Grill covers

[mpmitche]

I have heard talk about grill covers to improve FE. Is this an aerodynamic thing, a warm air thing, or both. Most of the ones on this site are the hard plastic. I was wondering about buying one of the quilted winter covers for my Dodge Ram. Would it make an improvement? I was thinking mostly that it would keep the engine and incoming air a little warmer.

[theycallmeebryan]

Grill blocks mainly help to keep "unneeded" air out of the engine bay, and forcing it to stay outside. You only need enough airflow to the radiator to keep the engine at normal temps.... any more is a waste. Grill blocks can be made from a number of materials, basically whatever is available.

If you are looking to improve the FE in your truck...#1: stop driving it like its in the Daytona 500.... and then you can lower the truck, close up all the holes in the front, make a front air dam, install a switch to manually lock the torque converter, look into a tailed bed cover, etc etc.

[chuckm]

It is mostly an aero thing. Some engines also respond well to the warmer air (my FE does fall off as the temps drop). My upper grill block is made from a bit of sheet metal. I also added an LED to signal when my radiator fan kicked on, which lets me know if my temp is creeping up too high.

As theycallmeebryan mentions, driving technique is the biggest and easiest thing to modify. If you can afford one, a Scanguage is the best thing you can buy to help you see your driving habits, what works and what doesn't.

[i_am_socket]

It's definitely both. It helps keep the engine warmer and help it warm up faster after a cold start and it helps aerodynamically by keeping the air from having to push through that mess of engine parts under the hood. It won't really keep the incoming air warmer, though. That's up to mother nature.

What kind of driving are you doing in that truck (local, highway, hauling) ?

[mpmitche]

Originally Posted by i_am_socket

It's definitely both. It helps keep the engine warmer and help it warm up faster after a cold start and it helps aerodynamically by keeping the air from having to push through that mess of engine parts under the hood. It won't really keep the incoming air warmer, though. That's up to mother nature.

What kind of driving are you doing in that truck (local, highway, hauling) ?

Mostly I commute to work about 20 miles, it's mostly rural streets, some long runs but also some lights and stops sign area's average about 30 mph. I have been doing my best to "Drive W/O Brakes" and saw my FE go from about 13.8 to 15.0 mpg on this commute. It is getting colder now and I usually see my FE go down in winter. I was thinking the quilted covers they sell may help warm the engine quicker and maybe provide aero effects. I'm going to plug it in this winter too instead of idling to warm up.

[theycallmeebryan]

What kind of mpg does the 325Ci get?

[mpmitche]

Originally Posted by theycallmeebryan

What kind of mpg does the 325Ci get?

About 22-23 usually, it is very hard to refrain from driving like you stole it. After reading about hypermiling a little I tried to DWB and got 29 in the city with it.

[ATaylorRacing]

The grill block on my Geo looks like this:

Even the 3 cylinder Geo gets action
UMTR Nationals at Edgewater - 9/26/09 - Hyper-Performance Motorsports Inc. Photography
The White Gnat strikes again
UMTR Nationals at Edgewater - 9/26/09 - Hyper-Performance Motorsports Inc. Photography

That and the headlight cobers were put on just before a long trip of over 400 miles and the temps were near 100. I had no overheating issues and by myself at 60 now feels less buffeting than it did in the past, kind of like slip streaming a pick up at 60 3 car spaces behind.