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To answer nbleak21: I garage the XA at home but I don't heat my garage. I'm looking at a 750 watt tank heater at the local Farm & Fleet coupled with a timer for my commute to work. I work second shift and pull the car into the shop a couple of hours before the end of my shift so it is warmed up (if I didn't I'd be almost home before I could defrost the windows).
Some good friends of mine run an automotive upholstery business and I'm going to see if they could sew up a full nose bra that has vents that I can open when the weather gets warmer. I'm also considering building grill shutters controlled with blend door stepper motors. I've been looking for a damaged grill to build it with.
The fuel pump cut out will be a normally closed switch that will control the ground circuit of relay so I can shut off fuel during coasting without shutting off the ignition. That will keep me from potentially locking the steering wheel by using the ignition switch and also keep my short trip data stream alive
Answering Sustainable Sam: I've put the XA up on the shop hoist a couple of times to do an engineering study on a belly pan. If I went that route, I would prefer to use sheet aluminum that has been louvered to dissipate heat. The sheet aluminum I can find easy enough but I don't know of anywhere local that has a louver press though I suppose I slice and peen it. Because most of my driving is non-highway, I'm considering just making an air dam and side skirts out of heavy duty landscaping edging and drilling the rear bumper cover with large holes to vent it. My XA spent its' first seven years in downtown Chicago where they park by feel, so the bumper covers are already pretty dinged up. Right now, I'm mainly seeing what others have done so I can pilfer their good ideas. I've been looking for a decent book on automotive aerodynamics but so far it is pretty slim pickins.
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