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Finished rebuilding the boattail and front end damage and am back on the road. The car looks like it did before the accident with the exception of additional lighting on the rear and some minor aero improvements front and rear. On the front I sealed off the radiator inlet slot and got rid of the dip at the front of the hood. On the rear, I removed the black plastic spoiler at the top of the hatch so it makes a smooth seamless transition from OEM sheet metal at the hatch hinge to the Lexan glazing on the extended hatch.
Going from the 20mpg in the Ford F150 4X4 to 70mpg in the Aerocivic is a huge change both in FE and in driving characteristics. Driving the F150 reminds me of driving a powerboat. You have to keep pouring on the power or you quickly lose headway. Also the wind load becomes noticable above 60mph. With the Aerocivic , if I kill the engine, the speed takes a long time (and miles on a flat road) to drift downwards and wind load is non-existant at any legal speed. I have to keep closely monitoring my speed because it doesn't take much of a downhill to accelerate in a FAS up into extralegal speeds, whereas with the F150 I would be having to use the engine to keep from losing speed on that same downhill.
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