Aerocivic - how to drop your Cd from 0.31 to 0.17

[blackjackel]

what material did you use to cover the underbody where the exhaust and muffler is? It looks plastic, its surprising that it dosent melt or catch fire.

I ask because I Want to do the rest of my car's underbody but its where the exhaust is and i dont know what material to use, metal is too expensive.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by Christ

Do you have your own build thread yet? You should start one, so you can accurately document your work in an easy to find thread.

I second that!

3-wheeler too: your undertray construction is unique & threadworthy.

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Mike: someone emailed this question to me:

I was wondering where you acquired the mirrors you've used to replace your external sideviews on the Aerocivic?

Thank you,
Andrew K.

[basjoos]

I got my internal side rearview mirrors from Walmart. They were sold as stick-ons to be put on larger mirrors and cost under $2 each. I mounted them on a plastic mount I built, using VHB tape to attach them.

[JJMunoz]

Basjoos, besides a heat gun, what did you use to form the lexan to the aluminum framing for the rear hatch windshield? And what did you use to cut such precise angles? A sawzall? I don't believe a box cutter's sharp enough to cut through it without it taking hours for just one cut. :/

[basjoos]

Originally Posted by JJMunoz

Basjoos, besides a heat gun, what did you use to form the lexan to the aluminum framing for the rear hatch windshield? And what did you use to cut such precise angles? A sawzall? I don't believe a box cutter's sharp enough to cut through it without it taking hours for just one cut. :/

1/8" thick lexan is stiff, but moderately flexible, so I just put most of the curve into it using hand/arm pressure and then heated up the curved section to relieve/relax the stress of the newly created curve. Lexan has a fairly narrow temperature range between where it softens/becomes easier to bend and where it starts to burn/bubble from getting too hot. To cut the lexan, I used a jigsaw with a faily fine blade with some soft material covering the shoe to keep it from scratching the lexan.

[Bicycle Bob]

To vacuum form polycarbonate without getting bubbles, you have to soak it at 90 C (190 F) for many hours to drive the moisture out. You can do that with an improvised oven using a heater and a good fan to get sheets ready for extensive forming, or just use plexiglas, which is much easier to keep polished.
You can make straight or moderately curved cuts in 1/8" polycarbonate or other plastic sheets by scoring with a sharp blade, and then bending to open the score and re-scoring a few times until the sheet breaks.

[Cd]

Basjoos, in case no one has asked yet, I'd like to ask if you have considered getting paid for driving your car by having advertisement decals on the car.
Since you don't care about the cars appearance, drive long distances, and have a car that attracts a huge amount of attention, I would think you would be a prime candidate for this sort of thing.
Who knows, the decal sheets might actually help the cars drag, since they might smooth around some of the rough edges. It would acually make the car look better since it would hide a lot of the roughness, and you'll be getting paid just for driving around .

I was told that there is a guy around the Austin area that has done this to his car. He has a boattail on his car too. ( I wonder why I have never seen him on this forum before. )

[RobertSmalls]

When I see extreme cars like the AeroCivic, I wonder why nobody sells them. Have you ever gotten unsolicited offers to buy the AeroCivic, and were any of the offers high enough to make you think about selling it?

[basjoos]

Never had anybody ask to advertise on my car or had anybody offer to buy it.

[lunarhighway]

would be nice if someone wanted to use your car as a template to make bodykits...
not a big market and possible legal barriers, but a limited run would not be totally unthinkable