Well I did it...I know I will take some flaming for this one but the gains were too great not to go through with it after my testing. I went on a road trip a while ago and blocked off my grill with cardboard to decrease wind resistance, and it was so impressive that I have made it semi-permanent. I cut out a piece of aluminum, put thin weatherstriping on the back side of it and bolted it over my grill. I also added some to my air dam to compensate for the decreased airflow to the radiator. It actually runs cooler now. I am torn between polishing the aluminum, brushing it, or painting it now.
02 LS Sport
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56 GMC
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66 Suburban
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2135589
that doesn't affect your cooling system at all?!?
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paint....but dark grey or black, not the blue
thats pretty damn weird how would that help anything at all.
ie in nascar if even a snicker bar wrapper hits the grill it kills power
i dont see how the front grill, with the holes it has, causes that much wind resistence....?
i dont know, even if it does it must be so slight that u used professional diagnostic tools to notice the difference, once u paint it it wont look that bad tho... if u like it, sweet
I don't know about the performance deal, but I think it makes the car look cleaner..........
Brandon Schmidt wrote:thats pretty damn weird how would that help anything at all.
ie in nascar if even a snicker bar wrapper hits the grill it kills power
LOL, it's a Cavalier....not an Asscar.
And if you extended the air dam, wouldn't it hang much lower than your bumper causing more drag?
More downforce??
Again, we're just talking about a Cavalier, so it's not like it's the gains are that sicnificant without some serious lab testing...
Now I think someone should make something like that as a billet grill! does anyone agree with me on that I think that would really make the car alot better than a mesh insert would.
2009 Ford Mustang V6
Put that bitch in the wind tunnel!
seems pretty retarded to me. the grill is open there for a reason. your radiator needs it there.
You would think so Adam, but look at Nascar, and the Monte Carlos! Come on now.
It looks super clean now. Though idk about all you claim it helps.
Adam (StealthCavalier) wrote:seems pretty retarded to me. the grill is open there for a reason. your radiator needs it there.
thats what the air dam under the bumper is for too. not only does air come in through the grille but the air dam catches air and pushes it up to the bottom of the rad. either way its still getting air but blocking out the front of it is takin the majority of it away
why would my radiator need a grill if it runs cooler now without it. I extended the air dam about an inch and set it up so that it wouldnt collapse as easy. feel how weak your air dam is sometime. I bolted a piece of angled plastic to the bottom of the exisiting one. The air dam gets all the air the car needs to stay cool. It used to run at 195 all the time, its now a half a mark lower wether im on the freeway or around town
the way I figure it, any air that gets under the car is going to cause lift and drag since the car is far from smooth, so it may as well be used to cool the car
Take a look at the front of a corvette sometime. The grill opening is tiny and the rest of the air is picked up underneath the car with the air dam. A 5.7 liter, 405 HP Zo6 would need a bit more grill than a 2.2 140 hp cavalier, but its gril is almost non existant. The corvettes stay cool no problem trust me
I have no way to prove that there is more downforce, I dont have a laptop computer and I havent figured out where to get linear potentiometers yet otherwise I would test it. All I know is that the steering felt heavier on the freeway, which to me would mean more downforce.
The01Cav....I agree...a billet grill would look sweet on most sport compacts, especially the cavalier. Im not a big fan of mesh, it looks cheap to me....not that an aluminum plate looks any less cheap...
02 LS Sport
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68 Firebird
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56 GMC
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2135587
66 Suburban
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2135589
comparing a cavalier to a vette is like comparing apples and oranges.
[quote=ßãggéÐÇåv98 (Ûñqùðtäߣè Øñé)]comparing a cavalier to a vette is like comparing apples and oranges.
Apples change color and oranges stay orange?
Dennis Rolston wrote:
Take a look at the front of a corvette sometime. The grill opening is tiny and the rest of the air is picked up underneath the car with the air dam. A 5.7 liter, 405 HP Zo6 would need a bit more grill than a 2.2 140 hp cavalier, but its gril is almost non existant. The corvettes stay cool no problem trust me
you are right here to some extent the grills on the front of a vette are CAI vents the duct runs directly to the airbox also the corvete is aerodynamicly designed for air flow into the rad to cool a cav is not at all
ok...I was wrong about the vette....there are NO grill openings since the openings on the front are for cold air intake (I had forgotten about that) and for brake cooling. Under the front bumper is an air dam that directs air up towards the radiator. Check under one and see.
Also....aerodynamics do not discern whether a car is a corvette or a cavalier....thats like saying that gravity only applies to fat people.
It doesnt matter if my car is not designed for no grill...it has been altered to act the same as a corvette in its cooling system. Does a car not drive when its lowered because it wasnt designed for it? I was really amazed by the corvettes cooling system because its design would cause a lot more high speed lift than alternative designs would have. But it works and it works well for street driving so I tried it and had sucess.
I dont have perfectly quantified mileage results because of variables. I do know that it is better. Driving variations, temperatures, road conditions, inclination, and wind can vary this a bunch. I need to take it off, drive a flat stretch on the freeway, then repeat the drive with the grill cover on. That would be indisputable evidence, but for now I know that it is better. Probably 3 or so MPG on the freeway....also...this does nothing around town. Speeds are low enough that aerodynamics are not as important. However, at 80 mph wind resistance can make significant differences in gas mileage.
02 LS Sport
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2135396
68 Firebird
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2135556
56 GMC
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2135587
66 Suburban
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2135589
