Scion xA aero mods

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi,

I have Fiskers brand pinking shears and they are heavy duty. The Gorilla tape is very fresh and very sticky.

I agree about leaving the aluminum in it's "natural" state -- which saves me from painting them. I need to find a source of larger sheets of aluminum to fabricate replacement grill blocks and wheel skirts... so I can eliminate the tape. It works well and it's easy to do, but you have to keep after it and replace things as they fail.

The screens are less bright than optical mirrors are at night -- I don't get blinded by the headlights on vehicles behind me. The biggest hurdle with the LCD screens is cooling them on hot sunny days, and avoiding the reflection at night.

[dtpmike]

Neil, great job on your ecomodding.

I just read through all of your posts and found it very interesting. I have a 2005 scion xa (automatic).



One thought I had (and someone else brought it up a while ago) is have you tried lowering your car?

I would think that if you could lower your car 2" that might help out with drag. What do you think?

[Z man]

If you want to get a good drop for a good price, try the Tanabe DF210s.

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi Mike & welcome to EM,

I'm glad you enjoyed reading about my aero mods, and I hope you got something from it -- you're welcome!

In a practical sense, the xA is a low as I want it to be: the chin spoiler just clears (most) curbs, and I have to drive it in the snow, and go over speed bumps, driveway ramps, etc.

I think the biggest gains can be had by improving the aero on the underside of the car -- and by swapping out the final drive. Which on my car is 4.31:1 -- what is it on your car? The same engine and transmission in almost every other model that Toyota uses it have a 3.56:1 final drive. I would LOVE to drop my revs by 17.5%! This would (probably) help the FE a lot...

[chuckm]

I've been thinking about ways to cool my car when it is sitting in the Louisiana summer sun. I'm considering trying a prius/aptera solution: solar cells to power car ventilation. I have a couple of sqft of space behind the rear seat and on the dash to use. I can't say I've done enough thinking on this to even presume to guess at how many amps I'd need vs. what I could supply.

[basslover911]

Hi!

Just curious, Im deciding between an Xa, a TDI, or an Mr2 Spyder right now.

Why did you choose the Xa over anything else? Also, when stock, what kind of gas mileage did you get?

Any of those cars that I get I will be super modifying it for gas mileage, but I want a good starting point. The Xa would be by far the lowest in mileage out of the three and they sell them for like $6,000 now so that would be great...

[dtpmike]

the scion gets better mileage than a spyder mr2 just so you know...

[basslover911]

^ Well the mr2 can easily get 34mpg mixed driving (or so A LOT of drivers report on the mr2 forums)... So its not that far off actually...

I would love the usefulness of the Xa though...

[dtpmike]

Originally Posted by basslover911

^ Well the mr2 can easily get 34mpg mixed driving (or so A LOT of drivers report on the mr2 forums)... So its not that far off actually...

I would love the usefulness of the Xa though...

If you are comparing two cars you need to compare what the EPA says (fueleconomy.gov).

One person will get 35mpg with the mr2 who lives in the country and drives on long roads with no lights with a 45 mph speed limit.

Others will report 23 mpg, but they live in NYC with terrible stop and go traffic.

Don't buy a car based on what some people are claiming they get with mpg since you have no idea about their driving style or the roads they drive on.



The MR2 does get great mileage for a sports car, but the xA gets better.

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi,

Before I started ecodriving my xA I averaged 37mpg and my high was 42.something. My first year of ecodriving and some of the mods (grill block and fog light lenses, and rear wheel skirts primarily) my high was ~47.5 and the average was over 45mpg. My worst mileage for a tank was 41mpg all winter. And now with the current mods (adding the front wheel partial skirts, Kammback panels, the video mirrors, and the smooth wheel covers) my new high was 53.something and my average was over 50mpg.

I have only done aerodynamic mods -- the gearing is the weak point on the xA. It is way too low, and the RPM's are too high on the highway.

I think the TDI would be in close competition to the xA. I don't think the Mister 2 is as good a starting point for FE.