98 Civic Upper Grill Block - A tribute to PaleMelanesian

[Istas]

Nice looking grille block, both of you. Cool that it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb.

[cackalak]

As far as the gearing issue, I know that there are lots of DX/LX/HX guys looking for the shorter geared EX transmissions. I'm sure you could have them do a straight swap for you.

[shiba]

Originally Posted by cfg83

Wonderboy -

I'm in *no* way an expert, but maybe the higher speed pushed you into your BSFC sweet spot. The higher speed cost you MPG, but the better BSFC spot was more fuel efficient, so it cancelled out and netted the same MPG.

NO WAY!! I had a feeling this may be the case in my car also (toyota tercel), but never wanted to post that, i just thought it was my mind playing tricks on me...or my MPGuino

Originally Posted by Christ

I can second that - a friend of mine got his best MPG on the highway (according to an SGII) in his 2-thousand-something CR-V at 62 MPH... intuitively, 55mph should have been better for him... but apparently, Honda did something "right" as far as making speeds efficient vs highway speed in that particular car.. (not model, just car.)

so, if i were to try and 'test' for this in my car, would i be looking for MPG at a certain MPH; or MPG at a certain RPM?

dont mean to thread-jack!!, its a very nice grill block!! i'm going to have to try and get around to a more permanent one like that, instead of the cardboard/duct tape one i fabed last weekend

~Shiba

[Christ]

It took him about a month or two worth of fuel (2-3 tanks a week) of "testing" all highway driving at different cruise speeds. His was an automatic, so no real gear selection issues or anything there, he just found out that at ~62 (indicated), he got the best fuel economy, with a notable drop (~1mpg average) between ~62 and ~55, as well as between ~62 and ~65-67.

He did note, though, that if he were ever in a hurry to get to work, that ~73-75 was a "good compromise" between speed and efficiency... I can only assume that meant the fuel economy wasn't that much lower (2-3MPG, ~10%), and that the speed was high enough to make enough time to "forget" about the MPG loss.

Lest we forget, for some people, slowing down to get better MPG actually costs them more in the long run... If you make $30 an hour, and you're taking an extra half hour to get somewhere because you're going 5 MPH slower, you're losing $15 in wages... and gaining a few dollars in fuel (if that). In fiscal terms, the best fuel economy isn't always the best policy.

[FastPlastic]

I'm glad to see more and more are picking up the stealthy mods. I feel the more the mods blend in, the more likely others will be willing to accept them as just another part of the car with an MPG bonus!

[PaleMelanesian]

For the record, I now have "normal" looking hubcaps - that are nearly moon-disc shaped with only a few little vents around the perimeter. Stealth!

[Wonderboy]

I'm glad to see more and more are picking up the stealthy mods. I feel the more the mods blend in, the more likely others will be willing to accept them as just another part of the car with an MPG bonus!

I'm not even running with that clear upper grill block anymore. It ended up cracking, so I put some black coroplast on there shaped the same as the grill. Here's a picture of it at the AMEC run last november, but I don't normally run it with all that tape or those big air dams

I got over the mod "blending in" thing pretty quickly. If I kept my aero mods painted nice and black all the time (the black paint on the coroplast has peeled off a bit from removing that tape) I guess some could argue that it looks nice and blended or "cool", but I really don't care much. I'd go so far as to paint a mod the same color as the car instead of just leaving the coroplast white, but I'm all for getting noticed too and eventually making people wonder "why did he do that", after they probably think "what the flip is that idiot doing with that ugly-ass thing?". Beauty to me is something that is ugly or noticeably different in aesthetic to the status quo, but works significantly better with no other compromises.

[PaleMelanesian]

What thickness did you use, that ended up cracking? Mine is, if my memory is correct, 1/8" plexi. It's very stiff to bend even over the mild curve we have here.

[Wonderboy]

It was pretty bendy stuff, not too terribly rigid. It was my fault it cracked anyway. I wasn't careful when I drilled the mounting holes into it, and it cracked right then. It held up just fine for a while, but the crack slowly grew. I also didn't like that it slid around a little bit and you could see dirt and such building up behind it as it scratched away at the grill under it. I figured I'd nip any more scratching like that off at the bud since I do plan on selling the car.

[PaleMelanesian]

Dirt building up behind it. I've got a collection of dead wasps behind mine right now. 5 of them got in there and died this spring!