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Old 07-23-2010, 07:09 PM   #1 (permalink)
Big Dave
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Steppes of Central Indiana
Posts: 1,319

The Red Baron - '00 Ford F-350 XLT
90 day: 27.99 mpg (US)

Impala Phase Zero - '96 Chevrolet Impala SS
90 day: 21.03 mpg (US)
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Tonneau With Steps

I have a makeshift aerolid. It is suboptimal in my view. Too steep (17 degrees) and I'm blind as a bat to the rear, thus married to big side mirrors. But at the same time, it was a 1.5 MPG improvement over a hard flat commercial tonneau, so the thing had some virtue. Therefore I'm on the lookout for something different: Better smoothing of air flow and better visibility.

Back in younger days I had a Z-28 that had a rear window cover that was a bunch (8 - I think) of stepped louvers over the rear window. Mostly, it was there to keep snow off the rear window.

This is what I'm thinking:

I still have the flat fiberglass tonneau. Why not fot it with three of four flat plates stepping down from the top of the cab. The plate would be paralell to the tonneau, so could see out; and the steps would approximate a aeroshell.

The top of my cab would be about 22 inches above the top of the tonneau. I'm thinking three 12 gauge aluminum plates. Only the top plate need ride close to the top of the cab. The lower ones would progressively begin farther back from the cab and would be attached to the tonneau with some sort of strut.

My only worry is the truck winds up looking like a Fokker DR1. But, then, it is the Red Baron.

__________________
2000 Ford F-350 SC 4x2 6 Speed Manual
4" Slam
3.08:1 gears and Gear Vendor Overdrive
Rubber Conveyor Belt Air Dam
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