I just bought Canada's cheapest 3-cylinder Mitsubishi Mirage. EcoMods now in progress...

[cr45]

The passenger airbag can be switched of.

I wonder would this help in any way with removing the passenger seat.

Not sure what to do with the seat occupancy sensor. It is certainly very sensitive as I find that objects of no more than 1 kg sitting on the seat will trigger the seatbelt warnings.

[Fat Charlie]

So don't mount it somewhere on the driver's seat frame where it won't be moved by someone sitting there.

[MetroMPG]

It's some kind of a weight sensor, in the foam part of the seat cushion. One of the Mirage forum members accidentally ruined his when shampooing the seat. It got a tad too damp.

[MetroMPG]

I've never made or tested side skirts before. But I was emboldened by GM's 'Vette patent:

Thread: GM aero patents (includes active side skirts for drag reduction)

The patent describes drag reduction in terms of shielding the rear tires (which, in the case of the Vette are probably 3 or 4 times wider than the Mirage's!).

The 14-15 Mirage didn't even get spats ahead of the rear tires. So hopefully this helps instead of hurting, because I won't be doing any A-B-A testing before April or May at the earliest!

I also like that the rocker skirt gives me options for integrating the rear wheel skirt -- could extend the wheel skirt lower and fair them together.

Also, while the middle of the Mirage underbody is relatively smooth (it has 2 OEM plastic aero panels), the rear underbody looks like a bit of a disaster. The side skirts should mean reduced flow there.

Next up: re-do the Kammback & air dam in coroplast.

[Daox]

Looks pretty good!

How did you attach them to the body?

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Lookin' really good!

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

I also like that the rocker skirt gives me options for integrating the rear wheel skirt -- could extend the wheel skirt lower and fair them together.

Maybe even mini boat tails behind the rear wheels, also integrated?

[MetroMPG]

Yeah, lots to do on this fuel-sucking pig!

I just drove it 80 km on wet/icy/slushy roads after a blizzard. Blasted more than a few snuds with the cardboard air dam -- I was surprised it was still intact when I got to my destination!

Computer said 58 mpg, which we know is probably ~5% optimistic. But that was into a quartering headwind, so not too bad.

[Gasoline Fumes]

Based on my lazy tuft testing, the side skirts seemed to prevent some air from going under the the Nut Wagon.

[Gasoline Fumes]

Ran out of black cable ties for the wheel covers?

[MetroMPG]

Tuft testing is awesome.



White zip ties - I actually did that on purpose. I thought it might look interesting. Turns out I'm not crazy about it either.