$1500 For Custom Areo Mods For 05 Camry

[cliffyballs]

Hey guys, I need help to priortize my funds to maximize MPG's. I'm thinking some sort of front bumper, a boat tail, rear wheel covers...I'm thinking along those lines. I have a guy who ran a custom auto shop (chopping tops shaving door handles...that type of custom work) he is now retired and works from home. I just have to tell him what to do. The car is a 2005 Camry LE 4Cyl, it is currently getting 30mpg, I drive 125 miles every day and fill up twice a week. If I could squeeze out 5-10 more mpg for 1500 it would eventually pay for itself.

[villain.ind]

I would start with the simple to free stuff, then work your way up to the most effective mods, front fascia, side skirts, rear diffuser, belly pan, etc. also if you have an android phone look into getting a bluetooth obd2 adapter and some apps for it, ie Efficiency, Torque, Blackbox and OBD, etc. These apps will read your ECM and give you real time values such as engine load, fuel consumption, range, etc.

I am currently working on my 96 VW cabrio and these are the tools i am using for my new research project for Indiana Tech. I am using coroplast (very subtly and stealthily to retain a professional appearance that will interest the school into helping fund my project. This spring i will be receiving approx $11k and ill be buying a poly or fiberglass front fascia based on the audi a3, side skirts and a read diffuser. Also the car will get a new coat of darkish green paint to display the theme.

i guess my point is get the most bang for ur buck before you spend all ur $$ on something that will only yield a 1% or 2% gain.

[Otto]

Don't spend (waste?) your $1,500 on some guy who may or may not know a fraction of what some folks here know, and could do better for far less money.

Read Hucho at your tech library, do Coroplast belly pan in prioritized sections, grill block, tire pressure, $3 Walmart pizza pan wheel covers, etc.. Forget the green paint--waste of money and makes the car hotter since green absorbs more sunlight so you need the AC on more. Spend a fraction of repaint money on window tint, preferably DIY. Scan gauge. Foam wheel fairings. $8 Home Depot garden edging air dam. Adjust nut behind wheel.

You get the idea. Get a lot more bang for a lot less buck.

You could probably do all this stuff for ~$2-300, cheaper if a good scrounger. 30% fuel economy improvement is well within range.

[Big Dave]

Read Hucho

DIY mock-up your mods

THEN get them professionally done and get some respect.

[cliffyballs]

What is this Hucho when I search I see fish...???

[JRMichler]

Here: Amazon.com: Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles: From Fluid Mechanics to Vehicle Engineering ([Proceedings] / SAE) (9780768000290): Wolf-Heinrich Hucho: Books

It's worth every penny. You don't need to be an engineer to get a LOT of useful information out of it.

[Sven7]

Originally Posted by Otto

You could probably do all this stuff for ~$2-300, cheaper if a good scrounger. 30% fuel economy improvement is well within range.

I did almost all that for round $15- the materials paid for themselves in one fillup. Find someone with old coroplast campaign signs lying around and you're golden. 50% fuel economy increase over EPA is within reach!

I'll be watching for some updates as this progresses

[cliffyballs]

How would I attach the belly pan? How important is "smoothness" of edges when attaching.

It is okay to attack the belly pan above a "lip" under the car? Basically the sides of the car are hanging down further than the belly pan.

[Fat Charlie]

That depends on what you see when you get under there. Screws, rivets and zip ties can all be good choices. You'd like to minimize roughness, but no matter how bad your install is it's still an improvement over stock.

[some_other_dave]

In general, you will have to do a lot of mods to improve your FE by 25%.

I was able to improve mine by 50% in my CRX just by changing the way I drive. Which is absolutely free.

The math is generally against modifying the car, and for modifying the driver's behavior.

-soD