Honda Fit - My first Aero Mod Project

[stockrex]

Greetings from West Michigan's finest city of Grand Rapids,
I picked up a Honda Fit Base and I need your help to squeeze out the most mpg out of it.

I need your help to guide me and help me answer/learn the basics. I have been reading as much as I can from others

My mod list: pls add to it

1. Tires: stock dunlop - up pressure to 40 lb
2. Front Grill block off - need scan guage to monitor temps as no temp on dash
3. Rear wheel cover - what material and how to attach??
4. Rear Boat Tail - what material and how to attach, what angles

[Jethro]

If the car doesn't have a temp gauge, it obviously is incapable of over heating. =)

Tape seems to be the weapon of choice on this forum.

Read what people have done on their boat tails, you can get almost all the info you need from there in a few hours of reading.

[RobertSmalls]

Get the ScanGauge and use it to monitor and improve your driving.

If you want to do a grille block before you get a scangauge, you could wire up an LED to come on when the radiator fan does. Then just block as much as you can without having the fan come on often.

Check out this thread which has some pics of construction technique:

Is 42mpg too low a goal?

I would also add a block heater, and maybe while you're plugging the car in, add an alternator kill switch.

[stockrex]

I did a 329 mile run today, as a baseline,

Tires - 40 lb
Gas -89
city 20%, hwy 80% @nearly 80 mph
no a/c or defrost, lights were on half the time.
Total weight in car - approx 500 lbs.

drum roll - 36.5 mpg

light years ahead of the 21 mpg I get out of my sienna and 17 mpg from my dmax both at 80 mph.

I bought a different ODB scanner which captures the items I need.

[PaleMelanesian]

Why 89 gas?

[botsapper]

I did an aero study on the Honda Jazz/Fit two-box body shape design. I added an annular spoiler or 'duct' wing instead of the typical boat tail shapes on eco-modded vehicles. The theory that a complete rear 'ring wing' would extend the encompassing flow to a controlled tapered & longer terminal edges. I conceded the flow break from the body shape to a clean front edge of the 'duct' wing. So many wing manufacturers could just create a complete ring for an cleaner aero taper? Just saying...

[COcyclist]

botsapper, I love your mad p-shop skills! Someone build this and report the mpg results. It looks fantastic!

[stockrex]

Originally Posted by PaleMelanesian

Why 89 gas?

whatever was at costco/sams,

[stockrex]

Originally Posted by COcyclist

botsapper, I love your mad p-shop skills! Someone build this and report the mpg results. It looks fantastic!

wow, yeah, quite impressed,
ahem, I mean wow, I can definitely try to make something like it.

how about the turn lights and brake light, might have to use a clear material.

I need to perfect my attaching skills, as I drive all hwy and don't this to hit someone at 80 mph.

also, I did not get my scanner yet, amazon is late in shipping it, but I was sitting in Downtown Detroit near the river and it was mid 40s this morning and driving around the run down portion of town and evertime I stopped the rad fan came on, yikes, I guess no front blocking for moi till I figure out the temps,

I will "try" driving little slower and benchmark my mpg but it is hard when I am running late for a flight

ok, how do I attach the pizza pan stuff to the wheels? I took off the stock wheel covers.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by botsapper

I did an aero study on the Honda Jazz/Fit two-box body shape design. I added an annular spoiler or 'duct' wing instead of the typical boat tail shapes on eco-modded vehicles. The theory that a complete rear 'ring wing' would extend the encompassing flow to a controlled tapered & longer terminal edges. I conceded the flow break from the body shape to a clean front edge of the 'duct' wing. So many wing manufacturers could just create a complete ring for an cleaner aero taper? Just saying...

My taste buds are going for it! It's extremely evocative! But my right lobe is fighting it.
I believe that on the sides,the flow will separate and everything will be embedded within turbulence at a base pressure commensurate with the point of separation.The foil would provide some cleanup as it 'forces' some of the wake architecture,but unless it was purely airtight all around I'm afraid that it would not perform as well.
And without a 'back wall' the base of the wake would be no smaller,which violates the tenets of boat tailing.
Beautiful Photo Shop work!