Now time (for modding: skirts, grille block, pizza pans)
 

for some modding. Gonna do the skirts, lower grill block and possibly the pizza covers if they get here. Already made the brackets for the skirts and picked up my plastic sheeting today.

Want to get started on my boat tail but have run into a snag with a few details so it will have to wait a little longer.

Getting alignment done tomorrow and it was April since the last one.

Are you modding the Sonota, or is this some other car? If it is the Sonata, you are braver than me. Also, why two alignments in such a short time?

Kirk

Yes, the Sonata, my only car.
Getting the tires flopped inside out to begin with, and the alignment checked and if it needs it, then so be it.

The alignment made a massive difference in how the car drives!
I had it set up in April to be as free as possible.
When the techs checked it it had developed toe out on all four wheels, but the left rear was the most at .062".

Now it has .01 toe in on all four and it is amazing.
The tires now feel as if they are lower by 10 psi, and they are at my usual settings.
The car feels much more plush, accepts bumps much better, tracks better and drives nice and straight. It does not bump steer, does not follow crowns and does not follow grooves. It used to do all those things.

Good thing is it still coasts like before but all driving characteristics are much improved.

Made the wheel covers and mounted them up but had to remove them and apply some rubber strips to keep them from 'ticking' as they were on the first short drive.

Skirts will be finished tomorrow.

The covers continued to 'tick' or 'click' even after the rubber strips.
Took them off and cut a little off the diameter to try and keep them from contacting the lip of the rim, as I had them tight for a close fit. They still made all kinds of noise.

So I took them off again and made two more screw holes and then drilled/tapped the wheels for the extra holes. Four screws now but have yet to go for a test drive since I don't like not getting the car to full operating temp.

The skirts turned out more like 3/4 skirts which should be sufficient, but it had to be this way since I attached L brackets to the existing screws and did not want to drill additional holes in the bodywork.

I don't mean to discourage anyone, but this stuff can kick your butt if you are only prepared to spend a day doing them. This is day three and more is to be done to 'finish' the job.

Have not started on the lower block yet as the other two have taken more time than I thought.

Finally! The ticking sound is gone.

Went for a drive and normally when I start up and do a trip long enough to fully warm the car, I'll loose .2-.3 mpg when the tank is around the half mark.

This time I picked up .1 mpg.

The rear covers still need to be finished since the front was a 'test' to find out what I needed to do to get them to quick ticking. But, the fronts, combined with the 3/4 skirts are worth 3 mph at the end of a coast. Pretty big gain.

Conditions were windy so I'm not sure it the coast points I tested were benefiting or not from wind.

Will finish them up tomorrow if possible and then start work on the lower block and another aero project.

Here's the new mods.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...eromobile1.jpg

Bharvey, that is looking sexy.

Maybe it's the aero-nut in me which sees it that way.

would have looked nicer i think if you had matched the body line on the car with the bottom edge of your skirt. The lines are close now and would benefit cosmetically in the future with a slight raise.

Yes indeed, it would have looked better with full skirts however I could not do it without having a serious protrusion in front of the the tire that might or might not have helped negate some of the benefit.

Can't AB until we get some dry weather.

Well, finally got to ABBA test and the verdict is reverse what you would expect.
Average of A runs was 45.35mpg (skirts)
Average of B runs was 45.65mpg (w/o skirts)

Started with skirts so the first run was after a 20 minute warmup drive.

Now I'm thinking I actually need to test the wheel covers as well since the results were backwards. Might do that tomorrow morning...

Aw, shoot. All that work for a seeming loss. How many runs contributed to the A and B averages?

I actually am suggesting you raise them about 2 or 3 inches to match the body "crease" of the vehicle, not the lower edge.

looks like testing may scrap the skirts at this point tho... good luck

Two runs each-
A1-44.9
B1-46.0
B2-45.3
A2-45.8

It was very close and the skirts did quiet the noise a good deal.
I'm not upset as the skirts were a piece of cake to make. If the wheel covers show a similar scenario then I will be pissed as those kicked my butt!

Guess I'll get up at 0430 again, which is like hitting the snooze 3 times on a normal weekday. Early is best in ATL so traffic is minimal. Another benefit is the temp stays constant.

I like the pizza pan look. Tru has the right idea, follow the body line (crease), it will look cleaner.

What are the skirts made of?

Kirk

Polypropolene

thats a front wheel drive correct?

Did the alignment help the mileage any?

BHarvey -

Can I seem some close-ups of the wheel covers and skirt? Are there pictures already in another thread?

CarloSW2

Coasting is the same as before, or close enough I can't tell a difference, but I have not run out a tank since. Yes, FWD.

Just the pic in this thread, but it's not a close up.

Looking at the photo you have up of your car, the sides look fairly effieceint for a factory car. Hyundais are known for being good cars, and they have come leaps and bounds in their designs. I would work on the front end, blocking off and diverting more air around to the sides of the car. Maybe a short duckbill spoiler to help the air seperate cleanly from the rear decklid. You should see some benefit from these mods. Maybe determine if there is anything you can do with the mirrors. They don't look efficeint as they could. The work so far does look good though.

I am blocking off those ugly fog lamp holes today to create a smooth curved front bumper. Maybe this will keep air closer to the sides of the car and if so then maybe the skirts will work.

Closed off the fog lamp holes and finished the lower block.
Made the lower block in 3 piece with one of those being adjustable. (not from inside)

Used to be that with only the upper grill block, that it would require a 30+ minute drive to get the AIT to it's normal range of +40 over ambient. Also used to take 5+ miles of driving to get the coolant up to 185f.

This morning the car warmed up in 3 miles and the AIT came up to +20 by the time I got to work, a 5.3 mile drive. Morning temp was 40f.

This afternoon the temp was 52f and the coolant was up to temp in about 2 miles and did get up to 203f before cooling back off. This is the highest it ever gets, even in the summer, so I don't know if the thermostat is fully open at that point, or the fan comes on. Never heard the fan, EVER, so unless it's unusually quiet....

Closed off the block by half to see what it does in the morning for test two.

In the 10 minute drive home the AIT got up to 40+ over ambient.

Now I just need to work on some cockpit adjustable grill shutters......

That is where it gets tricky ! :thumbup:

When you install smooth hubcaps to very new cars you should check if the front tire spats are designed so that they will direct air to the brakes. When you block the wheel that air is not needed to go there so you should modify the flaps also.

If flap divert air to brakes they are usually wider than the tires and have usually some weird shapes.

The spat only diverts air away from the hole that is the tire well opening, no special shapes, just a flat blade that is equally as wide as the hole inside the wheel area, and is inset from the tire.

The lower grill is too much. I was running between 183f and 203f depending on load and when I got home I opened the door and left the car running, (yes, I know) and finally heard the fan.

Sat there until the fan cycled off, and then on again, and it comes on at 203f.
Went for a 5 mile drive after that and even going 40 mph with light to moderate load, it would still run hot enough for the fan to come on.

So, what this means is my lower grill block is too much, and without it in the summer, my upper is even too much?

I can understand if your are stuck in traffic and not moving, even with an open grill the engine could get hot enough for the fan to cycle. So, give me a baseline.

If you are moving at 30+mph and your running hot enough for the fan to cycle, is your grill blocked too much?

Abandoned the full block with 36 .5" holes.

Kept the partial sides and then made a two-piece sliding block.

Temp is 60f and with one side open I could load it up some and only net 195f.
But as soon as I slow down it will go high enough to kick on the fan.

With both sides open I could load it more with temps only getting 192f and it never crested 194f driving, but backing into the drive got it up to 199f.

It really seems like the lower grill needs to remain open in daytime temps.
Morning temps I can shut it as this morning it was fine on the way to work at 0430.
Temp was 35f and I had it almost closed off.

You're getting some pretty good numbers out of your Sonata.

Have you tried a 0W synthetic oil? Have you done other non-aero mods?

If so, is there another thread around here (not in the aero section) about it?


Jay

All tanks so far on my log were with an upper grill block and tires at 50psi.

Rest of the aero mods have been on the current tank of E-0.

Using 5w20 Mobile 1.

Would LOVE to find someone that knows how to make changes to the ECU via flash programming and just make two very small changes, which would probably net 3-4 mpg!

Can't seem to keep the wheel cover bolts tight and they have lock washers on them. Guess it's time for some Loctite....

Give some 0W-20 Mobil 1 a try next time around.

(Maybe you know this, but...) 0W oils give better mileage by flowing easier - giving better mileage - at low temps and all the way up to the temp required to give its top (20) rating. 0W-20 Mobil 1 gives the same protection and warranty coverage as 5W-20.

After it's hot, there's no mileage benefit.

I change to 0W-20 Mobil 1 in my car as soon as the temps start to drop, mostly for protection during (really) cold winter start-ups, but there is most likely a mileage benefit as well.


Jay

Went for a tank of E-0 today, which is my second tank on it.
UG said 34.9 and the actual was 35.8 mpg.
The UG, calibrated for E-10, always reads .1 mpg under actual, and has for some time.
So the E-0 looks to have given .8 mpg better on the first tank.

The ride home from the E-0 station is 58 miles, of which around 10 miles is city.
The ride home on the first tank gave 44.7 mpg to parked on my driveway.
Second tank gave 44.7 mpg for the same trip today.

The second tank is with the wheel covers and the fog lamp holes covered, which seems to have not netted a gain at all. Conditions were within 3f and 5%RH of each other.

Had to take off the lower block today. The morning trip was great, the car reached 185F after only 2 miles from 38F. Extended highway today at 68 degrees left it running right at fan cut on even full open, with just the side blockers, which I thought would be fine.

Anyway, sort of disappointed. The skirts, foglamp covers and wheel covers seemed to have netted nothing. This doesn't give much desire to screw around spending money to do the projects if they won't work.

The only thing the lower block added was a more stable front end on the highway, was much more planted.