioned) and the big gap under the front lip of my hood sealed.

You should be good to go as long as you keep an eye on things. With the pipe insulation it will be a snap to make any necessary adjustments.

[spacemanspif]

Well I made it work but with having to run the heater at full blast a few times. Temp climbed with every overpass and didn't drop with every downslope so I was up at 220* quite a few times. I've pulled the bottom strip of foam out and we'll see how it does on the trip back home this afternoon.

[Miller88]

I got mine up to 230 once. Usually don't have a problem but I blasted through a snow bank and got on the highway. Grilles were completely blocked.

[spacemanspif]

Nice Miller lol. I've still got the bottom one off but later today I am going to cut the foam in half and run 3 sections of the lower grill open and cover the outermost 2. I think I would be ok with blocking all but the 1 center part in the dead of winter but around here it can go from 0* one day to 55* the next so I'd really like to have just enough for "cool" weather and not worry about the 0.005mpg I'm leaving on the table from not blocking the grill more.

[spacemanspif]

Been over a month and a lot has happened. I am still running with foam in the upper line of the lower grill and temps are doing fine. Got married on the 28th and spent a week in Antigua burning no gas at all. The days leading up to the wedding were really hectic and my dad dropped us off at airport in my car so when I fill it will probably be a terrible tank. Also, I started my new job 4 miles from home and am loving the 10 minute commute but not the low MPG due to warm up time taking almost the whole commute. Either way it should be a cost savings over 3 tolls and 60 miles each way to my old job .

[MetroMPG]

Married & new, closer job? Congrats all around!

Got a block heater? That'd help with the warm-up hit.

[spacemanspif]

Thanks Darin, yea all sorts of changes all at once lol. I wish I could do a block heater but I live in an apartment complex without assigned parking spots and outdoor receptacles
We've been having a very mild winter thus far in New Jersey but I don't have much hope for fully warming up the engine on the very cold mornings that will eventually occur.