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Old 07-14-2009, 07:50 PM   #16 (permalink)
Christ
Moderate your Moderation.
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Troy, Pa.
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Pasta - '96 Volkswagen Passat TDi
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So I need to apologize for something right now.

Honestly, I thought when this thread came up, that the OP was spamming. I mean... the name, the truck, and the ideology behind this forum just don't jive very well at first glance.

Now that I see you're serious, and not just trolling for kicks, let's get 'er goin!

If you're really serious about aero, you won't need the rolling door, and you won't use the truck's full capacity every time you use it, probably one of the best things you could do is make the rear a "pop up" style.

Cut yourself out about a 12* (from horizontal) wedge, with your horizontal line about 3" down from the top, and your 12* line starting from the front of the truck and going clean to the back. Remove that wedge that you've just cut, and you'll have a roof that slants from front to back about 12*, which will help with that HUGE wake you're trailing behind you.

To make sure you still have use of the whole box area, when necessary, you just hinge the front of the roof piece to the front of the rest of the box, and attach canvas to the inside of both pieces, like a pop-up camper. At the rear-most inside corners, some wind-up joists will allow you to open the box all the way up so it can be used to it's fullest capacity.

Before doing the belly pan, make sure to "tuck" the chassis... so that nothing comes down below the bottom of the frame that doesn't have to.

Wheel pants are probably an extreme, but you can always put either some skirting or a couple tool boxes or something in front of/behind the rear wheels, and then just bolt on some flat covers, so that you have "skirts" of sorts, which cover the rear wheel area.

Brake adjustments are a necessity on large vehicles which see severe duty in the braking system. Make sure they're not dragging.

If you're going to block the grille, make sure it's something that you can allow better airflow through the radiator from inside the truck, in case you're loaded, going up a steep hill, and can't pull over when you start overheating.

Anyway - once again, I apologize, and best of luck to you.
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