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Old 09-08-2013, 08:52 AM   #51 (permalink)
California98Civic
Cyborg ECU
 
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Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Coastal Southern California
Posts: 6,299

Black and Green - '98 Honda Civic DX Coupe
Team Honda
90 day: 66.42 mpg (US)

Black and Red - '00 Nashbar Custom built eBike
90 day: 3671.43 mpg (US)
Thanks: 2,373
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jedi_sol View Post
Didn't top gear try to cook something using the heat from a car engine?

Why cover the wheel skirt with aluminium? Coroplast is pretty dang weather proof. Just seems like a lot of extra work. Are you worried about flexing?
I'm not all that worried about flexing, since it has backing and it is pretty firmly secured and on the side of the car, where I imagine solar heat build up will be less intense. It's all about the fit and finish. I think I can get a cleaner and more "OEM" look out of the aluminum, especially at the edges. Plus, if I buy aluminum sheet for the under tray from a local metals supplier it seems I'll almost certainly have a surplus.

cbaber, I forgot... I have no plans for testing these ABA right now. Past experience suggested the difference might be within the noise, and I don't have cruise control, which makes testing harder. This is a mod others have tested effectively. But when I get a GPS of my own at some point, then I think I might try a downhill coast-down test, measuring top speed, average speed, and distance. Just to see if I can confirm others' results. EDIT: I'll add MetroMPG's graph of the benefit he saw, which does not prove mine will show a benefit, only that there is reason to believe it's a good mod:


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See my car's mod & maintenance thread and my electric bicycle's thread for ongoing projects. I will rebuild Black and Green over decades as parts die, until it becomes a different car of roughly the same shape and color. My minimum fuel economy goal is 55 mpg while averaging posted speed limits. I generally top 60 mpg. See also my Honda manual transmission specs thread.




Last edited by California98Civic; 09-08-2013 at 09:17 AM..
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