l'Escargot may have a skirt! (Ford E250)

[PASY]

Hey!
I'm planning several mods on my van:
I already bought four pizza pan to make smooths hub caps. I'm now looking for old hubs on which I can glue them.
I made a first attempt on a grill block. I still have to find a way to fix it so it can be easily removed...
AND
I want to make skirts for the rear wheels!
I would really appreciate your advices on that.

I'll try to be clear (english is not my first language).
Because of the shape of the van, I can't see how I can cover all the gap. There's a curve that ends in the middle of the width of the tire. I believe the skirt will have to make a considerable bend if I don't want it to touch the tire... (It's funny, I'm writing and I'm quite sure nobody understand what I mean ) . Look a the picture you may understand

I can work with wood (thin plywood), metal and plastic what do you think is the best material. I don't want to use coroplast.

Thanks for your advices!

[JockoT]

I'm only a total beginner, but I would imaging that those hub caps are as smooth as you would need. With a truck as square as that, the losses round those wheels must be minuscule in relation to losses elsewhere. The extra weight of the pizza pans, in my option, would outweigh any gain. Your current caps are hardly windbreaks.

[Daox]

Sounds like a good start on the van! We have a few guys who have seen very good fuel economy gains from mods on their full size vans. A few percent of a lot of gas adds up fast too.

For the rear skirts, you can bring them down to where the body starts curving in. Or, you can continue to extend them down farther, but they become a lot more complex to make as you'll have to curve them around the tire. This is probably the better approach, but it is more complex.

[aerohead]

If you're up to it,consider building out the rocker panel portion of the entire body,allowing some clearance off the outer face of the tires,extending down,even with the belly of the van.
From there,it would be very straight forward to do full skirts,even on the front if you wanted.

[PASY]

Thanks for your message Aerohead. By the way, I'm amazed by the work you did!!! Thanks for sharing your experience!

If I understand what you're saying correctly:
If I eliminate the lower curve of the frame (side) it will help with the aerodynamic?
I thought this curve actually helped... ?
Is it because of the wheels that are in the way?

I'm very interested in adding this belly thing...
There's so many projects!!!

PS:You must have answered question like mine already... If so, please help me to find the infos on the forum

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by PASY

Thanks for your message Aerohead. By the way, I'm amazed by the work you did!!! Thanks for sharing your experience!

If I understand what you're saying correctly:
If I eliminate the lower curve of the frame (side) it will help with the aerodynamic?
I thought this curve actually helped... ?
Is it because of the wheels that are in the way?

I'm very interested in adding this belly thing...
There's so many projects!!!

PS:You must have answered question like mine already... If so, please help me to find the infos on the forum

It may be faster just talkin' about it than searching.
If you look at current production vehicles,you'll see that,often,the flanks of the body are even with the outer surface of the wheels.
With a wrap-around airdam,the air is displaced over and around the sides.The side flow moves straight rearwards,and the wheels offer some sort of surface to support the flow.
If you bump out and lower the rocker panels enough,with skirts added later,the air will have a straight,basically uninterrupted path,with minimum turbulence.
The 1982 Pontiac Trans Am and IROC Camaro used this to trim drag around the wheel area.
Closing down the space between the wheel arch and tire is something you'll also see with modern vehicles.
They're also seeing reduced actual wheelhouse volume.
Today's Tesla S would be a good example of this optimization.
If you look at Cambridge University's CUER solar racing car you'll see an extreme effort to integrate the wheels and body.And Cambridge is rewarded with Cd 0.11 for their efforts!
Anything you do to blend the wheels will be rewarded.

[freebeard]

The first picture is worth a kilo-word.

aerohead covered it. If you want ideas search on 'time attack' and look at their body add-ons. You only difference will be the lack of flare to cover expendable rubber.

I have a Dish antenna that is a 36" oval I was going to use as a female mold for fiberglass bubble skirts. But I don't like fiberglass. Thanks for not using Coroplast. It's Okay for mocking up, but my favorite would be Polymetal:



It can be worked with hand tools. It can be rolled, braked and sheared (all three shown) by hand with an 18" lever arm. One disclaimer, if fire penetrates the aluminum skin it turns into a little piece of Grenfell Tower.

While you're still at the design phase is when to think about the skirts' proximity to the belly pan, wheel spats and rear diffuser. Even if you don't do it all at once, with a plan, it can all come together.

[ar5boosted]

Also consider using fireproof*/flame-resistant* foam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJMMI6fTU0A

Here's more: https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...+foam+car+body

I have to admit I have this on my car and it's pretty good. Use a really good bodyfiller to form a skin over the foam once you have the shape.

Even my daughter can do it -> https://plus.google.com/u/0/+DavidLy...ts/85xzDiAPf3Z