Quote:
Originally Posted by Goldenstate
BamZipPow,
I notice that you have also included some serious side skirts below the body of the truck.
What has been the mileage increase from this modification?
I have considered doing the same to my F150 but was not sure if it would be worth the effort. Would you do the side skirts again?
Goldenstate
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A few things I noted when I went through my series of side skirts. The center point between the front and rear wheels would scrape when encountering steep driveways/ramps/speed bumps. FRP doesn't give at all and cracked when bumped. Coroplast faired the best of the materials I used as far as durability. I think that conveyer belt material might fair better than Coroplast. I'll have to try my hand at combining the conveyer belt with some FRP. My side skirts are about 4-5" lower than the belly pan.
During high cross winds, I encountered significant steering bias which I contributed to the side skirts (without any true testing). I modified the side skirts by removing about 75% from the front to just before the bed. During a test run with cross winds, the steering bias was minimal. I'll have to do another test run with full side skirts in the future to see if the steering bias is still there. So yes...I would still do the side skirts.
I wasn't able to attribute any significant mileage gains as I didn't put them on as a separate build but in a combination with multiple aerodynamic attempts at the same time (belly pan/rear skirts/dropped air dam).
I think the key will be how you will be able to support the side skirts and allow fer road contact if you do go low enough. I think the gap between the bottom of the skirts to the road is about 5"...just enough fer my toes to fit under when I'm opening the truck door.
