Originally I wanted to delete my side view mirrors on my Suzuki Swift (1.3L Geo Metro), but found that I use them constantly. So I set out to make them more aerodynamic. It may not show up on my MPGuino (we shall see), but not having two "Paddles" hanging off the side of my car should at the very least help! Here's what I have done so far.
I started by making a cardboard template on my car. I just pieced together pieces of cardboard until I got the gereral shape I was going for.
I broke it down and used it to make a new, better template that was on a single piece of cardboard.
Then I did made a bunch of marks on it of where to add and take away... Basically I left a lot of extra everywhere, and cut away where needed when it was on the car. I also added a "tab" on the front that would wrap around the front of the door to keep it from getting pulled away from the door and becoming a parachute, one that might do a "permanent mirror delete".
Once I had the shape just like I wanted it, I got a picture and then "waterproffed" it... I wrapped a white garbage bag around it, smoothed it out the best I could, taped the outside edge a bit, sucked the extra air out of it, and tucked the excess up into the nose area.
I put it on the car, and should be giving it a test run this afternoon. but basically, I was able to take mirrors that looked like this:
and make them look more like this:
I think if it works well, this would be a prime candidate for making a heavy duty plastic or even a fiberglass aero-shell. If I make it out of fiberglass, I should be able to get a very smooth shape, and get a nice start on a boat-tail effect afterward.
So far, I only have this on the drivers side, but it should be exactly the same (just reversed) for the passengers. If I hadn't done so many alterations after cutting it out, I would have a blue print... but not so much. If I wind up taking it apart, I will try to make a "template" for people to use. Until then, this tutorial will have to do.