First Grill Block/Interesting Results

I've owned Kar Idea for nearly a year now, mid December is the one year anniversary mark. Last winter I simply drove the car as is, and my mileage was in the low forties. Spring arrived, then summer, and the education continued...my mileage improved. By the end of the summer I was getting low to mid fifties. My best tank ever was 57 mpg's, 456 miles on 8 gallons, in July. Now that the weather has been getting colder again, I've taken the normal mileage hit, and currently am getting MPG back in the low to mid forties. So today I blocked my grill with pipe insulation, as illustrated by many threads here on the chat. I blocked the upper grill entirely, and blocked the middle three slats of the lower grill. Even within the first 5 minutes of driving, I immediately noticed a difference.

Here's a few pics from the MFD as I commuted to work today. The trip started on a cold start, from the garage, where the ambient temp is around 56 degrees. The first minute from the garage is uphill, steep, and I have never seen anything higher than 18 MPG for the first 5 minutes of a commute from the building I live in. Ignore the miles driven on the MFD, it is not accurate. Also, the "pattern" on the MFD is quite normal for my commute. Sometimes, it just keeps going up...anyway, I'd say that the grill block worked. Leaving the garage, my MPG read 40.1, and after the first five minute bar appeared, it jumped to 45.4! I am seeing a definite improvement...









I just wanted to thank everyone for their helpful threads on the grill block...Efusco, TonyPSchaefer, Fire Engineer, DaveInOlyWa, and anyone else I forgot to mention...

 

I've been thinking about it, but I haven't figured out how I would plug it in yet. The only outlet in the garage is on the other side from mine. It's a long garage under the building with cars along either side of it. The extension cord would have to run right across the floor (25 feet), or along the wall, up and over the entry door, and along the other wall (and that's like over 50 feet). Regardless, some tenant is gonna say something, and then I'll probably get a letter from the management company telling me to stop stealing their electricity. :biggrin1:

 

Definitely an idea worth exploring...see, i didn't even think of that. I was looking at the problem from a view of having to be sneaky and then getting caught. :doh:

 

ound: Been there, done that, not gonna do it again!

 

Traveled back from MA this morning...it's about a 4 and 1/2 hour trip from West Barnstable to Yonkers NY. Averaged 45.1 miles per gallon at 65 to 70 miles per hour on cruise control, outside ambient temperature according to the car was 31 degrees at the start of the trip, and when we arrived it was 42 degrees, and we were running the heater at 71 degrees with fan speed one above low. Don't know if this was due to the grill block or not, but I'm going to block another slit maybe two on Monday on the lower grill.

IMO, it is working, because I've seen an increase in MPG's on my database at greenhybrid.

 

Very noteworthy...Yep, for now I'm just going to leave the grill blocked, no EBH. I bought another bag of pipe insulation, and am going to stuff a few more slats, sit back and watch what happens. It's difficult to determine right now if the mpg's are improving because I am not the only one driving the car right now. Currently, my wife is driving the car more often than I am, and her driving is very different from mine. So right now I'm seeing our MPG's take a dive, regardless of the grill block. The first few days of having it blocked I definitely saw a difference, however, if we're not going to drive the same way (ahem, MY WAY), then it's a lost cause...and that's just sad. : )

 

I filled up last night and calculated 45 mpg for the tank. Not bad for 30 to 40 degree weather. Question: Does anyone have a solution for keeping the ends of the pipe insulation from slipping out? I'll post pics later showing the problem area...for now, I'll describe...the pipe insulation is compression fitted into the bottom slats, however, the ends are not quite long enough to remain "squeezed" in permanently, and every now and then I have to push em' back in with my fingers. Any ideas?

 

Well...the grill's are not painted, at least I don't think they are. Regardless, the insulation is soft enough that it does not mark up any surfaces. Zip ties too. In regards to zip ties, I thought about using those, however, they are too thin, and would move too easily. Perhaps gaffers tape, black gaffers tape.

 

Thank you to those who gave me suggestions! I had a eureka moment and here is the solution! I cut 6 little sections from a remaining tube of insulation and stuffed them into the gaps on the very left and right of the grill, thereby "compressing" the block some more. It effectively holds the ends of the insulation, and prevents slippage!

 

Yes, you're right! I could do that... :tea: Although I kinda like the wavy look...in a modern art sort of way.