AZ's F150 thread - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

animated_zombie · 02-13-2011, 01:59 PM

Hey everybody,

I've been a member for a little while now. Mostly lurking though, I really don't know too much when it comes to ecomods. When I've posted before, I was writing about my Camry (See sig), but since I was in the middle of a few projects when the winter weather hit I've had to drive my truck.

My F-150 is a 2007, Reg Cab XL V6 I've been messing with her since day one, but not until now in an eco sense. For anyone interested here's my build-up thread over on (f150online).

Anywho just got to building a grille block last night. It's just a mock up, but I'm going to see how this tank of gas goes, and then modify it. I was thinking once I get it where I want it, maybe making it out of lexan?
Thoughts on that?

Hopefully, I'll be making a lower grille block and lexan smooth covers for my fog light buckets soon.

Pics for clicks!

darcane · 02-15-2011, 08:37 PM

On my Silverado, I had the grill block behind the grill (Corex sheet ziptied with 3" square reinforcing plates on the backside). When I moved it to the front of my grill, I noticed an improvement in how quickly my engine got up to temp.

I believe the reason why is that air pushing on the grill block made it deflect enough to allow a lot of air through. Moving it to the front made the air pressure force it to stay in place.

Mike

animated_zombie · 02-15-2011, 08:49 PM

Mike,

You make a good point, I didn't think about that. When I remake it I may put it on the outside. Now, have you had the grille block on during the summer yet? I am concerned about engine temps once it starts warming up.

Thanks for the info!

darcane · 02-15-2011, 09:43 PM

I initially had a small grill block (Just the upper part of my grill. and originally on the back), and that was on all last summer. This winter, I blocked the lower part of my grill and then moved the upper to the outside as seen here:

The opening on the driver's side is for my tranny cooler. They are a little hard to see, but there are two slots in the bumper that feed air into the radiator as well.

No summer data yet, but I don't expect it to overheat.

Mike

animated_zombie · 02-15-2011, 09:56 PM

Mike,

That looks good! Looks like we'll be testing summer at the same time then. But hey, that's what a temp gauge is for anyway. quick question, for you; what did you use for material. It looks like you painted it (which makes it look more OEM) but I can't tell.

Thanks mate!

darcane · 02-16-2011, 03:17 AM

I went to a local plastic distributer and bought three 4'x8' sheets of black Corex ($16 each). I used it for the grill block and my partial belly pan and plan on using the rest of it for more streamlining under my truck. I probably won't do a full belly pan, but I'll eventually get the worst spots covered up.

Corex is a corrugated plastic just like Coroplast (it's what political signs are made of if you aren't familiar with it). If you buy it by the sheet, it comes in a huge variety of colors. It's a very popular material here on EM.

As for summertime testing with the grill block... I use an Ultragauge to closely monitor my coolant temp. I will set it up to give a warning if it starts getting too warm to make sure I get enough airflow, even in the warmest days of summer. I plan on removing the lower grill block any time I'm towing (side cutter and zip ties in the glove box just for this reason)

Mike

animated_zombie · 02-16-2011, 09:17 PM

Mike,

Sounds great, I'll have to try to find some of that. I want to fill some of the gaps underneath the truck. Hopefully I can get enough material to start under the front bumper.

Thanks again!

COcyclist · 02-17-2011, 03:11 PM

I have been running a black coroplast upper grill block on my wife's 04 Ford Explorer for about three years now, winter and summer with no overheating. I did remove it briefly before towing a heavy load over mountain passes in summer.

I ended up gluing a layer of rubber over the coroplast on the VW because kicked up rocks kept punching holes in it.

animated_zombie · 02-18-2011, 08:59 PM

Good to hear! I've never done any towing (and as of now, I don't plan on doing any), so that shouldn't be a problem.

I may have some free time this weekend, so I might try and re-make the grille block. I'd like to make a lower grille block to match...

Oh, I also found some pictures on here of how some one did some underbelly aero-mods to their F-150, so I'm going to try and replicate that. Hopefully soon!

One other thing I forgot... Does anyone know the laws regarding this (or where I could find out) about passenger side mirrors in Missouri?

I was thinking about using my OEM mirrors (the XL style) and cutting off the mirror and then smoothing it over; to make a mirror blank for the passenger side. We used to have an early 90's Festiva, and I remember that it just had a plastic triangle for the passenger side mirror.

animated_zombie · 02-19-2011, 04:57 PM

Okay, I'm utterly confused at this point...

My truck gets about 16mpg. I think that this is awful, and I'm trying to improve it. So I started with the grille block. The last tank I ran (It wasn't full, just $20 worth) but I went from 16mpg to 13.06.

What?

I'm really sensitive with this truck; it's my baby. I'm really ginger on the gas, I pop it in neutral at the stop lights... How am I losing gas mileage?

Any ideas on Aero mods or "Adjusting the nut behind the wheel" are greatly appreciated.

Thanks everybody!