Quote:
Originally Posted by aerohead
Christ,that would be a good cleanup to the rear and get you in better position for more daring mods later.Also,have you considered integrating fairings for the rear tires into your valance? Those would clean things up even more.--------------------- And another thought looking at your photo.The rear windshield is blacked out on both sides and you have no vision there.If you made flat panels which mated to the contour of the hatch,which projected straight back a couple feet,with a top which sloped down like the Kamm roofline,and a bottom which came up like a diffuser,you could capture a big chunk of wake,and the surrounding air would skid off the attached vortices formed inside the voids outside the panels,and off the top and bottom panels.----------- It wouldn't be as good as a very complex and difficult to build formal boat tail,but you'd see a benefit at the pump.---------------- Continuum Dynamics has already proven the concept under a DARPA grant from NASA for an 18-wheeler.You could build it over a weekend probably.
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I'm actually thinking about removing all the rear glass and replacing it with metal, a'la Caravan Cargo models. This may or may not include the sliding glass, and most likely would include the rear glass in the hatch as well.
I'm not sure I can quite visualize exactly what you're saying about the back window, though.. do you have a link or something to show?
For the rear tire fairings, I hadn't honestly thought about it, but I did think about full side skirts after I've established my ride height and weight requirements (after she comes off the road for project time.)
I also figured that while I'm under there for the transmission swap, I might as well figure out my mounting points for a belly pan, or at least an engine compartment bottom cover.
I don't have a representative pic, but after my dad buys me a new bumper cover (he hit mine... backed into it) I'm going to make a permanent upper grille block to fit in the space of the removable grille, and probably start with removable plugs for the lower grille areas.
I'm still not wholly sure what's actually going to happen with the rear of the van yet... I'm keeping that thought 007 for now.
