Cars with small grilles (lots of pictures)

[theholycow]

I was look at front-ends today while I was driving and noticed these cars that wouldn't need much grille blocking...

Buick LeSabre:


Chevy Impala:

(Even the high performance police car doesn't need much grille.)

Oldsmobile Alero:

(The Alero I saw had the license plate blocking most of that center grille, and the side grilles appear to be mostly closed off.)

Chevy Camaro:

(There's NO exposed grille!)

1986 Z28:

(Again, NO exposed grille!)

Pontiac Bonneville -- I couldn't get a decent photo, but these two together show it pretty well:



I saw some Hondas (Accord, Civic, Odyssey) and a Ford Escort whose stock setup had little grille, but I can't figure out what year they were or find pictures.

Why does the Prius need so much gaping grille? Here's someone's Prius partial grille block:


What other cars have little or no grille area?

[GasSavers_BEEF]

my buddy has a chevette with a grill block. he said that the replacement hood is one piece and that you are supposed to cut the grill slits in it yourself.

instant grill block. I don't have a pic though I wish I did.

[SloSaturn]

Here's one. There's just the opening at the bottom and the side spots for fog lights.

Oh, and the half inch gaps above the headlights.

[theholycow]

SloSaturn's pic embedded:



I thought of those, but looked them up and they're all like that one. It's got a huge, gaping lower grille.

[GasSavers_BEEF]

a lot of chevy's like mine get almost all the cooling from the bottom. I blocked off my grill and it made little (if any) difference in the coolant temp.

I have yet to be brave enough to block off the opening at the bottom....again. the first time went bad, very bad.

I would assume that may be the case with the camaros. they do have a really aero shape though. they used to make 4 cyl versions but I heard they were dogs because of the weight.

[theholycow]

My VW's radiator is blocked at the whole upper and lower grilles, and the bottom area is not open. The only air getting to it filters through crevices and maybe up/behind the bumper. It has barely affected driving temperatures, and still takes forever to heat up on cold mornings -- 7 miles (with lots of EOC) to the highway and the temp barely budges until I've been on the highway a couple minutes.

Here's the specs on the 4 cylinder 1983 Camaro:

http://www.thirdgen.org/1983-chevy-camaro
HP:92@4000
Torque: 134@2800
Rear end: 3.08 to 3.73 depending on option

http://www.thirdgen.org/tech-data
Cd: .368

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/chevrolet-camaro16.htm
Curb weight: 2,944-3,136

Yeah, that's pretty lame.

[GasSavers_BEEF]

especially for a sports car.

if you put the right rear end in it, it wouldn't be so bad. a friend of mine has a 4 cyl mustang and he has 3.73s in it and it does pretty good. he does have a 5 speed trans vs. the original 4 speed which helps a lot too.

4cyl sports cars that weigh 3k lbs don't really work that great. they just look like sports cars.

[theholycow]

The lower the rear end is, the more Honda-like the car is going to rev. If you're driving a 1983 Camaro, it's not because you like the Honda format.

Modern 3000 pound 4 cylinder sporty cars with lots of power aren't so bad, but there weren't a lot of high output 4 cylinder engines in 1983.

[GasSavers_BEEF]

very true, the honda s2000 tacks out at (I think) 9-10k which makes for a lot of hp and not much tq.

muscle cars (and fast trucks) are mostly about torque with redlines more in the 6k range. higher (numerical) gears (lower actual ratio) allows you to rev faster.

buddy of mine had the opposite problem. he has a ford thunderbird with the 2.3 liter turbo (same friend as the mustang, he has too many cars) with 4.56s in it. it spooled too fast when it reved through the gears. he didn't really even see any power until about 3rd gear. he swapped in the 3.73 gears from the mustang and now it pulls really hard. he still wants to replace the turbo and work on some other issues with the car. it is an '86 so it has some stuff that needs working on.

I think that is the newest car he has ever owned. also of note: he is only 29 years old. he has just always liked the older stuff.

[bowtieguy]

holycow,

your first post looks like a GM endorsement. do you approve that message?