I've been mulling over the boat tail for awhile, unsure of how to proceed. Well, after talking with my dad we came up with a solution. Trusses! Thanks Dad :wub:
Boat Tail Progress by
Tyler Linner, on Flickr
Boat Tail Progress by
Tyler Linner, on Flickr
I ran out of material today but it will be getting some cross bracing on the top and some hoops on the front end to guide the coroplast. I decided putting radii on the rear end would be too much trouble for how short/flat it is- any vortexes coming off the end shouldn't be too big.
The wake of the stock car is about 64"x32", or 2048 sq in. The new wake will be 36"x7", or 252 sq in.
That makes the new wake only 12.3% the area compared to stock. Should be good on gas!
Also done this week are some side mirrors. I haven't had side mirrors since last August but never had a problem with visibility. But for $2 a pop how could I resist? It'll be pretty hard to sneak up on this car.
Interior Rear View by
Tyler Linner, on Flickr
And the grease in the wheels, Cab Calloway and Artie Shaw!
Good Music by
Tyler Linner, on Flickr
Have to do some more wiring to get the side markers put in where the stock turn signals were, then extend the ground wires on the tail lights and mount those bad boys. Then to hook up my novel hatch latch solution.
One area of thought is a back-up aid since the boat tail will be completely and utterly out of sight from inside the car. There's an electronic distance sensor parking deal at Menards for $40 but I'm cheaper than that. I was thinking a simple orange fiberglass temp. fence post on a pivot. I could pull a cord inside the car, the small, 1/2" dia post would swing up and I could judge distance with that.
I've also been drooling over pitot tubes like those on airplanes to aid in effective slipstreaming, but have more research to do before I think too hard about it.