1989 Chevy Celebrity 4 door - my build thread

[Will]

VERY nice clean looking mods. Hella good job. Almost makes me wish I still had my 93 Century. I like that box design for some reason.

[wagonman76]

I like the styling of the a-bodies. And the fact that parts are cheap and easy to get, and they are easy to work on. And they are quite reliable too. Ive got 2 other a-bodies in the driveway, and have had some others.

Im planning to actually spend something on the aeromods, just for really dark red can of paint that matches better. Then Ill repaint the wheel covers and paint the wiper cover.

The wheel covers make me think of those used the early 80s Cieras when I look at the car now. I bet these were pretty aerodynamic too.

[Johnny Mullet]

That car is coming along quite well. Great mileage on it also! What do your neighbors/friends think?

[MetroMPG]

Nice work so far. Love seeing a project car in progress.

Any plans to make a Kammback on the trunk? It would really benefit from one.

Oh, and... Mud flap alert.

[wagonman76]

Dont have much for local friends or friendly neighbors. But my coworkers have really been taking a look at it, mainly since I put the wheel covers on the other day. One guy might try some aeromods on his Stratus. He was given an old Stratus, so he sold his Alero, because the Stratus gets quite a bit better mpg he says. Ive worked with these people for 9 1/2 years so these people know Im not out to make my car look flashy just for looks, so they ask about what Im really doing and I tell them about aeromodding and all.

The kammback has been something I have been thinking of since I first joined here, but still thinking of how to do it. Plus Ive got other things going on too. Im thinking Id want to hinge the back of it and latch the front, so I can flip it back and still easily have full use of my trunk. I may go with some sort of clear heavy plastic like a a convertible window uses, over a metal frame, rather than spend $70 for a piece of lexan or plexi. Ive also thought about noses and tails since my car actually has steel bumpers with holes to attach things. A handful of Celebritys got a VR package which is mainly a body cladding package, so the holes are there to attach all that.

Yeah, I know, the mudflaps. I know they could help if they were gone, but they really do keep the finish from getting dinged up by stones, and contributing to rust, compared to my other rides that dont have them. I dunno, I might take them off just to see once. The boss was quite interested in the aeromods, as well as the mpguino I was setting up on lunchtime today.

It seems that I am doing better since the wheel covers. Tomorrow will tell when I get gas, but I am at 425 miles on the tank and still at a level where I dont feel I will run out on the way to work. 400 used to be really pushing it for driving around here. Then theres Sunday when Ill go 300 more miles. 35 mpg highway was my goal but since I blew past that without expecting it, 40 highway will be my goal now. Only sad part is that winter is coming after not a whole lot longer and Ill be putting it away and taking out the wagon which gets 4 mpg less than the Celebrity.

Edit: Got the mpgguino in a decent looking enclosure and functional. Now I should really start rockin on mileage, no more guessing. Heres a pic:

[wagonman76]

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...deas-6715.html

I figure since I am thinking of other things to do now (wheel skirts, front wheel flares, possible nose) I should integrate the kammback/boattail thread into my main thread.

Current pics (fullsize pics available in the other thread). I have dialup, so I try to minimize bandwidth.

[wagonman76]

Finally saw the sun today for the first time since last Sunday. So I got to make these wheel skirts that I have been wanting to make.

There are already screws holding the molding to the wheelwell. So to 4 of those screws I attached angle clips that I made from some old coffee table brackets. Then I bent a piece of flatbar to go along the bottom edge, since the wheel sticks out farther than the body at the bottom. I made it go a bit farther than the wheelwell to keep the angle from being sharp. Then I welded 2 vertical strips to the bent piece to make a cage that bolts to the angle clips. The coroplast just uses the same bolt holes, but the cage keeps it from possibly flopping around and hitting the wheel.

I'll see how they work and see if I need to do anything else to them before painting them.

[Matt Herring]

Wow bro...that kamm is awesome! Looks like you have a greenhouse sitting on the back of our car!

[wagonman76]

Took the wheel skirts off awhile back because for some reason they reduced mpg. Oh well, all trial and error, some stuff only works for some cars.

Thanks heavens summer has returned, so tonight I got started on an extension for the tail. It is just bolted on, so if for whatever reason I need to remove it, I can do that easily. Just gotta weld in 2 strips of diagonal bracing to stiffen it, then skin it, paint it, and relocate the plate and lights. Hope to have done by sometime next week. I may recess the lights into coffee can type housings to level them and for a cool look. Kinda wanted to do that before but at the same time I really wanted to get it done too. I also have 2 red sidemarkers which will go into the extension eventually. They came from a fullsize Dodge van so they are pretty flat with the surface.

[Christ]

If you ever wanted to really spend some time modifying your car, it would be awesome to see that Kamm extension taper off into a real 97'ish Corvette rear end. (From what I could tell, the rear of the 'vette is all one piece, and could be removed fairly easily). I think that would look pretty odd/sweet/funny/you name it.