Crazy Crazy Coroplast. DIY interior and Grille Block

[krousdb]

Geez. Once you work with coroplast you get all kinds of crazy ideas about how to use this durable, lightweight, sound deadening material. Since I noticed a significant reduction in road noise, I decided to add more soundproofing. I cut panels and slid them between the carpet and floorboard. And while I was doing that, I kept looking at the el cheapo rear bin plastic interior of the del sol. Not only does it look cheap, it rattles and squeaks every time I hit a bump. So as part of my weight reduction program , I removed about 22 lbs of that ugly stuff. But that left an even uglier bare metal and wires to look at. Then the lightbulb went off! Coroplast interior! I forgot to take before pics, but here are the after pics...



The coroplast , black carpeting and rubberized mesh (lighter colored stuff on upper and sides, cost about $25 all together.



No more squeeks or rattles and another slight improvement on road noise reduction.

Next project? Coroplast wheel skirts and grille block.

[SVOboy]

Yo, if you do this undercarpet lemme know, I want to take out all the sound deadening material, and I might replace with cloroplast!

[krousdb]

Originally Posted by SVOboy

Yo, if you do this undercarpet lemme know, I want to take out all the sound deadening material, and I might replace with cloroplast!

I remember your comment about how heavy your soundproofing was. Mine is like a hard lightweight fiber that is bonded to the floorboard. I decided to leave it in place and slide coroplast under the carpet for additional soundproofing. So yes, i did do the undercarpet thing.

[Matt Timion]

Originally Posted by krousdb

I remember your comment about how heavy your soundproofing was. Mine is like a hard lightweight fiber that is bonded to the floorboard. I decided to leave it in place and slide coroplast under the carpet for additional soundproofing. So yes, i did do the undercarpet thing.

That's how all honda stuff is... you have to either use a heat gun or dry ice to remove it. It's no fun at all.

[krousdb]

Here is the completed Grille Block. Notice the rectangular hole for cooling durnig warmer temps. Next winter i will cover the hole with duct tape and paint it balck.

[SVOboy]

Give us a shot from the front! I wanna see what it looksss like from afar.

[krousdb]

[SVOboy]

Man, that looks pretty badass. How did you decide on the size of the hole?

I will want to do this when I get some coroplast but I'll prolly use some sort of grilley for the hole, mehbe.

[krousdb]

This one is flush with the bumper. My previous one was made from a shingle and was recessed. Hopefully being flush will improve my CD from really crappy to slightly less than really crappy.

I would like to tell you that I got our my fluid mechanics and thremodynamics books and performed a series of complex multivariable equations to calculate the hole size. But since I forgot that stuff a long tome ago, I just swagged it.

[SVOboy]

Check out the engine temps for us when you go running around then!

[krousdb]

Yesterday on the drive home it was 72F. I had the old grille block with no hole. The temp gauge was where it always is, at 1/2. When I got home I did notice my radiator fan running as I coasted into my garage. It shut off after about 30 seconds.

I will keep a lookout to see if the gauge changes. I guess if I see steam then I know that I need a bigger hole.

[SVOboy]

Ah, you're a little bit scary sometimes, I hope you know that.

[rh77]

Very nicely done Dan! Do you have a Dremel Tool to round out the air dam mod?

Originally Posted by SVO

Check out the engine temps for us when you go running around then!

I think there's an air intake that blows air up under the bumper to cool the rad, unless it's been blocked.

-RH77

[krousdb]

Originally Posted by SVOboy

Ah, you're a little bit scary sometimes, I hope you know that.

That's not the first time someone has told me that. I just ask myself, what's the worst that could happen? In this case, steam starts shooting out from my hood, I pull off to the side of the road and open the hood. After a few minutes things cool down while I cut a larger hole into the grille block. No biggie.

If I manage to crack a head or block, then I get the car towed home and call SVOboy to bring me a free D15Z1 and install it for me (assuming we can figure out what to do with the extra O2 wire and the egr valve). In the mean time I drive the Outback and pay twice as much for gas.

What did I miss?

[krousdb]

Originally Posted by rh77

I think there's an air intake that blows air up under the bumper to cool the rad, unless it's been blocked.

-RH77

My engine compartment is nearly hermetically sealed. There is only the space around the exhaust pipe / cat for air to move.

[rh77]

Originally Posted by krousdb

That's not the first time someone has told me that. I just ask myself, what's the worst that could happen? In this case, steam starts shooting out from my hood, I pull off to the side of the road and open the hood. After a few minutes things cool down while I cut a larger hole into the grille block. No biggie.

If I manage to crack a head or block, then I get the car towed home and call SVOboy to bring me a free D15Z1 and install it for me (assuming we can figure out what to do with the extra O2 wire and the egr valve). In the mean time I drive the Outback and pay twice as much for gas.

What did I miss?

Welp, just keep an eye on the guage, if it goes above half on Hondas, then you're heading into some higher range territory. I still have the baffle over the rad, and in the 80-deg weather with the A/C on, the fan ran, but the gauge didn't budge. I think you'll be OK unless you get up to 75%, then shut 'er down and run the heater on full-blast when you get going again. A cracked block would take quite the heat...

RH77

[SVOboy]

Very very interesting, senior. Very very.

I still need to pick up the one d15b8, but I won't this weekend because of rain. I'll shoot for easter weekend, but I'll be calling him today. Jared and I are both looking for more engines for me, , I dibs the first z1 to be found though.

Jared already has a free d15b7 lined up for me,

[rh77]

Originally Posted by krousdb

My engine compartment is nearly hermetically sealed. There is only the space around the exhaust pipe / cat for air to move.

I love the "hermetically" sealed verbiage. It sounds like a coffee pot :-) Well then, be cautious of the battery as extreme heat tends to kill them quickly (especially if you have a PA-spec, high cold cranking-amps batt.) Well then geez! Where does the heat go? Can you put a temp gauge (like a cheapo Radio Shack outdoor thermometer with a cord and sensor on the end). The excess heat has me concerned (i.e. oil temps, etc.) But, I guess Honda's don't really generate gobs of heat anyways, especially your engine.

RH77

[philmcneal]

very impressed, you can't even tell that its blocked.

DOesn't your SUPERMID report temps? I'm sure you can keep an eye on that and don't have to worrya bout any overheating.

With the way Dan drives, I doubt he'll never have to worry about it. If all else fails use some HOT HEAT to relief the radiator a bit.

[SVOboy]

Oh **** dan, I should've mentioned this, but we should be able to datalog ECT temps with our ecus,

[krousdb]

During my commute, I burn about 0.4 gallons in just less than an hour. It takes about 10 minutes before I get up to operating temp. Once the thermostat opens, since I guess there is about twice as much coolant in the radiator, it would take another 2o minute to heat the whole system to 192F. That leaves about 25 minutes at 0.4 GPH burn rate to cause an overheating condition.

No problems yet.

[krousdb]

Originally Posted by philmcneal

DOesn't your SUPERMID report temps? I'm sure you can keep an eye on that and don't have to worrya bout any overheating.

I have the SuperMID M-1 only. The T-1, which I had on the Prius monitors ECT, AIT among other things. I didn't think it was worth another $150 for the T-1 in the del sol.

[SVOboy]

You can monitor those things with datalogging on the ecu, friend,

[krousdb]

So I have to have my laptop in the passenger seat? Just plug into the USB port and launch the ECU control software? Thats it?

[SVOboy]

You gotta install the nokia software stuff, as I recall, I have yet to do it on mine, mehbe I'll try it out today or tomorrow. It's kinda of annoying as hell, half of people can't get it working.

[krousdb]

Yea, I tried it and I need the drivers. Where do i find them?

[SVOboy]

www.pgmfi.org I'll poke around now and see if I can find the ****.

[SVOboy]

http://dan-ang.com/pgmfi/USBDrive.zip

That should work according to pgmfi.

[JanGeo]

I usually run about 182-184 with the peak at 192 but yesterday I got into some city traffic and heard the radiator fan turn on for the first time ever at 205 degrees.

[Compaq888]

that is crazy setup. Since I live where the weather is most of the time warm I run the risk of overheating my car.

JanGeo perhaps you need a higher bar radiator cap??? Due to my 1.2 my fans turn on very rare now. With a .9 they used to turn a lot in city driving.