Grille blocking suggestions? (Photos embedded)
 

Edit: Please scroll down to my new post where I ask some new questions...
https://www.gassavers.org/showthread....414#post107414

See and zoom in on complete pictures at
https://picasaweb.google.com/ronanian...icModQuestions

First, the truck, which is pretty simple and I can pretty much figure it out for myself:
https://lh5.ggpht.com/ronanian/SErxUs...0/IMG_1168.JPG

Any non-obvious suggestions? Just block all/part of it and be done with it, eh? How can I do it without making it ugly, and how do I know when I've done it so much that the fan has to run more? It's an old-fashioned clutch fan, so I can't just tap the wire that operates it. Eventually I hope to replace it with E-fans.

Is it counterproductive to do it so much that the fan has to run more?

Is it worthwhile to try to do something with the gap above the front bumper? How about the open space below the license plate and around the tow hooks?

It's of the utmost importance to me to not make it ugly or conspicuous. I do not like attention, and (believe it or not) I blend in pretty well like this. Any suggestions how to do it without making it conspicuous?

Now on to the VW, more difficult...
https://lh6.ggpht.com/ronanian/SErxbL...0/IMG_1169.JPG

The little grilles in the bottom corners are called "fog grilles", and don't appear to have any function here. The passenger side one is blocked already, but still has the grille lattice sticking out enough to look like a grille:
https://lh5.ggpht.com/ronanian/SErw8h...6/IMG_1161.JPG
I don't know why that ugly screw is right in the middle of it or what those few small holes are for.

The drivers' side is more open:
https://lh3.ggpht.com/ronanian/SErxel...6/IMG_1170.JPG

The lower main grille just exposes the radiator, no need to post pics.

The upper grilles are a little more complicated to consider. They are where the intake gets its air, and the way they are setup, if I block them it will severely restrict the intake, rather than warming the intake air as on many other cars. The top slot is directly lined up with the intake, the middle slot is partially lined up with it, and the bottom slot merely exposes the radiator slightly more.

Again, inconspicuity (is that a word?) is important to me, even more so in this car which is a little more conspicuous and which I drive more conspicuously while hypermiling because it's a manual transmission.

Here's my guess:
- For the upper grille, I could block the bottom two slats with something black inside them and try to make it smooth/flush, and it should be invisible except up close.
- For the lower main grille, something smooth and black could conceivably be inconspicuous. I guess I should probably block much of it. Maybe if I block the upper two rows of lattice and leave the bottom row it would be good?
- The fog grills can be completely blocked, but how to do it inconspicuously?I think I'd have to paint something to match the car, or maybe something dark gray with a black lattice pattern could work...

i got some coroplast(convention signage), turned the back(blank white color) facing out, painted it black, then fastened it. election time is near(freebies).

i first applied some foil tape to do test runs for temperatures however.

no matter what you do, it will be noticeable to a point. I had this same delema when I went to block my grill. I ended up usin plexi-glass. it isn't actual plexi-glass but a thin plastic sheeting. it is about 1/8th of an inch thick and will bend pretty easily. I got it from lowes home improvement. they sell a shatter resistant version as well. I used the regular because it was cheaper and it is a bear to work with. difficult to cut but it turned out alright. I would use the shatter resistant if I had it to do over.

I have pics in my garage if you want to see how mine turned out. also I used feneder washers to hold it on with. I don't even thin I needed them either.

also with the way i did mine, I can take it off in about 10 minutes and there were no alterations to my vehicle at all (I didn't cut or drill anything on the car itself.

That might work okay. It looks like yours might not be too conspicuous from far away. How much does that material cost?

https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2310/...21e80dcd_b.jpgHere is what I did on my car. It is less obvious when when not in direct sun.
( This example is in direct sun with the strong shadows and all. )
Also, of note is the number plate. I moved it down to act as a grill block - a stealth style grill block.
The wheel spoilers are made from rubber and flex if I hit a curb.

That is very nicely done. What kind of rubber / where did you get it?

my fake plexi was about $13 for the sheet that I got and I have enough to do another vehicle left. I think the shatter resistant was around $20. I used fender washers in front of and behind it. it is just held on with the pressure and not through any drilled holes or anything. I also used nylon wing nuts on the back of it so that if it comes right down to it, I can stop on the side of the road and take it all off.

I thought about how to do a grill block for a while before I tried something. I could have done it better if I had put more time into it but I am overall happy. I also used weather stripping to cover the small gap between the hood and the bumper. prices and locations below.

fake plexi = lowes home improvement (near glass cutting around the lumber area) $13

weather stripping = advance auto parts (universal in a roll) $7.99/10ft

Thanks !

They have the rubber strips at either Lowes or Home Depot.

Actually, it is rubber base moulding. You will find it in the flooring department.
It comes in several colors, but of course we are interested in black.

No need to buy a case of it. If you look around the area, both HD and LWS sell it by the piece.

Please let us see what you come up with ( post some pictures :) )

You can plug the grill openings around the VW logo using rubber insulation ( in black ). The best thing about it is that you can remove it in a matter of seconds if the car gets a little warm.

You can find it in the hardware department .

I think it is over at the Ecomodder site, but a fellow did it to his '05 Civic.
It looks 100% factory from anything over a few inches away.

very clean.

And ...yes I work at Lowes.



I really like your car BTW. I almost bought one myself.

If you notice, I just moved the plate downward and used the bolt holes that are already in the bumper - no need to drill into the car.
After looking at your car, you could do it even more easily than I did.
Just move the plate down and use the bottom bolt location to secure the plate in place.
My car is junk, so I drilled into it to cover those fake brake cooling vents.
In your case, I would buy a nice set of flush driving lights and install them there.
They make some for my car, but I'm to damn poor ( or just cheap ) to buy them. They fit flush with the body of the car and not only effectively act as a block, but serve a purpose ( and look good too ! )
I'm sure they make some for your car too.

Check it out.

Hahah, I knew I recognized that rubber from somewhere! I used to be in construction...

I bet my dad has some base moulding. If not, I'll just buy a little or something.

It will be a little more complicated than just using the bottom bolt location. The nice mount behind the plate is shaped to match the bumper. I think the mount is screwed to the car in places other than where the 4 visible screws are, but I can deal with whatever I find.

They do make OEM lights but I'm too cheap/broke and I'm not sure how much they would help aerodynamically. Here's what I'm thinking for a plan:

- Try blocking the fog grilles with something smooth, see what the effect is. If it's good, I'll have to see what I can do to smooth it without making it conspicuous. Maybe I could bring the fog grilles forward so they're flush with the front, and fill them in with rubber so it's mostly smooth but still looks like a grille.

- Move the license plate down.

- Install a light to monitor the cooling fan usage so I can see if it goes up after grill blocking mods. Or, just ignore that and see if FE goes up -- do I care if the fan runs more as long as FE goes up?

- Block the bottom one or two slots in the upper grille.

- A ghetto ram air system would block more radiator, leaving not much exposed.

I have a 2004 Mits Galant ES 4 Cyl 2.4l

I did a partial grill block of the top grills and there was no impact,
the bottom grill (intake) I tried blocking and on my drive to work as I expected the temp of engine where the gauge usually reads at the 50% (halfway point) was now at the 3/4 mark. Which I expected.

On my 16 mile jaunt to work which is mostly highway driving the Check Engine Light comes on, then the Battery indicator comes on.

I check the scangauge and the battery is like at 17.8 to 18 volts.

Now the temp gauge is no where near overheating but I forgot to check the scangauge for engine temp.

In any case, what the heck can cause the alternator to flip out like that?

Needless to say I removed the blocking on the lower part of the car and we will see what the ride home does.

Here is a pic of the car for reference.

https://www.edmunds.com/pictures/VEHI...20095940-E.jpg

if the temp marker is above it's regular position, it means the radiator fluid is above average, (i know that was dumb) But what this means is, that the thermostat is wide open, and it is still unable to sufficiently coool the engine. Factory temp gauges are not known for their accuracy, with out your scan gauge it's hard to say just how how it is really running. One more thing is if your car is an automatic, higher than standard heat coolant has an exponential increase on the wear and tear on your automatic transmission fluid.

As far as the alternate goes, I have no idea, but I've noticed it's rather common on newer cars to have the batt. light turn on when they are over heating, not sure why.

What's Fake Plexi??? I'm not trying to be rude, just wondering what your talking about.

He's referring to this message he previously posted:

In other news, I was in WalMart yesterday and saw some adhesion promoter clearanced, so I bought it. It reminded me to look at spraypaint, and I found a metallic blue that looks like a close match, so I bought it too. We'll see if it actually matches the car well. If not, it's still a color I'm happy to have.

Gotcha.... I wonder if it's polycarbonate or PETG... Thanks...

Here's what I used for a front grill block. Its a piece of vinyl siding.
Looking from a normal standing position you cant see it at all.

https://www.sippingfuel.com/pics/grill_2.jpg

This is my front wheel deflector made from a mud flap.

https://www.sippingfuel.com/pics/deflector_1.gif

BBsGarage, your grille block is behind the grille? Has it definitely increased your FE?

I think this weekend I'll do it the easy way, behind the grille, and see if it helps. Then I'll compare to doing it in front and see if it helps more.

That looks great! I am working on a lower for mine. I did some testing, and it runs a bit hot at 80+ degrees so I will leave a little open for the final sheet aluminum one. I will post pics!

It did help some. Just not sure of an exact number. My 3 tank average
before the tire deflectors with grill block was 41.12
and before the grill block it was 40.12

I have yet to burn thru 3 tanks with both installed but my first tank was 42.7 mpg. Encouraging, but I will wait and see.

From what research I have done, it really doesnt matter all that much for the upper grill if it is blocked in front or the back.

Okay, I finally did some of the work.

To see any of these pictures in the album where you can view them in all their 7 megapixel glory, click on the picture. I tried to remember to link each one to its album page.

You can also see the whole album here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/ronanian...icModQuestions

I have a few questions. I know it can be hard to find text between photos, so I prefixed them with "Question:".

I started by relocating the license plate for the stealth block mod, worked great and doesn't leave much of the big lower grille exposed.

When I removed the mount, it left big gaping holes from the mount AND small holes from the license plate screws:
https://lh3.ggpht.com/ronanian/SF1ofa...6/IMG_1275.JPG

By flipping the mount over, I wound up with it being almost perfectly flush at the bottom and mostly covering the lower big gaping holes.

https://lh3.ggpht.com/ronanian/SF1opB...6/IMG_1279.JPG

I used zip ties and aligned them just right so that they auto-centered the mount. Then, from the belt-and-suspenders department, I got the idea to add a coat hanger wire in case the zip ties broke.

https://lh5.ggpht.com/ronanian/SF1ojO...6/IMG_1277.JPG
https://lh5.ggpht.com/ronanian/SF1olh...6/IMG_1278.JPG

Later I realized that the grille isn't screwed in, it just pops out; and the way I have the plate mounted it's putting exactly the right kind of pressure on to pull it out. So, I added a couple zip ties at the end of the grille to hold it if it pops loose.

I suppose I could cut the profile of the bumper out of the now-top of the mount, bringing the top closer to flush while still looking like an OEM plate mount. Besides sticking out a bit and the possibility of having the plate be more perfectly vertical (right now it directs air down under the car a little bit), it has gaps at the corners.

Question: How does it look, aerodynamically speaking?
https://lh5.ggpht.com/ronanian/SF1otb...0/IMG_1281.JPG
https://lh3.ggpht.com/ronanian/SF1ox5...6/IMG_1284.JPG
https://lh4.ggpht.com/ronanian/SF1o12...6/IMG_1286.JPG

Next, I started to work on the upper grille. Here's what it looks like before:
https://lh5.ggpht.com/ronanian/SF1o7G...6/IMG_1289.JPG

And here's what it looks like removed:
https://lh6.ggpht.com/ronanian/SF1o-i...6/IMG_1290.JPG

The intake is in the upper drivers side portion pictured here:
https://lh5.ggpht.com/ronanian/SF1pDX...6/IMG_1292.JPG

The intake isn't quite setup as a ram air intake, though it's close. This is what it looks like behind the upper drivers side of the upper grille:
https://lh5.ggpht.com/ronanian/SF1pHD...6/IMG_1300.JPG
I can close off the bottom of that thing and have the air pushed in nicely, as well as preventing it from entering the engine bay there.

The upper passenger side just exposes the engine bay. The lower part on both sides exposes the radiator.

I made three blocking pieces that fit nicely in between the grille and the car and will stay in place. They are made from 1/2" (or was it 3/8"?) styrofoam backing insulation for vinyl siding, wrapped in duct tape. The duct tape isn't for weatherproofing, just to keep little balls of foam from breaking off and clogging the radiator.

https://lh5.ggpht.com/ronanian/SF1pLA...6/IMG_1302.JPG

Question:Will blocking like this accomplish anything?

I know it won't help with turbulence/parachute effect in the grille, but it prevents air from getting into the engine bay there, taking away the parachute effect of the engine bay. The pieces I made are the greenish bits (that's the color of the duct tape).
https://lh6.ggpht.com/ronanian/SF1pPQ...6/IMG_1307.JPG

Up close, with direct light, you can see the stuff but it still doesn't look awful. Here you can see how the top section is fed mainly by the gap between the hood and the grille.
https://lh5.ggpht.com/ronanian/SF1pWk...6/IMG_1314.JPG

You just can't see it at all from a few feet away.
https://lh6.ggpht.com/ronanian/SF1pb6...6/IMG_1315.JPG

I also had some of this material laying around, it's about as thick as card stock but made of plastic. However, it wasn't going to fit behind the grille the way I wanted, plus it's bright white.
https://lh6.ggpht.com/ronanian/SF1plB...6/IMG_1316.JPG

I figured out how to fill the space in front of the fog grilles and started to put it together. I made filler by sandwiching layers of the foam board and duct taping them together. I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to cover it in, but I think I'll use .060" EPDM rubber roofing material.
https://lh6.ggpht.com/ronanian/SF1pqN...6/IMG_1318.JPG

https://lh4.ggpht.com/ronanian/SF1pu-...6/IMG_1319.JPG

Question: How can I secure this to the vehicle? I can't think of any decent way to do it. :( The only thing I can think of is something flat and stiff, like a piece of sheet metal, that I could put between the exterior surface and the foam filler, then put a long bolt in its center and send that bolt through the other side of the fog grille to another plate and a nut, or maybe a toggle bolt wing.

As you can see, the underside of the car is pretty smooth, though it does have these unnecessary brake cooling ducts:
https://lh4.ggpht.com/ronanian/SF1pzN...6/IMG_1320.JPG
I suspect that they're really there for the GTI, which is the sportscar that has the same body as this car, but has much bigger brakes (can't even fit this car's wheels on it). I should block these. I never do any major braking in this car. The times when I'm likely to do that sort of thing, I'm in a different vehicle, this one is only used for commuting. I think I can pretty much just screw a piece of sheet metal in and not worry about it.

Oh, and blocking the drivers side fog grille will also help keep air out of the engine compartment.

Some more pictures and questions:
What are these vents for?
https://lh4.ggpht.com/ronanian/SF19DQ...6/IMG_1339.JPG

I'm not entirely sure of the best way to do the intake mod that prevents air from entering the engine bay and just pushes air from the grille. OTOH, I could open the grille back up and block the intake, and it will pull warm air from the engine bay. Here's more pics of the intake, I found a cover that comes easily off the top:
https://lh4.ggpht.com/ronanian/SF19HE...6/IMG_1341.JPG
https://lh5.ggpht.com/ronanian/SF19Jw...6/IMG_1342.JPG
https://lh3.ggpht.com/ronanian/SF19Nb...6/IMG_1344.JPG

Actually, I think I will just block it in front of there. I'll lose the tiny amount of possible ram air effect that I hope would reduce pumping losses on the highway, but I'll gain lukewarm air intake from the engine bay. If I want ram air, I'll do a complete ghetto ram air later...

theholycow, can you get away with the plate in the drivers window in your state?

if so, you should use some cardboard to make a template for across the front bottom to block that entire section out. (foglight opening to foglight opening) it looks like its indented a little so it shouldnt look out of place if you paint whatever the final fitment material is black. can also try and use some sem texture paint to give it a factory black piece look too. but as long as your not driving through the desert, those two openings that you have blocked off now, opeing those up with the bottom completly blocked should be just enough cooling for you.

as for those brake ducts, i wouldnt worry too much about them. theoretically its low pressure to low pressure so i dont see you gaining too much from sealing them up.

I don't want to relocate the license plate to inside my windshield. It would annoy me there, and worse, it would attract unwanted attention. I prefer to look as invisible as possible.

By "those two openings that you have blocked off now", do you mean the fog grilles or the small openings behind the upper grille?

The bottom opening is indented a lot, even at the part between the fog grilles and the main lower grille, so I could certainly fill it and make something that fits flush. I think I would have difficulty coming up with something that doesn't look completely hacked, I'm pretty sure the fog grille covers I was working on are actually going to look awful too. It definitely sounds like a great idea if I can pull it off, and just have the upper grille for all my cooling. Plus, if I fill it in, then the license plate would be fine, I could even skip the mount and screw it directly to the car and have it flat against the surface...

The underside of the car is pretty decently smooth, it has semi-smooth (actually golf ball dimpled) partial pans running most of the length of the car for ~18" on each side, but I figured if people are adding belly pans and getting results then I could gain a little if I block the brake ducts and add a small wheel deflector too.

Your fog light inserts are probably easy to remove, so instead of taping stuff on top of them, if you want to do a clean job, you could take those out, and then fill them/cover them/ shape them, then put them back on.

You could even do fiberglass mold and make a flush replacement filler part, and paint it, if you want a good look. Could even do carbon fiber look :).

In all those grill mods, what's the real MPG savings? Noticeable?

You're right, it makes far more sense to take the fog grilles out and either attach stuff to them or leave them out and attach stuff to the stuff behind them. FWIW, I certainly have no interest in actually driving with just the taped-up stuff, that's just filler to go behind whatever less ugly surface I use.

I can't do a fiberglass mold because I have no idea how, and I'm absolutely awful at fabricating clean lines. I can't even cut straight with a tablesaw, or draw a straight line or circle with a pencil (though I can with a pencil and a ruler).

The only mods currently on the car are the lowered license plate and the blocked openings behind the upper grille. It's going to take at least a week for me to measure the result at the gas pump. :(

yeah, i meant the foglight grills. but ive been thinking about it and maybe blocking off the entire bottom isnt that good of an idea. thinking of how racecars route their radiator ducting, do you ever see it near the top of the car before the hood? 90% of the time its at the bottom where your highest pressure will be. so maybe just blocking off the foglight holes and then keeping the blocks you have behind the grill is the way to go.

you could possibly even go as far as getting a junk vw grill, wrap it with fiberglass and resin and leave the upper part on the drivers side of the grill (where it would meet the hood) open so that it utilizes the factory air inlet. sand it all smooth and paint it the color of your vehicle. put the vw emblem back on too so it "seems" factory.

Ok, I thought it would look good with all the lower grilles completely replaced by body colored panels, but I just did a mockup and it looks awful...
https://lh5.ggpht.com/ronanian/SF-3Wo...%20grilles.jpg

Edit: Well, it's growing on me.

Looks good like this, though -- fog grilles replaced with body color panel:
https://lh6.ggpht.com/ronanian/SF-80N...%20grilles.jpg

it does have a very futurist look to it. I think a splash of contrast would do it good though.

Based on the time of the post, I'd guess that you didn't see the second mockup and are responding to the first. Besides the fact that I could never make it happen anyway, it does look nice, but it's not the invisible blend-in-with-everyone-else look I'm going for.

The second mockup where I only covered the fog grilles looks much less conspicuous, only slightly out of place. The angle of that picture might help, though; perhaps the angle of the first mockup emphasizes the sub-bumper area too much.

i think those both look pretty sick.

Yeah, I think the type who like custom cars would really like it...I just want to blend in.

Ok, my already bad image editing is getting worse, but the ideas are looking better...I think these are all fantasy because I'll never be capable of doing them, but here's a couple more views...

First, revisiting the original idea, from a different angle. It still looks way too conspicuous to me:
https://lh4.ggpht.com/ronanian/SF_plz...rilles%202.jpg

And, another combination, this one looks GREAT! I filled in the center grille, but I left it a little indented. That wasn't what I was trying to do but I suck at photo editing and that's how it came out, and it looks awesome.
https://lh4.ggpht.com/ronanian/SF_pmF...r%20grille.jpg

Edit: And here it is if it doesn't look indented. Looks somewhat bad, still has that snowplow look that I don't like about the ones where it's completely done.
https://lh4.ggpht.com/ronanian/SF_rMI...grille%202.jpg

yep, thats me. only if it is well done though. not like some of the imports you see running around with body kits halfway hanging off. lol but the full cover makes it look like a salt lake racer. thats probably why i think it looks cool.

but i think if you do the upper grill blocks and lower foglight indention blocks, youll get the look youre looking for.

if i lived closer to you id be willing to help make something for you. i love doing wierd stuff and im VERY picky so it will look like it was meant to be there.

Thanks, I appreciate all the input and the hypothetical help. :D

Any suggestions how an artistically declined person with bad fine motor skills could make it look good? I think with the right material I could match the curve...

I'd love to find a way to get matching paint. I got some metallic Krylon that's kinda close and I think I can make it work by layering it with another color.

I like the smooth bumper, very unique and it does look slippery.

[QUOTE=theholycow;105001](re installing fan light)

You'll notice that, without grill blocking, the light you'll install will glow dimly when the fan is not switched-on - but rather pushed backwards by the incoming air.
Which poses the question as to whether fan blades themselves are another aerodynamic culprit. (Bear in mind that, depending on your circuitry, the current just might be charging your battery ever so slightly!;) )

Good point about that. I'll have to use a diode (or use a LED for my light) to make sure it only lights when the current flows in one direction.

Well, in another thread recently someone mentioned using a temporary grille block to see how much blocking it can handle without putting in a lot of effort to make it pretty, and I thought it was a good idea. I just did full grille blocks on both vehicles.

I started by painting some coroplast and cardboard flat black.

In the truck, it was excessively easy, as if the truck was designed for it. I took a plastic cover off above the radiator, exposing the area between it and the grille. The A/C radiator is as big as the engine radiator, and has a triangular structural member a quarter inch in front of it running up the center. There's a lip near the bottom edge and lip-like items near each side. The transmission cooler is a couple inches in front of that structural member.

So, I slipped a piece of coroplast in, and it fit like a glove. I slipped in another one, leaving just a small portion uncovered; I used a piece of cardboard for that portion. One zip tie near the top corner of one piece of coroplast, and one zip tie in the cardboard, and everything is locked in place!

Edit: Ok, that wasn't very clear...the engine radiator is a couple inches behind the A/C radiator, so by blocking the entire A/C radiator I've blocked the entire engine radiator, but left a couple inches of air in-between. Also, this has not blocked the transmission cooler at all, nor a rusty tall narrow radiator that I can't identify.

Now, on to the VW. This was more difficult, and when I finished I realized that it was probably going to be a big failure. I cut a piece of cardboard big enough to fit everything.

It could not be accessed from the top, so I unscrewed 8 or 10 T25 screws that hold the bottom lip on. Then, with some experimentation, I found that I just had to pull it straight forward from the car to get it removed. I inserted the cardboard, and found that it fit snugly in front of the grille-exposed portion of radiator (but left some radiator exposed behind the bumper), and dropped it down into another convenient lip. Two zip ties in the bottom corners don't leave it completely immobile, the top could flap, but it should generally stay in place.

After doing it, I worried that I've overdone it and the car will overheat, but I just realized...I can very easily remove and reinstall the upper grille block pieces that I did in the spring. I'll expose some radiator there, and that will also allow flow into the area behind the bumper, which totals probably half the radiator's area. This could be ok.

Edit: The end result for both vehicles is a completely invisible grille block. In the car I can (hopefully) reach through the grille and tear the cardboard into bits to remove it. In the truck, I can remove it by popping a couple fasteners, cutting a single zip tie (or two), and pulling everything out -- it's so easy I could do it roadside in two minutes or less.

in extreme cases of overheating (ones where you can't easily stop and fix it) you could just turn the heat on full blast.

I covered the bottom opening in my car once and the thing overheated almost instantly. I wasn't in a place where I could easily take it off and the full blast heat worked good.

I took a more radical approach to grill blocking, there again, my car is 12 years old and it is collage of different parts that are put together the look like a car (thus the name frankencav). I definitely wouldn't have done the same to a new car and especially one that I may be turning in within a few years.

good luck to your grill blocking experiments. honestly, I looked at the VWs when the new rabbit came out and discredited it because of the large engine and figured you'd never get good FE out of it. you have made me truely eat my words since I have been on here.