The Cost of Learning (aeromodding a Toyota pickup)

[Daox]

Have you done a grill block? Thats a great place to start for aero and warm up (especially in winter)

[Weber95]

I've ran a goofy lookin cardboard one on my truck for a trip but nothing serious yet. Still haven't decided what to go for, either pipe insulation or coroplast. could just block the radiator with cardboard did that last year when I didn't keep track of MPG.

[MetroMPG]

Blocking the radiator alone is OK for warm-up, but may not help much with aero, since you've permitted air into the "aerodynamically dirty" path to the engine compartment.

The goal is to only allow in as much as you need for cooling, and send the rest around the vehicle, where the aero penalty is lower.

[Weber95]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Blocking the radiator alone is OK for warm-up, but may not help much with aero, since you've permitted air into the "aerodynamically dirty" path to the engine compartment.

The goal is to only allow in as much as you need for cooling, and send the rest around the vehicle, where the aero penalty is lower.

I will focus on the grill block after I get the tonneau cover squared away tomorrow I have two panels cut out that fit well together over the bed. Tomorrow comes the hinges and attaching them to the truck.

[freebeard]

Oriented Strand Board should be thoroughly waterproofed.

[Weber95]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Oriented Strand Board should be thoroughly waterproofed.

I plan to poly and paint but I want to get everything squared, situated, and tested. then red to match the truck and a black racing stripe would look sweet!

[Weber95]

Ok, so I got the cover all cut out and spent last night working on making it fit right. The cover is pretty simple just two 60"x37.5" sections making a 60"x75" cover that folds in half and is able to be picked up by one person and fits between the wheel wells if I need to haul anything. I put one coat of poly on it and once it dries I'm going to paint it to match the truck and put a racing stripe down it for looks.

[Weber95]

So I have been working on my tonneau cover for the past three days. I put a coat of poly on, two coats of red paint an the black racing stripes, now all that is left is the last coat of poly. I finally took some pictures this time and I think the cover looks rather nice. I'd like some opinions on how the cover tuned out. do you think it will improve aero vs an open bed? I may add a kam to the truck cab so I can improve aero a little more but I cant block too much or I cant see, and I don want to go full aero shell (yet).

[MetroMPG]

Definitely will help with aero vs. an open bed. That's well understood.

Counter-intuitively, a "half tonneau" would be even better, though arguably more difficult to make, plus utility goes down. Search the site for that if you're interested.

[Weber95]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Definitely will help with aero vs. an open bed. That's well understood.

Counter-intuitively, a "half tonneau" would be even better, though arguably more difficult to make, plus utility goes down. Search the site for that if you're interested.

Thanks for the feed back Metro, I know full<half<aeroshell<redesign in the drag reduction department. I've done my research like a good lurker haha. But covering just half the bed didn't seem like a good idea to me I figured I'd do the whole thing. But I can add two more brackets an unscrew some screws and easily take off the front half to make a half tonneau. I may try that next tank. right now I'm at that stage when I wonder if the mod worked (no scangage or other instant feed back) But I did notice that driving with dew on the cover when I got to 30-35 the beads of dew were pushed back and out from the air pressure and it was on the back half of the cover.