The White Xb mods and stuff
Ok...well I am not new to the MPG game but, I have been lazy in recent months. The 27.6 mpg on my past tank (my worst to date) must have been a wake up call (was getting an inspection so I bet the Mechanic was ideling my car for an hour or something). Anyways I am planning on doing a few mods but, I want to keep everything as subtle and stock looking as possible.
Background info: I work for a plastics company so getting scrap acrylic. abs, styrene is fairly easy. 1) Installed LRR tires on 3/3/14 and pumped them to 44psi 2) Installing upper grill block tomorrow --- black ABS and will be tastefully done :) I will post some pictures 3) Once it warms up I am planning on installing a lower front air dam out of a big piece of white plastic (to match my paint) 4) Want to install smooth wheel covers. Thinking about going the Pizza pan route. Either in Silver, White, or black. |
Subscribed.
|
Quote:
Quote:
Looking forward to the mods. |
27 on the 05? I had an 09 and got 27 best, 18 worse.
Cant wait. :thumbup: |
Quote:
Anyways, well I did get to the grill block today and it turned out alright...pretty stock-ish. Free bolts I got from work (will be using these ones on the smooth wheel covers too) http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps01ea6b3f.jpg Using the fog light hole to bolt the grill block ended up being a silly idea. Most were bolted up through the bottom http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps374356e4.jpg DONE! You can clearly see the block on the top and the open grill on the bottom. http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/a...psffa4c14d.jpg |
Looks good. You can easily get away with blocking some of that lower as well. Easy peasy.
|
@Metrompg Yeah I was wondering about it. Maybe a 50% block. I have had problems in the past with things getting too hot in traffic (when temps were in the 40s). But the xb is a smaller engine then the Saturn was...probably a bigger grill too.
Edit: I think I was running a full grill block + hot air intake at the time. Probably a bit much. |
My gen 2 xb always smelled like something was burning under the hood and radiator fluid. I suspected it was the front facing header pipe and all the heat it radiated to the surrounding materials under the hood. I did a partial block and tried removing the vacuum hose they used for a snorkle, but neither helped me.
|
A few things
-installed a new air filter...The old one was used for at least 25,000mi and fairly dirty. -Was able to find racing disks on ebay for $71 shipped...Here:Set of 4 New 15" Stainless Steel Hubcaps Hub Caps Racing Disks Free Shipping | eBay Semi tempted to buy them. My current hubcaps are pretty dirty anyways. Just not sure how the silver will look with my car. Guess I could paint them. EDIT: Found a picture online of a white xb with them! They look good! Going to buy a pair http://tijil.org/xB15.jpg -also was looking into lowering springs...The rear springs are super easy to change but, a 1.5" drop will never pay for itself in fuel economy savings. |
Old school drop! Cut-off wheel to remove a coil from each spring (assuming they're symmetrical).
(I accept and expect that I will be flamed for bringing up this tried & true Suzukiclone lowering method.) |
Quote:
|
No pay back from lowering?!?!?! Just takes a few hours and a deremel tool. Just cut 1 1/2 coils from each spring. :thumbup:
|
The smooth hubcaps are on! Looks better then the stock ones to me.
http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps89cae060.jpg |
As you can notice from that picture above. My lower bumper is already cracked so I don't feel too bad about drilling holes in it. My next mod will probably be a lawn edging lip or something of the sort.
|
Quote:
It's funny - there are a couple of old-timers in my little city who have mooneyes on their cars. One of the cars is a PT Cruiser. |
So the stock xb bumper hangs really low. So low that I think it might be catching the air pretty bad. Stock:
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/i...v1LaTv642dhuXQ I decided to remove the bottom 6" of the bumper (this can be but back on). I might make a rear belly pan to clean this up. Here is the result of the lower bumper delete: http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps524d1ba8.jpg |
Cool. Yeah, if the belly pan was near the bottom of the revised bumper, that'd be convenient.
|
Quote:
Thanx, Bill |
Bill - this thread talks about it (for a sedan Metro though):
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...gain-4589.html I haven't done it ... yet. But I will. |
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 07:49 AM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Content Relevant URLs by vBSEO 3.5.2
All content copyright EcoModder.com