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Old 05-25-2008, 04:17 PM   #14 (permalink)
lunarhighway
Master EcoModder
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: belgium
Posts: 663

vectra a - '95 Opel Vectra GLS
90 day: 37.51 mpg (US)
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ok enough said, here's my first attempt.


i used a piece of gorrugated plastic from a sign and some metal brackets made form these little things that back off unused card slots at the back of a computer.

there whas a single bolt sticking out the botton of the radiator frame (it holds a bracket for the power steering line...edit: looks more like a water hose in the picture...that'll probably be it...whatever) it stuck out just far enough to accept my own bracket and another nut.

next i slid the coroplast sign underneath the bumper and folded the bracket down so it toughed the plastic. i'd already drilled two holes in the bracket so this location was marked and than a bolt was ran trough the plastic attached with a nut and than through bracket and secured with a wingnut. basically that made sure things would stay in place but the fairing was still a little floppy at the back so i bolted two more brackets on top of the plastic that squeeze it against the subframe. undo the wingnuts and it all falls clean off.

the faring isn't as long as i'd like but the exhaust would interfere, and while i could cut a hole for it, it would still represent a fire/meling hazard.

also the sign only covers the center section and not the sides, because, well that was the size of the sign. on the final aluminum version (if this one shows it's worth persuing the idea) i'd make it both wider and longer with a cutout for the exhause.

at the front there where some holes in the radiator support. i cut out two holes in teh fairing that match up with these. they seem to evacuate air before the radiator, wich is a little odd, but i suppose they're there for a good reason so i don't want to mess with them.


it's still a little floppy at the front but so far i'm rather happy with it. lets hope it does something good!

as a final note, i'd initially planned to use done headed bolds for a little extra aero, but than i realized these had a little square extention below the dome that was taller than the thickness of the aluminum so the nut would never work.. so i went with standard screw heads. i did align the slit for the screwdriver with the airflow... that a few mm less frontal area im a bit perfectionistic sometimes.
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Last edited by lunarhighway; 05-25-2008 at 06:37 PM..
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