grille blockers...

[malibuguy]

for the people who run grille blocks, how much did you pick up in mileage???

i want to make 'em for the Caliber...but they would have to be behind the grille, since its technically my mothers car & she loves the grille, so are they worth it??

I'll have to try to sneak some behind the grille if they are worth it

[NeilBlanchard]

Hello,

I got ~2-3mpg on my best mileage, and the average is up by at least 6mpg.

[BBsGarage]

I found more consistency in fuel mileage after adding my behind the grill upper grill block.
I would bounce around by up to 3 mpg prior to the block. After the block I was within a mile of 40 mpg every tank full.

[RabbitM]

Seem to me that improvement must be vehicle specific and modification specific. Some grills are larger than others. Cobalt comes to mind as a smaller grill.

I assume, when we call it a "grill blocker" this is specific to the cooling air intake above the bumper. Of course, on most vehicles, there is a larger cooling intake below the bumper(or integrated).

RabbitM

[Daox]

The grill block is one of the most cost effective mods you can do. Not only is it cheap, but its also pretty easy. Its hard to beat that combo.

[Blue07CivicEX]

I did two 65mph cruise control tests of 300 miles (same direction same road) and got 5.72mpg better on the grill block run. Even with a margin of error for wind there is still a significant improvement, that was with fog lamp covers and lower grill block.

[basjoos]

A grill block was my first aero mod, about 30 cents worth of clear strapping tape over the grill inlet. Started out by blocking half of the opening, then blocking it completely when it didn't overheat. I ended up having to reopen a 4" x4" opening when summer arrived. Later I integrated the grill opening into the nosepiece I added to the front of my car.

[homeworkhome53]

The grill block was the first thing I did after finding ecomodder. I ran it for two months. I could not say that the block added anything to my mpg because I was doing other things in conjuction with it. I had to take the car for repair after hitting a deer and removed it before taking it to the insurance guy. Didn't want to have to explain it. I've been running 4 months without it and noticed no loss of mpg in fact milage for last tank was 49.3 (started at 32.5). The mpg improved nearly every tank since removing it. Any improvement was small with the block. I seem to be coming to an impass as the last five tanks have all been 48-49 mpg. Maybe a better intrigrated block would help me to break 50. I've been thinking of building one out of spray insulating foam and the shaping it more aerodynamic and painting it to match and adding a belly pan.

homeworkhome53

[malibuguy]

Originally Posted by RabbitM

Seem to me that improvement must be vehicle specific and modification specific. Some grills are larger than others. Cobalt comes to mind as a smaller grill.

I assume, when we call it a "grill blocker" this is specific to the cooling air intake above the bumper. Of course, on most vehicles, there is a larger cooling intake below the bumper(or integrated).

RabbitM

thats what i was thinking, the caliber has a huge grille, grabbing too much unwanted air


what you can't see, is that about 1/3 of the grille is blocked off from the factory, & the lower openings are blocked also besides for the ones right around the tag

i should wait 'till my scangauge arrives, before i try anything

[i_am_socket]

Using clear packing tape, my per tank average increased by ~2 MPG.