First Grill Block/Interesting Results

KAR IDEA, Thanks for the idea! This adds a bit more insulation. :rockon:

 

The EBH and grille blocking complement each other well, so you're on the right track.

With the EBH your ICE is prewarmed in the morning. No need to wait for the engine to warm up and shut down. Hit the power button, wait for the two beeps, and go.

A mile down the road I may lose two-tenths of an mpg, but certainly not two mpg.

The investment is well worth it.

 

Will you lose power with such a long cord?

 

It doesn't seem significant. I also have to run a long extension cord, 125'. I put my Kill-a-Watt on it when I hooked it up the first time, and it still was drawing close to 400W.

 

I have some cable velcros that I bought in bulk at Fry's for real cheap to tie up my PC wires. They work extremely well for this job too.

The ones I have are light grey on the upper side and dark grey on the bottom. I use the dark grey side and it matches almost perfectly with the grey of the pipe insulation to the point where you can hardly notice they're even there.

BTW, I only blocked my grill for the first time last week. Lo and behold, the temperature dropped to the 20's the past few days. Pretty unusual for North Texas to have temps this low so soon. Where's all the global warming I've been hearing about????

 

the only reason why I haven't blocked the top grill yet is because I've read that you should have a scanguage if you're going to do this to monitor engine temperatures just in case. Considering it's been under 40 degrees for awhile now, is this really necessary?

 

WHy not drive during warm-up? It would lower your fuel consumption.

Is it worth sealing the gap around the bonnet?

 

Alright, I'm doing it tomorrow. Can anyone direct me to a "how to" thread? My searches haven't yielded anything too helpful as far as what product to buy at Lowe's, how to cut it, measurements, etc.

 

IIRC Home Depot's local prices for the pipe insulation are cheaper than Lowes, but we're talking about maybe $4 outlay vs. $3 so it matters little. Buy the standard lengths (6 feet). I'm using the dark gray polyethylene pipe insulation for 3/4" tubing for the top grill, and the 1/2" version for the bottom (this smaller stuff has a stick strip on it if you remove the plastic--I did not.) I cut to fit rather than taking precise measurements across a curved surface.

For the top grills I first cut a section of 3/4" pipe insulation to a length that matched the grill width, then I opened the pre-made slit and cut the existing section lengthwise opposite the slit yielding two long sections. I then folded one of the halves lengthwise and pushed the doubled portion into the slats, with the bend of the fold facing out. The first time I relied on compression fit...and the insulation blew out after a week or so while my wife was driving. The second time I used plastic cable ties to strap the insulation on both ends (crossways across one of the verticals that keeps the insulation from pushing through.) Repeat with the other half for the second slat.

For the bottom there are five slots and I've now blocked 4 of the 5. 1/2" insulation cut in slightly less than half length fits these covering two at a time. I didn't have to split these in two lengthwise, but I did cut slits vertically to match the vertical support bars of the slats so that I clould push the factory slit of the insulation back over the center slat between slots. Again I used plastic cable ties to cinch the insulation in place on both ends. (This time was easier as the horizontal slat is the attachment point to wrap around and is covered by insulation.)

I'm relying on others' temp. guides vs. grill blocking, and can't address the temperatures myself since Toyota didn't see fit to give us a coolant temp reading. I'll probably add a Scan Gauge later. I'm not comfortable with a 100% block as I'm not the only driver and don't have temp reading.

One plus of grill blocking is it greatly reduces the chances a rock will penetrate any of the cooling coils this Winter...something the Toyota dealer took pains to point out was not covered by the warranty based on an incident that had occurred to another customer.

 

Shawn and KI, thanks so much! I went to Lowe's and was able to get pre-slit 3/4" foam tubing for $1.75 per 6' unit (I guess they had a deal going). I also got plastic wiring ties.

By the time I got back to the office, I didn't have time to install it. I'm going to do it in the morning before my morning commute. KI, I clearly made my purchases before your post but I'll try your installation method first.

I'm not really understanding your explanation, Shawn. Are you telling me to cut the tubing in half (lengthwise)?

 

For the upper half I cut the 3/4" in half lengthwise (cross section will be a "C"), then folded one of the pieces to stuff it in the grill with the bend elbow facing out. This will only use about half of one 6' piece to do both upper grills.

For the lower I used 1/2" and just cut to length stuffing it over the first slat so that it blocked slots 1 and 2 from the top. I cut partial vertical slits for each grill support so that it would slip back in making a better fit.

 

Thanks, Shawn. I put them in this morning. The temperature was in the mid-30's.

I drove my normal commute, which in this weather yields about 44-46 mpg (I do a little better on the way back). After I blocked both top grills?

52.5 mpg!!!

 

Update: 57.3 mpg round trip. The temperature went over 40 since the morning, but still.

Thank you all very much! At what temperature should I remove the grill block? The temperature in Philly is very schizo and could be in the 60's next week and the 20's the week after.