Terrible mpg's = new interest in old ideas.

[mhmitszach]

Well that sounds awesome!

Got part of coroplast in today so that radiator air dam is still there instead of covered. I only had enough coroplast to extend a bit past the ends of the radiator. There is a nice little gap under the radiator above the air dam to slide coroplast between.

Should help quite a bit with fuel mileage as its not a negative aero mod now.

I'll know pretty quickly if its better as the tps has been reading 23-24 where as it used to be 21-23.

Going to look for some more coroplast to add some more.

Also going to have to try finding some yard trim for an air dam!

And...haha...going to look for some lexan to make a better grill block. Coroplast is too thick for the way the bumper's lip is.

[mhmitszach]

Well don't have exact numbers. But I can say a solid level piece of coroplast from bumper to radiator is better. Temps stay nice and high and my tps was a bit lower. I need to attach it better because it blew up too high.

Going to go ahead and do hd air dam probably tomorrow.

[Tygen1]

You'll have to educate me on the TPS readings, I'm assuming you are speaking in percentage?

[mhmitszach]

Originally Posted by Tygen1

You'll have to educate me on the TPS readings, I'm assuming you are speaking in percentage?

Well throttle posistion (tps) starts at 16 for the zx2. Not entirely sure what maximum is, possibly 100.

Before the partial undertray blew up into the car it was from 21-23. Where as usually its a solid 23 on that part of the highway. Not to mention engine temps were much higher. The cardboard prototype had high engine temps but the tps kept closer to 23-24. Took it off and now I never see 24.

I've got some plastic for the air dam. Might try that since its free.

Need more coroplast for partial wheel well cover.

Once I get more cash I will get the pizza pans for wheel covers.

[Tygen1]

You were speculating that the first cardboard undertray added to your frontal area and thus the tps reading difference. Do you think the air dam will make it even worse?
I'm anxious to get home and try out some more of these things

[mhmitszach]

Originally Posted by Tygen1

You were speculating that the first cardboard undertray added to your frontal area and thus the tps reading difference. Do you think the air dam will make it even worse?
I'm anxious to get home and try out some more of these things

That's a possibility. But I'm not sure. I was observing vehicles on the interstate yesterday and noticed some bigger (jeep or toyota suvs. can't remember) have curved plastic undertrays.

My only guess was it curved down to the road and didn't flow back under the car. It never went to a straight 90 angle or completely flat like everything seems to do.


I noticed every decent sized vehicle has an "air dam". Especially big trucks. Little cars just have plastic hanging from bottom of radiator.

Any ideas on extending length of the plastic air dam underneath the radiator?

[Christ]

Same way as adding the front lip, since that's really all you're doing. The front lip will show better results though.

The If you want to extend the air-dam though, you can do it easier, since it doesn't have to look "nice" to look nice... if you know what I mean... You can just take a piece of ABS plastic or something and screw it to the existing air-dam to extend it down a bit.

[mhmitszach]

She was sipping gas like a champ today. Got 40.6 mpg on a 30 mile trip today. This tank is going to be 36 mpg.

I think I'm going to try extending air dam below radiator next tank.

[Christ]

So... I just found a (apparently) pristine example of a 1997 Escort wagon... with a blown engine. It's only $200, clear title ready to be signed.

Guys, I can take this one two diff ways - The wife has always wanted a project car to work on, for the whole time we've been together... and escorts are a great first car to start working on.

So that leaves the option to let her choose an engine/tranny package, and just stand idle and verbally direct her on what to do, only physically jumping in when necessary.
She would have the choice of which motor to use and everything.

OR.

Since Ford also recycled nearly everything at least once, I find that the same MTX# tranny you guys are using, has been used throughout history on most of the small fords... this means that I could technically just bolt in anything from a 3.0/3.2 V6 all the way down to a Festiva motor. Ah, the joys of cars!

So, what do you two think? I was mainly thinking a first swap of either the 3.2 w/ 3.0 cams, or the 2.0 Focus Zetec block (it's cheaper) w/ ZX2 cams.

Either way, it'll still get halfway decent mileage, and it'll be something that's slightly higher on the fun factor than her "mundane" GP.

[Christ]

EDIT - OK, so maybe you guys are using Autos.. but they still bolt to like 8 diff motors LOL.