Quote:
Originally Posted by basjoos
If you design the boattail properly, the huge gain in rear crush space more than compensates for the slight reduction in roll cage strength resulting from removing the hatch structure. I know, since mine has been crash tested and passed with flying colors (my boattail completely absorbed the energies of the high speed rear end crash and the crash damage never reached the OEM bumpers still in place under the boattail structure).
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I talked with NoD~ about his plans to convert his Neon to a hatchback and suggested that he strengthened the back for crash protection, but he is not planning a boattail--yet. Since your boattail completely absorbed the damage then your construction proved itself. It is aluminum skin over aluminum bar? Somehow I thought that a foam tail would work perfectly, since bumpers are made of that anyway, while a metal frame would bend the attachment points, but that was forgetting about the internal structure, and obviously, I am mistaken.
I would suggest welding in one tube on each side for rigidity but again, this seems to be irrelevant.
Quote:
Originally Posted by elhigh
Redneck build, nothing - you nailed it. And picking up nearly 15% when you're already posting 60+mpg, that's huge.
"Kiss the dog, kicked the wife," that was funny right there. Wrong, and I'll probably suffer for laughing at it...but funny.
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Did you quote it to your wife?
Quote:
Originally Posted by NachtRitter
Belongs on ecomodder's front page!!
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Sounds like a good idea.
Quote:
Originally Posted by justme1969
Now that you have that nice of a tail You really should paint whole car to match. I know most here arent in it for the looks but The MPG gets others to our group and a great looking super economy project will inspire them more still. My kids love the undieing POS project but hate to be picked up from school in it. So I think I will end here on that point.
Bright yellow green or orange suggested solid white if you dont run A/C.
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Why did you paint the tail a different color?
I absolutely understand planning modifications according to ROI, but "aesthetics" seems far more important than economics to most people. I would be willing to pay more and undermine my investment, if it increased the chance of other people following my example, and hopefully figuring out a better way of doing it.