After purchasing a used 2000 Honda Insight, several things came to mind when attempting to change the oil:
1) Before the oil could be drained, several panels had to come off.
2) The existing panels were rather flimsy, and might move easily in the wind
3) Getting the panels back on in cold weather, was shall we say, 'interesting' with cold fingers.
That made it obvious that something would be done when warm weather came in Wisconsin.
In May of 2009, 1) the motorcycle was brought out of winters hibernation to get back and forth from work, and 2) the Insight was jacked up to determine how new panels could be implemented. After accessing what hard points were available, construction was started on the mounting system.
Hard mounting points for the support rail were embedded into components on the car.
Making a curved surface, requires many smaller blocks glued together.
Here you can see the blocks filed down to a smoother shape.
Here's a close-up shot of the blocks.
You can see the many small blocks that are added together, to make the overall shape.
This shot shows the panel about one foot in front of the second catalytic converter. In the foreground in an access hole for changing the oil filter.
A detail shot showing the hard mount points and embedded wood blocks that act as stress relievers to the relatively soft foam.
Now you can see the panel extending rear-ward towards a new hard mount point. Also, in the middle of this picture is the access hole for the oil drain. There is a fumoto oil drain valve mounted there to aid in easy oil changes.
Fresh blocks of foam are being glued in this picture and extend to where the drivers side panel will be started later. The drivers panel was missing when I bought the car this spring.
This shot shows the start of an inverted airfoil, covering the underside of the suspension arm.
Start of the inverted wing shape on the drivers side.
This shot shows just how complicated the shape is on the back side of the panel. You can imagine the hours it took to shape all of this.
A close-up of the contour shape of the back side of the panel.
This is the same area after smoothing out the area. This will allow the glass cloth an easier time of adhering to the complex shape. More shaping is yet be done, however. The foam needs to be very smooth before glassing.
Now the back side of the panel is starting to take shape!!
This area is a little thin and weak, so another layer of foam is added for strength.
Here is the shape smoothed down so the glass cloth will transition the shape easily.
The is the blocked-out area of the suspension airfoil.
After shaping with a rasp file, here is what the shape looks like.
Here's an edge view of the airfoil.
Airfoil almost finished now.
Panel is back on the car now, and the wheel well area being filled in. This accomplished two things:
1) Support for this portion of the panel.
2) Keep snow from being packed under the panel in this area.
The car is primary transportation in the winter.
Adding yet more blocks.
This area is almost filled-in now.
Hey, just about done. A pair of wood blocks are used to hold the two portions of the panel together in this area.
And the same thing on the front side of the wheel-well.
A backside view of the almost complete panel. Notice all the hard-mount locations. This is ensure that snow does not pack behind the panel in cold weather.
This shot shows the geometric layout of the panel's backside.
You can see the embedded wood blocks, to allow attaching to the car.
Here's the panel flipped over and just about smoothed out. If this were a car body panel, the entire surface would be glazed, sanded, primed, and painted. This process would take about one more month to get smooth for exterior body panels.
The project has taken six weeks at this point.
A detail shot of the oil filter access panel, and oil drain hole.
And the recently fiberglassed wheel well supports.
And the front side.
This shot shows the tight fit of the panel on the car body.
Jim.