Finally got off my... Pics included.
 

Before:
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...n/DSCF1873.jpg

After:
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...0730091850.jpg

I haven't tested it yet, and I'm half flying blind, since I don't have a scangauge or equivalent. I do have a real-time code scanner, though, which costs about 4x more than a ScanGauge. :P

I'll use it to check my op temps while I'm driving, periodically. If things get too hot, I'll open one of the lower vent holes, then the other. Hopefully, that will cover it.

Duct Tape Mods, Inc. (Cfg83 ought to love this one - it's easy to reverse.)

That coroplast came from a Camel cigarette advertisement... see, smoking (advertisements) CAN be a good thing. (/sarcasm)

We should add a posts per ecomod stat to the garage. You and I would lose bigtime :p

Dude... you are like... scary fast.

You're faster!

So, really, what I was doing - I thought briefly about putting some duct tape racing stripes on Cara... but I didn't have enough duct tape. Meanwhile, a branch fell off the tree onto the roof, denting it.

I got it inspected, so it's good till January. (Registration has to match inspection.)

I had a camel ad in the back of my van for like 5 months now, so I just decided to cut it up and duct tape it over this big hole :confused: in the front of my minivan...

Once I figure out that it won't cause my van to overheat, I'll just leave it there until I devise something a little better, like some fiberglass. Of course, if I'm going to do FG, I may just want to close the whole thing in and slowly trim out a port for airflow.

So we're actually testing this today... so far, it's passing the "24 hours of rain" test...

It started raining here around 2200 last night, and has continued to do so all the way through the night, and it's still raining, at 1332.

IAT's never went over 113*, engine temps never went over 221, and that was after a long full throttle pull up a hill in 1st gear at 4500 RPMish, then sitting idle at the top of the hill in the pull off.

I call this the "Go or Blow" test.

Verdict - it works, but duct tape sucks after 12 hours of rain. I'm going to have to find a more permanent way to fasten them, which means I'm going to find my rivet gun and some ABS or sheet metal. Screw it, I'm not going to be able to sell the van for what I want anyway, so I'm just keeping it and going to start modding the hell out of it.

I also found that I'm running about 1800 RPM in 3rd gear at 45 MPH... which means I'm over 2200 at 60, not counting TCL... gonna have to see about getting some longer xfer gears.

Here in AZ, 80 cents per pack directly funds public school.

Unlike other legal and self-destructive behaviors like eating rubbish food, living a sedentary (obese) lifestyle, riding a motorcycle, etc.... I'm helping children!!! :thumbup:

I still don't understand this grille block thing. The aero improvements have to come at a cost of decreased lifetime for anything rubber under the hood, at minimum.

Would it be smarter to hood vent like this and then duct directly from the radiator to the vents with dryer tube? That way air's only obstructed by the radiator fins themselves, not by the whole engine/drivetrain/underbody/rear axle/etc.... and you're not heating up expensive parts needlessly?

Granted, I live in AZ where an engine's cooling system is pushed near capacity half the year. May not be such a concern up north... but I just don't like the idea of running organic compounds (like rubber hoses, belts, seals, plastics) hotter than necessary.

I dunno, I've had engine setups that wouldn't see op-temps below 230*F. This one's never seen even that high, so I'm not worried about it.

Those hood vents might work, but now you have to consider air volume of the flow, to make sure that you're not attempting to compress the flow to get it through the vents, otherwise, you're just wasting HP to needlessly compress air.

You're also not really increasing underhood temps that much, because you're still flowing air some, but the engine's coolant is almost always hotter than underhood ambient temps, so there's no reason to fear the air temp increase under the hood.

Since the inside of the hose is always hotter than the outside, raising the outside temp shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Does that qualify? I belive you need to have an epa rating of 18mpg or less. See Below:



Important Things to Know

-Your vehicle must be less than 25 years old on the trade-in date
-Only purchase or lease of new vehicles qualify
-Generally, trade-in vehicles must get 18 or less MPG (some very large pick-up trucks and cargo vans have different requirements)
-Trade-in vehicles must be registered and insured continuously for the full year preceding the trade-in
-You don't need a voucher, dealers will apply a credit at purchase
-Program runs through Nov 1, 2009 or when the funds are exhausted, whichever comes first.
-The program requires the scrapping of your eligible trade-in vehicle, and that the dealer disclose to you an estimate of the scrap value of your trade-in. The scrap value, however minimal, will be in addition to the rebate, and not in place of the rebate.

Christ -

Yeah, my electric fan always comes on at 221 degrees F, so I'm watching for that number in posts. I can't remember where I heard/read it, but I learned the 250 degrees F was the engine damage zone. I usually force the fan on at 210+ degrees F because I don't want to even *reach* 221.

I *always* like reversible mods, but I don't like duct tape. Sticky goo that has to be cleaned off (the lazy gene strikes again).

Maybe you could use zipties through the coroplast onto the grill. No harm done. EDIT: Oops, it doesn't look like you have a "grill" like I was thinking. I was thinking honeycomb.

CarloSW2

Oh, I'm going non-reversible with it next... Sheet metal and pop-rivets LOL.

Igo- Why did you post that? It has nothing to do with this topic... I could care less about the CARS program, and no, Cara doesn't qualify. She's the only model that doesn't in this generation, from what I could tell by the preliminary list.

Ducting
 

I still don't understand this grille block thing. The aero improvements have to come at a cost of decreased lifetime for anything rubber under the hood, at minimum.

Would it be smarter to hood vent like this and then duct directly from the radiator to the vents with dryer tube? That way air's only obstructed by the radiator fins themselves, not by the whole engine/drivetrain/underbody/rear axle/etc.... and you're not heating up expensive parts needlessly?

Granted, I live in AZ where an engine's cooling system is pushed near capacity half the year. May not be such a concern up north... but I just don't like the idea of running organic compounds (like rubber hoses, belts, seals, plastics) hotter than necessary.[/QUOTE]

Ideally, the radiator flow would be all in smooth, tapered ducts, but there seems to be no room for them in most designs. Those exit vents are nice, but nowhere near the area needed to match the intake, let alone account for the increase in volume. The rubber bits might prefer their own moderate supply of fresh air. At the other extreme, parking lots in Fairbanks get llittered with "snow snakes" - fan belts that have just snapped from a cold start. I'd like to find a simple way to get a grille block to move along with the thermostat, or instead of it, as on the original Rolls Royce. Their famous grille is an imitation of "venetian blind" shutters.

Bicycle Bob -

What is your opinion of creating a "vent" at the end of the hood by raising the hood (ignore the hood scoop in this example)? :

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-cf...be-helping.jpg

The added benefit is that the hood doubles as a cover for the wiper blades.

CarloSW2

"What is your opinion of creating a "vent" at the end of the hood by raising the hood (ignore the hood scoop in this example)? :"

I like the extra exit area, although it is in a somewhat high-pressure zone. Also, there is probably less restriction with the large, rough passage around the engine than in a small, rough dryer hose, or bunch of hoses. It would probably pay to add some fairing where the hood used to be, to make a smooth tapered passage to the exit slot.

Cfg83 - Nope, I don't have the Chrysler Town and Country grille, I have the "grab the bull by the horns" Dodge grille... the one that sucks for modification, though I'll be fixing that shortly, if I get off my... again.

When I first bought the van, I was going to convert it to the 98-00 TC front end, for the dual bulb headlights and the separate running lights, plus the better looking all-around front. I quickly decided that it wasn't worth the money for no apparent gain, other than ease of modding, so I stuck with what I had, instead of shelling out $200+ just to cut it up and modify it anyway.

What I'm actually planning on doing, is cutting away the grille at the outermost ridge (approx the duct tape line), then forming some sheet metal to fit in the hole and overlap the back approx 3-5mm, so I have a "lip" to fasten it with (With rivets. I like the machine look). There's still not a whole lot I can do about the opening along the hood line, except lower the hood, but that will offset the hood/fender seam, unless I can "adjust" the fenders as well, which I haven't looked into.

The whole lower grille area, I'm actually going to cut it about 1" down from the white area, in the black area, all the way to the wheel well area, leaving the plastic lip and about 1" there as well, to fasten more sheet metal to, hopefully from a roll of flashing or something that will let me make a continuous layer of metal all the way across. If not, I'll have to get creative with rivets to make it look decent.

I have plans with a hole saw, as well, for the future.

Obviously (to you and I, maybe not to other people) the intention here is for high speed venting, where the front of the car would be higher pressure than the cowl area.

Reportedly, it works. I've never tried it myself.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...f-01-pictu.jpg


Duct tape saves the day!

For a professional look, it is amazing how much better things look if you buy coloured duct tape. For best weather resistance, the clear type seems to do quite well.

Nascar style... I like it! (A large percentage of the "paint" on some of those bodies is just tape... you wouldn't know it unless you'd seen them after a few races... LOL.)

I did this on a 1991 Trooper (the really boxy first generation body style) to augment cooling when driving in 4L in Arizona's canyons where surface air temp generally exceeds 130F during summer days.

Didn't do much to help... but the steep, flat Trooper windshield may have had something to do with its ineffectiveness.

On my Blazer I put OEM magnesium vents from an 80's K-car in my hood. Seven dollars and fifty cents at U-Pull-It and about an hour of measuring, taping, marking, and cutting.

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/4451/photo0100v.th.jpg

Yarn testing shows definite evacuation from under hood at speed (and at rest, from engine fan)

shovel -

That's cool to know that you tested it.

CarloSW2

No real results to give on this, yet, except that the lower parts fell off after the rain.

I haven't even filled a single tank yet, so I dunno, other than to say that I think I"m a little more miles than usual at the 1/2 tank mark.