Scion xA aero mods

[NeilBlanchard]

Holy shewow! I may have broken the 50MPG mark, with 50.33mpg! -- though the caveat is I filled it at a different station, and the ground is not level. I will split the difference with the next tank, I think.

The SGII said ~47.25 which is still near the best I have seen. It read 9.9 gallons, whereas I only pumped >9.3 gallons. Even it comes down to 48-49mpg, I will have set a new high.

[whokilledthejams]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

Holy shewow! I may have broken the 50MPG mark, with 50.33mpg! -- though the caveat is I filled it at a different station, and the ground is not level. I will split the difference with the next tank, I think.

The SGII said ~47.25 which is still near the best I have seen. It read 9.9 gallons, whereas I only pumped >9.3 gallons. Even it comes down to 48-49mpg, I will have set a new high.

Good job!

I take it your muffler hasn't melted the coroplast?

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi,

Nope, the Coroplast is fine!

Next, I'm going to cut some Gorilla tape with pinking shears, to make something like ZZtape.

[azraelswrd]

Excellent progress! Just checked out your mileage log... wow, that's a lot of driving in a short period of time.

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi again,

I've modified the Coroplast wheel skirts to be more like the acrylic wheels skirts I first made. For the xA at least, it seems to be better to keep the wheel skirts as flush as possible, and not worry as much about "coverage". The upper part of the wheel opening is way too big and covering it helps a certain amount, but sticking out the lower portion causes some drag that largely offsets the gain of covering the top.

I'll post pictures soon.

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi,

Sorry, no pictures (yet), but I've made two further tweaks:

I've removed the two front mudflaps, that were behind the front wheels (like someone had suggested a long time ago).

I've cut off the trailing piece of the Coroplast that was behind the rear tires (that was left after I cut them up and around the wheels), since it could have been catching the air and causing more drag.

These changes seem to have helped a little bit, though it is hard to tell an absolute quantity because my FE has been dropping in the cooler weather that we have been getting lately. This morning for example, it was in the upper 40's when I left for work.

[i_am_socket]

That is some fantastic progress!! Can't wait to see the pictures

[Daox]

Looks good, and the MPG is a risin!

[Xringer]

I really like that rear undercarriage cover.
I wish there was an easy way to do that on my CRV rear end.

Can't wait to see the cut of the new skirts. After reading your posts,
I'm thinking about putting mine inside the edge of the wheel well,
completely out of the side air flow area.

The price? they will be really short. But I too have WAY too much open
space above my wheels..
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...r/CRV/M089.jpg
I may try to bow them outward a bit with music wire, if they are going
to be too short to work.

[TELVM]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

That's a very nice diffuser, good work .