Aero mods on 06 civic
 

Workin' on mods for the civic and I'm not sure if I should leave some areas open or not. I will definitely close the whole front in the winter, but I'm wondering if these 2 air inlets that I have open are necessary or not.

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/3...irblocklr2.jpg

The green area is where my license plate use to be and then I modified it to block the center of the bottom air intake area. Luckily there are pieces that stick out of the bottom grill from the radiator area to screw the license plate in instead of them drilling holes into the bumper.

The red area is where there are already pieces stock that block the air.

The orange area is where I plan on blocking first once I figure out a way to strap it in without damaging anything. I wanted to go with a strong plastic type that I could paint black, but it looks like people use clear plastic to block it as well and I wouldn't mind that if it was unnoticeable.

Block it all or no? Comments or suggestions on any of it are welcome. :)

I think you're doing it in the right order, and no, I wouldn't block it all at once (by that I mean, sure block the top, but leave the bottom open on either side of the plate until you have some feedback on how it's going).

How good will you be at keeping an eye on the temp gauge (less useful) and listening for the cooling fan to kick on/off?

My car isn't too noisy on the highway so I think I'll be able to pay attention to it. I'm still messing with my scangauge so I'll use that to keep track of my temps. Problem is, I'm not sure what a dangerous coolant temp is (obviously if I see my hood smokin' I know it's hot, lol) so could I gauge it from driving in the morning (5am to work) to driving home (2pm from work) and figure a nice range in between?

Las Vegas gets crazy hot real fast (117F was our high last year), so I'm trying to be as careful as possible.

I blocked the entire lower grill on mine, but not the upper. The upper on the 05 has two slots, but the top slot is probably 70% blocked aleady, even though it doesn't look like it from the outside. Engine temp rarely gets above 200, but daytime highs here have not gotten above 70 degrees yet.

monitor the cooling fan, if it comes on while your driving you start losing any advantage of blocking because of the increased electrical load.

on mine i plan on making an upper grill out of fiber glass and painting it black, the design i am thinking of will be even with the front face of the headlights and but up against the headlights so as to provide a completely smooth surface. i am not sure what i will do about the lower grill yet as i dont know how this will affect the temperature. also a small aero idea would be to put clear plastic or fill in the area over where the fog lights go so as to have smooth flow in that area as well (i noticed you (like me) don't have fog lamps)

anyhow good luck hope these ideas help some

The car probably came from the factory equipped with Honda Genuine Coolant Type 2 (Blue) which has a boiling point of 268 degrees Fahrenheit. I'd be concerned if temps went over 212.

I operate in a similarly arid area, although not quite as extreme and scan gauge usually reports my engine as running between 198-202. 206 is the highest I've seen thus far and that was idling in bumper to bumper traffic.

Thank you all for the advice. I'm gonna work some more on this and monitor it closely. I'm thinking rather than blocking it veritcally, I will try to do it horizontally to see if I can get better results.

Johnpr, I'm interested to see how your turns out when you smooth it out. I was thinking of smoothing those fog lights out as well, but couldn't figure out a way to do it without drilling holes into the bumper. Most adhesives usually melt in the summer here so that isn't an option either.

If your fog covers have no lights in them, the easiest way to block them off would be with some thin abs 1/16" some door insulated foam for the edges that touch the bumper then run som toggle bolts through it. That way you can screw them down as tight as need be, it will take the shapte of the bumper, and with no permanent damage to the painted areas of your bumper.

Or, a bit more expensive alternative would be to use vinyl to cover the hole or the paint protection film material which is clear.

I've got one piece made to block half of my upper grill, but I've run into a problem. I don't want to drill holes into anything so I'll settle with using tape. What kind of black tape could i use to hold the pieces I made in place? I though of electrical tape, but I remember how gooey that gets when exposed to extreme heat. I'm gonna need something that can withstand 100+ temps in direct sunlight(and preferably black or clear tape).

Thanks.

Pull tabs!

i have a delsol with the grill completely blocked, temp gauge hasn't even moved from "normal" but the air temp hasn't gotten above 70 yet

c0da, looks good. I have the same car (2006 LX) and have been wondering where I could start with aero mods as most of my driving is on limited-access highways and I could probably see a benefit.

My big concern is making things that don't make my late-model car (with less than 20K miles) look like a home-made P.O.S. I applaud guys with 10 year old cars that aren't afraid to bolt on skirts they cut with a pair of scissors, etc ... but I just can't do that to my new baby Civic. :(

If you make a piece to block off the bottom, I'd make several of the same ones and consider some openings in the middle to let some air through. Maybe make one with small openings totaling 25 square inches ... another 50 square inches, etc ... Making the template (properly) is probably going to be the largest chunk of your time ... multiple copies should be light work.

On most Hondas I've owned, the temp gauge is VERY stable and predictable. Any changes which adversely affect the cooling should be easily noticeable as long as you monitor the temp gauge.

I'm waiting for some innovative company to come out with an aero kit for these cars ... solid front wheel covers, rear wheel well skirts and a more efficient front splitter that bolts on underneath the front fender cover.

I made a MS Paint image of what I'm thinking of:

As far as your taping options, you can it this way ... tape it down with painters tape, the blue one, then cover the painters tape with black vinyl. That way it remains black plus is protected from the elements ....

C0da, is yours a 2006 GX? I just took a look at the front of my car ... and it is different from mine (an LX). I don't have those cut-outs for fog lights (yay!) and my grill is a slightly different shape. :confused:

I was also looking at maybe making pieces to put where you have your red squares ... but I can't get behind that area. I was thinking of using long, thin bolts to keep black plastic pieces in place ... but not if I can't get my hand behind the bumper cover. :(

My civic is the LX coupe. Yours sounds like the sedan if it doesn't have the fog light cut outs. Only way to get behind that lower grill is to remove the whole bumper, but I want to block it out and make it flush with the bumper to make it as smooth as possible. I'm also trying to make the piece of plastic that I've cut extend from the end of my hood to the bumper to make it as aero dynamic as possible.

I'll finish it eventually, hehe. I'm gonna try the painter's tape and see how that works.

Yes, you are correct. I have the 4-door. The front is cleaner with a few less holes in it.

Anyone know the cd/cda of the '06 Civics ... 2 and 4 door?

I've found a listing on the wikipedia page for the '06 Civic (0.31), although that isn't always the best resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automob...g_coefficients

No idea if this is meant to be 2-door or 4-door. Although, it always makes me smile when I see that we have cd's lower than a Lamborghini's (for what it's worth).

yeah i have always thought that funny about the lambos

I wouldn't trust these too much. They quote 0.36 for the 2001 Civic Sedan when it's actually 0.28.

airdam
 

I like your MS Paint image.I did want to share with you that Bondo had lowered the airdam on his F-150 and lost a mile per gallon.When he re-sized it,even with the bottom of the undercarriage,the mileage came back.

aerohead, thanks for your feedback.

Yes, looking at that image again, I can see how hanging a larger front lip on the car might catch more air that would ordinarily pass harmlessly beneath the car.

We debate on this site about aero on the upper surfaces of the car, the undertray is even a bigger mystery.

If that is the case, the aero kit I desire just became a third more simple to produce. :)

Have you thought about purchasing the Civic Hybrid's wheels? They're pretty darn efficient, though far more expensive than using wheel covers. But perhaps by selling your current wheels on eBay you could recoup a portion of the cost.

i originally wanted the hybrid wheels but found 1 issue. they have a 4 lug pattern while (at least the coupes) have a 5 lug pattern. i was very disappointed when i found this out.

The hybrid rims are a possibility ... but they would be outrageously expensive unless I could get a couple from a junkyard.

And as for the 4/5 lug deal ... a 2006+ hybrid uses a 4 lug hub? That's odd. I know the older Civics did.

the wheels i found where the current style but had only 4 lugs, i thought it was odd that they wouldnt use the same setup so as to limit the amount of different parts being produced and increase interchangeability. i dont know how long they have been using the current style wheel, maybe they are older than i thought

I Googled up a bunch of images to see if I could veriufy this one way or another ... but they have a cover that hides the lugs.

Edmunds didn't give the bolt pattern either. :(

i searched for images before i posted last to see if i couldnt find one, the last one i had found was on e-bay and was listed as being off a 2006. alas i didnt bother saving the pic because i knew i wouldnt waste the time/money on an adapter or redrilling the rim

Looks like they have a 5 bolt pattern based on the image from this auction. The first gen civic hybrids had a 4 bolt pattern, however. It also makes sense...I know in Canada a lot of dealers would put the hybrid wheels on LXs for example.

2006 civic hybrid wheel:eBay Motors (item 330218279888 end time Jun-01-09 19:06:20 PDT)
http://i13.ebayimg.com/04/i/000/e0/03/cd7b_1.JPG

I know this might be a major resurrection but as an 8thcivic owner I am interested in these projects...for example, how are the mods treating the people who have done them?