Done driving for the year - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

pgfpro · 11-06-2009, 04:47 PM

Its time to put my car away for the winter and reevaluate.

My plans are to tear the engine down and check for detonation and see how the thermal coatings are holding up. If everything looks good I'm going to make a few adjustments and change the prechamber a little.

Then its time to work on my new aero mod. I'm considering making a whole aero cover that will be made of acrylic sheeting. I will bond it together using a product that help design. All the seams will have a bond so it will look like its a one piece shell. I will use 6 attaching points with aluminum brackets to bolt it to the car from the underside. This is where the convertible part will pay off, and was part of my plan when I bought the car. It will have a tilt front hinged that I will use safety pins with a cable to unlock at the rear. Pop the pins and push up on a bracket from the drivers seat to tilt the whole cover forward. So now I can open the doors to get out.

I will also be adding a taller 5th gear to accommodate the new aero mods.

The car so far has been a success with a few 70+mpg at 55 to 58mph. Hopefully I can get to my 100mpg mark next year with the new aero mods.

I'm also excited that i might have a chance at testing a new product built by one of our ecomodders on this site. It will help a ton for in town driving. I will let him tell or not.

Anyway this should keep me busy for the winter.

KJSatz · 11-06-2009, 06:44 PM

Be sure to post pics of your work with aeromods

.

Christ · 11-06-2009, 06:48 PM

Screw the aeromods, I want pics of the inside of your engine!

pgfpro · 11-06-2009, 09:29 PM

Quote:

Be sure to post pics of your work with aeromods

This is a preliminary idea of what it will look like. But I will be taking pics of the whole build.

Quote:

Screw the aeromods, I want pics of the inside of your engine!

I'll show some pics of a few parts of the engine.LOL

Christ · 11-06-2009, 09:30 PM

I just want a rundown of the current mods to the engine, and pics of how each one turned out after a few miles on it!

I lied... I care about the aeromods too...

pgfpro · 11-14-2009, 02:02 AM

Update, well after working out more details on my aeroshell I decided to do a rear only aero mod from the b-pillar back. I just got a killer deal on some .060 acrylic sheeting. I'm going to have an 11* drop from the roof downward past the rear of the car by about three feet.

My question is on the sides I was wondering what the optimum angle should be for a boat-tail?

Christ · 11-14-2009, 02:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pgfpro

Update, well after working out more details on my aeroshell I decided to do a rear only aero mod from the b-pillar back. I just got a killer deal on some .060 acrylic sheeting. I'm going to have an 11* drop from the roof downward past the rear of the car by about three feet.

My question is on the sides I was wondering what the optimum angle should be for a boat-tail?

Everything I've read (not much, admittedly) on vehicle aero suggests that top and sides be 10-13*, I believe.

Bottom, I haven't found any specific references or data other than that which can be found openly on here, but I see that 2-4* seems to be a playfully tossed about number.

EDIT: If you check out Phil's T100(?), you'll notice the aerocap looks as if he cut the rear window from a Stingray and brought it out to it's logical conclusion on top of a tonneau cover.

pgfpro · Yesterday, 04:59 PM

I'm doing some mock up. I have the top sheeting at 11 degrees.

This extends out about four feet from the rear of the car. I'm trying to figure out what the angle of the bottom to the top will be? It looks like between 20 and 30 degrees?

How important is the bottoms tail piece angle.

Christ · Yesterday, 10:28 PM

I dont have a protractor or a program available that will approximate an angle, but I can tell you that if you follow a natural curve, you can keep attached flow beyond 12* and make for a shorter tail with a lower end point, which will allow for a shallow bottom tail angle. Think about the shape of long range rifle rounds, and try to approximate it with the top piece.

Bicycle Bob · Yesterday, 10:42 PM

If you want the air to stay attached on the bottom, 4 deg. is recommended, depending on the usual suspects. If you want downforce, steeper angles are good. Some say that air stays attached past 12, but I've yet to see the tuft testing. On top, my favourite 1st guess is always 15 deg.