Grille Blocks in the Summer

[99LeCouch]

The fasteners are properly known as toggle bolts.





Toggle bolts along with some washers underneath the screw heads to keep from damaging the plastic.

[99LeCouch]

An interesting tidbit is how my car is staying nice and cool now with 3/4 of the grille blocked. It's almost like the block is forcing more air into the radiator.

I'll know tomorrow when I take another weekend trip.

[QuickLTD]

Maybe it needed a bit of the upper open to push flow up from the lower grilles? Relieving exess stagnant air in the large void up there? Kind of like scavenging in an exhaust system? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scavenging_(automotive)

[99LeCouch]

I don't know. All I know is that my car is staying insanely cool. Even in heavy city traffic. At the heat of the day. And it wasn't doing this before with half the grille blocked off. Then it would kick in the fans all the time. I've never seen it get above 184 (fans on at 186) before I get moving again.

It works.

The next tank might be a bit off since I'm dumping in 2 bottles of Techron. 18 gallon tank means 1.5 bottles according to directions, but 2 are going in for good measure.

[basjoos]

Originally Posted by QuickLTD

The Civic has it relativley small sized radiator offset to right am I correct?

Correct.

[winkosmosis]

Originally Posted by 99LeCouch

I don't know. All I know is that my car is staying insanely cool. Even in heavy city traffic. At the heat of the day. And it wasn't doing this before with half the grille blocked off. Then it would kick in the fans all the time. I've never seen it get above 184 (fans on at 186) before I get moving again.

It works.

The next tank might be a bit off since I'm dumping in 2 bottles of Techron. 18 gallon tank means 1.5 bottles according to directions, but 2 are going in for good measure.

Not sure if adding extra for good measure is a good idea. You're supposed to change your oil after you do it too.

The block shouldn't improve cooling at a standstill. I could see it helping at speed though. I speculated on that in my thread about the teardrop roof for boxy SUVs. Seems pretty feasible to me.

[QuickLTD]

He is putting the techron in the fuel not the oil.

[winkosmosis]

Originally Posted by QuickLTD

He is putting the techron in the fuel not the oil.

But the carbon that gets cleaned out would end up in the oil no? I'm going by what people say on Miata.net

[QuickLTD]

Ahh, could be. Blow by with an older engine might do that? Make sure to read that bottle 99LeCouch.

I know a lot of people who use "Seafoam" and they pour half a bottle into the a vacuum line and put half in the tank. In that case you do need to change the oil.

[99LeCouch]

The block doesn't improve cooling any at a standstill. Once I'm moving it really takes over.

The Techron goes into the gas. And you don't have to change the oil after you're done. It sends all the gunk down the tailpipe. What's left over can affect your oil, but only if you don't change the oil for 20,000 miles.

I also Auto-RX'ed this engine, which cleaned it out nicely. I don't think blowby is a problem with the 66k miles my car has on it. 35k of that I've put on the car in the past year and a half. And my grandfather had the car before me, and he drove like I do now. AKA slowly and gently.