Second round of mods

I'm starting to like the Malibu a lot more now that it's getting around 40mpg highway quite regularly now that gas is so expensive.  Some stuff I did to it this spring includes:
The car just seems to coast forever after the switch from dexron vi to amsoil low viscosity.  It's probably the biggest reason I have the increase in highway gas mileage I figure.

Here are more photos.  The front oxygen sensor didn't clear the fan initially so many pieces were chipped out of the shrowd.  Under the one lip on the passenger side of the engine is stamped ROUSH.  Also, pictures of the oil catch can that is working VERY well to keep oil vapours from going back in to the engine and keeping it cleaner (and the new Optima red top battery).



I also indexed the spark plugs when I put on the headers about 15K ago.  The car has really woken up and I'm really starting to love it.  My main problems right now are a rattle that I haven't figured out that sounds like it's coming from the passenger side in the trunk and I had p0420 and p0430 for the catalytic converter efficiency because I have no cats.   Putting in oxygen sensor spacers on the downstream sensors got the codes to shut up.

I also found a good article outlining which cars with the 4t45e transaxle have which final drive ratios.  I also have the full GM shop service manuals for this Malibu - TWO HUGE BOOKS (like bibles).

Most recently I've gotten interested in vortex generators and started designing a belly pan.   Here is some information from Mitsubishi that they used on the Lancer Evo's.  I thought it was interesting they mentioned dimples and the Reynolds number.  Mythbusters did a cool experiment (starts at 2:10) covering a car with 'golf ball-like' dimples and found efficiency increased about 3 mpg.  There's even a company trying to cash in on this but I have yet to see empirical evidence from FastSkinz.

Built the belly pan today and attached it.  It covers just over 1/2 of the transmission pan.  I made a template out of cardboard first and then used some trailer aluminum and my brother's air shears.  A few screws at the front and some stainless steel tie straps at the back.  Watching my temps closely - they're a little warmer than usual but should be okay as long as I'm moving.  Doing a highway trip soon so my hopes are high this will reap some mpg's.



I'm doing up to 48 mpg when I reach 118 kph.  I've also got a new set of rotary forged Centerline Monsoon's coming too.   Temps were fine on my last highway trip so the lower grille block is here to stay.  I also just put on a new front strut tower brace from Joe @ Racingline Performance.

Well, I found why I was getting such good gas mileage.  I changed to a different sent of winter tires (Pirelli Winter Carving) and my highway mileage went down by 10mpg from my Nokian Hakkapelliitta RSI's.  I am quite conflicted now.  City mileage is about the same but I know that I'll never leave Nokian for winter again.  Anxious to see how my Michelin Hydroedge will fair in summer.

Problems with the DRL lights melting the ambers in the front headlights

Also dug into why the lights in the heater switch assembly don't work.  Not easy to replace and I was lucky to scoff another board from the wrecker. My old one has three bulbs burnt out.  I put checkmarks by the blue bulbs that still work.  A friend that I know who can solder will swap the bulbs for me at a later time - not a huge deal at the moment and I have a plan of attack on this one.



I've also cleaned up the front end some more after making the belly pan and gave the engine bay a thorough washing.  I also put in a second O2 sensor spacer on each downstream O2 sensor to get rid of the P0420 and P0430 I was getting since running without catalytic converters.  Closed up all the gaps I could find using a trouble light from the fender well.  I also have made an upper grille block and my temps are fine.  All I did was slide some black vinyl behind the bra.  Putting in the new headlights, I put some foam underneath to fill the gap that was previously there to hopefully smooth out the air flow a bit more.  You can also see the lower grille block that covers the fog light corners that I did with cardboard and grey tarp tape.



Got my Centerlines in and mounted them last weekend.  I have some pictures from my blackberry to add quickly.  Next I'm planning coilovers.  I am also looking for something I can add to the back of my spoiler to create a smooth 5mm raised lip.  I was inspired by this video on the new volt.  So I'm thinking of a small gurney flap (wickerbill).

I spent a bunch of time making panels out of corrugated plastic to put between the hood and the base of the windshield to reduce turbulence at the base of the windshield.  I also spent many hours working on the underside of the car to smooth out the airflow underneath.  My first trip from Edmonton to Hinton into headwind at 100kph yielded 49mpg.



The red tape was eventually replaced with a frame from some wall-mount aluminum shelving hardware and various rivets and washers and some of it was undercoated to limit the corrosion on the rivets so they don't let go.

 I decided to paint my Borbet wheels for winter with metallic graphite.  Looks kinda cool.  They are wrapped in Nokian Hakkapellitta R's which totally rock for traction and low rolling resistance.  They have since been touched up from last winter and coated with Plastidip glossifier which has made them very chip resistant.  The Plastidip is supposed to be easy to peel off if necessary so re-coating it if it gets damaged badly should be a snap.



I also riveted on the underbody panels and removed the red tape.

        

My next plan is to install a coilover suspension setup from a Saab 9-3

Also putting on some front tire deflectors this trip too.  Just made out of aluminum, bent 90 degrees and riveted on.