2016 Corolla LE ECO Mods?

[GK13]

ok. seems I need to just accept that I bought the car already modded lol. What about aero mods? I kinda want to try the grill block but here in AZ it gets to 120+ and I need my ac full blast and don't want to hinder it's performance. what other mods would help this car do you think?

[Ecky]

In AZ, I'd probably avoid a grille block, but you can almost certainly improve the underbody to some degree. Here's my belly pan:




Smooth wheel covers are one that you might like and often draw positive attention.

You might do external mirror deletes, and get some small mirrors to put inside. This cuts down on both drag coefficient AND reduces frontal area.

Wheel skirts on the rear would be helpful.

If you're feeling particularly adventurous, a partial kamm back or even boat tail would likely show large improvements. These are highly visible and often rather sketchy looking modifications though.

[GK13]

yours looks great! that's actually the first picture I've seen of one. I have thought of doing a kamm back or boat tail, but 1. I don't know how and 2. I don't know how much that would cut my visibility out the back window. I have seen the small window spoilers and was thinking that might count as a small kamm back? idk. The underbelly pan I want to try and the smooth wheel covers I know I can do. It looks like I'm best off finding a really light weight 15 inch wheel compaired to upgrading the size and looks. I want to do the smooth covers that are hub caps. I really don't want to have to drill into the rim and all. Does anyone know if there are wheels lighter weight than the steel wheels that come stock? Now, the rear wheel skirts, is there any easy way to fabricate those? I have no idea how to mount them without drilling into the body of the car which I really won't do.

[Ecky]

Can you take a picture of the wheels it came with? The pictures I see of stock wheels look like alloys to me.

I'm not certain if they would fit, but some Honda stock rims are pretty good. I believe the 2nd generation Civic Hybrid wheels are about 16lbs each (and stock tires are 22lbs) which isn't bad for a 15" rim. For comparison, the 14" rims on my Insight are 11lbs with 11.5lb tires, and the well-loved 13" Civic VX rims come in at around 9.5lbs. The advantage of the Civic Hybrid wheels would be that they're already relatively aerodynamic:




If you can't find any info on them online, I'd recommend pulling one of your wheels off and standing on a bathroom scale with it. You can find the tire weight online and do some subtraction to get the rim weight.

Regarding side skirts, MetroMPG made a set a while back which is held in place with velcro:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...metro-103.html


You might also try taking a piece of 1/4" aluminum, bending it into a U shape, and attacking it to the plastic liner inside the wheel well, then using that as your anchor for the skirt.

[GK13]

They're just stock steel wheels. They have some hubcaps on them and that's about it. 15 inch. I assume that I'd want to keep that size to maximize FE? I like the little larger rims but I understand that could hurt the FE? I also believe that all steel wheels would weigh about the same.

[serialk11r]

Oh sorry, when I said don't P&G I don't mean don't shift to neutral if you're going downhill (assuming the transmission is okay with that...), it was more don't P&G on flat land. A less advanced engine would have more benefit P&Ging on flat land.

And yes, the A in 2ZR-FAE makes all the difference in the world. You have close to zero throttling losses, which is saving you a whole 1-2 horsepower on the freeway.

[Xist]

I drive around with this and my engine stays cool enough at 65 MPH, but I keep the windows open instead of using the air conditioning.



I never added the grill because my car does start overheating when I drive up big hills.

[hayden55]

Why didn't you make the inlet in front of the radiator?

[Xist]

Symmetry? The AC condenser needs love, too? I may almost never use it, but you had better believe I do when I have passengers! I always figured this needed far more work. I have looked for square ABS pipe to reinforce and put around the inlet, and then go off that to duct into the grill, but I did not find anything. I have planned on taking the rest of the plastic and cementing it to the back for rigidity, but on days like those, I just cannot get out of bed.

Recently, Aerohead told me I need to bell-mouth the opening. I looked at 3" ABS pipe at the hardware store. I thought about making a frame with an equal opening, slit the sheeting, and cement it to the pipe, and then have a pipe run the width of the bumper, attached at the bottom, but I still do not think that would give it much rigidity (at the edge), and I wonder how well I can make 45° cuts in pipe, but also I had spent too much time outside on a 116° day.

Honestly, though, putting it right in front of the radiator makes a great deal of sense.