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As you may have read a while back I have gone from a van with a 3.8L to a 3.4L. It is better in so many ways. It accelerates more freely getting me to cruise faster and it punches a smaller hole through the air.

Tonight I took off the roof rack cross bars. I have no idea how much it will save at the pump but knowing that the air is flowing clean over the roof and not hearing that awful howling sound that they made is so worth it.

GM actually put out a TSB about my roof rack because of the noise they make. (Especially over 45 mph). However, they did not include the instructions on how to remove it. The dealer didn't even know and could not find the information for me even though it says in big proud letters on the rack, "GM ACCESSORIES".

I had to take the entire roof rack off and then take it apart to slide the rails off. I put the side bars back on the van because they look nice, and it is my wife's car. Then I reverse engineered the crossbar mounts. It took an hour to get them off but now that I know how to do it it should take minutes to reinstall and remove if I ever need them.

Just take the side rails off as well, looks sleek and it does help a bit with MPG. There is also a factory rear spoiler that should help a bit, seen a few on ebay. Try a bit of a lip spoiler under the bumper. Then consider wheel spats in front of all wheels and eventually rear wheel covers and underbody panels.

Wayne

Hi EXPIowa:

With the cleanup of the aero due to that rack alone, how is your Venture doing otherwise? When I heard the word howling, I thought of a flag snapping in the wind behind your van and the drag that would offer… I am sure you have covered all the other basics including pressures, oil type and level, alignment etc. Those older pushrod motors and tall AT's can really do well on the highway if allowed to run at the PSL even in something as un-aerodynamic as the Venture.

Good Luck

Wayne

This is in response to an old post, but as I have a venture which I'm planning on removing the rack from, I was wondering what difference this has made.

I removed my rack yesterday. This morning I had my best commute to work to date of 33.4 MPG, where my best before was 32.4. While more data would be needed, but it appears at first glance that I gained a 3% improvement.

I'm sure it will make a noticeable gain. Keep us informed!

That pretty well matches the gain MetroMPG found from removing a minivan rack.