Finally got off my... Pics included.

[Christ]

Before:


After:


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)

[SVOboy]

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

[Christ]

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

[SVOboy]

You're faster!

[Christ]

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 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.

[Christ]

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.

[Christ]

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.

[Christ]

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.

[shovel]

Originally Posted by Christ

Before:


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

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!!!

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.

[Christ]

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.