I'm thinking about doing a homemade grill block on the Prizm. But while sitting in traffic today(with no A/C running) I notice the temp went up to 202F. If I do a grill block, wouldn't the temp skyrocket while in traffic, even with the rad. fan going?

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"But Doc, we dont' have enough road to get it up to 88 miles per hour"

Oh forgot something. The normal running temp to 188F.

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"But Doc, we dont' have enough road to get it up to 88 miles per hour"

try half grill block and see where you stand...But if your thinking about using your ac, i would not do the half grill block either, wait till fall..

Yeah, I have to use A/C with 100+ and the heat index on top of that. So don't even do a half block right now? Any other simply aero mods that could work right now?

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"But Doc, we dont' have enough road to get it up to 88 miles per hour"

front lip, mirror delete, rear diffuser, underbody panel just to name a few

I'll look into those. But most I would wait on until the car is paid off.

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"But Doc, we dont' have enough road to get it up to 88 miles per hour"

My experience: I use a grill block since end 2009 on my black Civic. In summer around 60%, winter 85-95%. I don't suffer the temps you have now in US. But...strangely enough: in summer, if I use the AC my temps (engine and radiator) go down. That's because the fans are forced to run in such case (compressor AC engaged). And with approx. 40% open a lot of air is still sucked in.
Results of this mod are positive, but nothing more than a single % or so. I had much more notible result when going from 10W40 to 0W20 engine oil.
An my last mod was an engine block heater. Also positive result of course, but seem a bit less influencing than the engine oil. Allthough the period I only had the 0W20 without the EBH was very short. So I can't show any hard data as I did my mods a bit to fast one after the other.

i'm going to be creating a aerogrill for my cobalt soon it's not going to completely close off the grill because we need that air flow for a reason but it will allow the air to flow more smoothly compared to getting chopped up by my factory grill

Since GM and Ford are currently advertising cars with automatic grill blocks, I have to think there might be something to them.

If your temperature gauge reads hotter than normal;
1. Radiator shops usually don't charge to test the radiator.
2. After shut-down, pull the fan fuze, and feel the bottom of the radiator. if it is cool it needs replacement.

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yea i only have a grillblock in the winter, temps go too high for my comfort in the summer and one car has no gauge just an idiot light that i dont trust

saveing a few cents in gas isnt gonna do much when its a $900 head gasket/warped head job haha

just installed my home made grill blocker today!! let you guys know the result. my air flow is not compromised though because there is a lower grill that lets plenty of air flow in.

Got any piccies of yer grill block setup?

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free lol found the plexiglass and rubber hose at our shop.

grsshpr1,

if your aerodynamics is like that of the cavalier, then about 90% of your cooling comes from underneath. on my car there is a flap that attaches to the bottom of the radiator that directs air towards the radiator while going down the road. I know the old 90's camaro was the same way. if the flap gets knocked off, you start to run hot.

I have my entire lower grill blocked off. I used to have the opening between my hood and bumper blocked off all but enough room to pop the hood up. I was just lazy on that and didn't put it back on.

I have had my lower grill blocked off for over 3 years. about 1.5 to 2 years ago I permanently sealed it off. I will admit that my body work skills are horrible but it got the job done and looked good for a little while

http://www.gassavers.org/garage_imag...fzq4ynuh1i.jpg

I would say to research the crap out of your vehicle before doing it but many of us do have complete grill blocks and though I don't see many 100 degree days, we have seen a record number of upper 90 degree days this year. no problems yet. 14 yrs old and 218k miles (7 yrs and about 125k are from me personally).

I started with plexi glass too. made a paper template and used a dremel to cut the plexi. put it on with wing nuts, bolts, and fender washers.

if you have some time to kill, here is how I did the bumper when I made it permanent.

****edit*****

I wouldn't mind seeing pictures of what you did too. curious of how you blocked off the top. always good to see how others do things.

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Be the change you wish to see in the world
--Mahatma Gandhi

i'm unsure of how to upload pics onto here? but i came across a shelby cobra carbon fiber front air splitter and i'm going to apply that to my car soon. i'm still getting the parts together for my exhaust.

what I do is go to www.tinypic.com and upload it there (you don't have to join). chose the size you want it first and then do the download. once it is done, it will give you a few options.

the screen says "share this image" at the top of it. the second option is: IMG Code for Forums & Message Boards

if you copy and paste this line of text (should say IMG at the front and /IMG at the end) into your message, the picture will show up in the thread.

where I work, they block photobucket so tinypic is golden for me. there are other picture hosting sites but this is what I use.

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Be the change you wish to see in the world
--Mahatma Gandhi

oh ok so i can use photobucket too i'll get a pic up soon then