View Single Post
Old 06-03-2020, 07:24 PM   #88 (permalink)
Flakbadger
Always Too Busy
 
Flakbadger's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Oregon
Posts: 566

White Lightning - '17 Nissan Leaf SV
Team Leaf
90 day: 159.47 mpg (US)
Thanks: 405
Thanked 190 Times in 134 Posts
Rear wheel air splitter mockups

Hello all, it's been a hot minute since my last update. What can I say, sometimes life gets in the way.

I have 20 feet of leftover vinyl gutter material just sitting in my garage and thought I might try to make something with it, inspired by the VW XL-1.


The inspiration, boattails around the rear wheels, front of the car is to the left side of the image.

I used existing rubber grommets built in to hold the actual factory side skirts (which I don't own), as well as some mystery connector on the underside to hold the inner piece temporarily.


Here it is on the ground to give you an idea of the shape.


Here it is "installed." You can see the inside piece sagging because it was only held in by 1 screw. I also used another scrap piece to make an extender, to blend it better with the side of the car.


This should give you a better idea of what it would look like if I actually installed it.

If I were to go this route I would need to make a sort of "nose cone" to join the two pieces together. That said I'm not positive that I will go this route at all, but it was a fun experiment and a good way to waste a few hours cutting scrap gutters.

I think that the angle might be too extreme with straight gutter pieces, and I would need to make a "real" version with ABS plastic that's been shaped and curved to lessen the air's departure angle from the trailing edge of the "deflector", else it might just cause crazy drag.

Let me know your thoughts and thanks as always for stopping by.
__________________
Nissan Leaf driver? Join me in Team Leaf and feel smugly superior about our MPGe

Current Car: White Lightning

----------------------------------------------

Retired Car: Betty White
  Reply With Quote
The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Flakbadger For This Useful Post:
blownb310 (02-20-2021), Drifter (04-15-2022), freebeard (06-04-2020)