1989 Chevy Celebrity 4 door - my build thread

[wagonman76]

I decided to make this up after I got home from work today. I used another piece of scavenged aluminum siding and cut it with the grinder so it spanned 2 ribs. Then I carefully worked it into the right shape and cut about 7" off each end. I kinked it a little but not too bad. It has a rib at the top and bottom so it is not very flimsy. Then I put the car on jackstands and drilled into the underside of the valence for screws every 6", so if I take it off you wont see any screw holes. I used a bunch of GM dash screws Ive saved over time and they got a real good bite. After dry fitting it, I figured might as well keep with the trend so I used the same paint can as I used for the grille block. It was pretty dry so I put it on just before dark and took some pics. I think it looks kinda cool from the front. Ill see how it does tomorrow and from now on. It is easy to straighten if I hit it on something. Or if I really muck it up, Ive got enough in that piece of siding for 1 or 2 more and make it a bit shorter.

Heres a link to the first aeromod, the grille block.
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...lock-3263.html

[MetroMPG]

Nice colour matching. If you want, you could probably make some further gains if you extend the bodywork out more to cover the tire tread face as much as possible (and radius the edge).

[dwendt1978]

Awesome job. Next I'd get rid of that pass mirror!

[gascort]

Looks really good! I'm trying to work on cheap material sources now; used siding is a good idea!
Does it all come in strips, or is it in a sheet, just bent?

[Johnny Mullet]

Looking good! Grill block, air dam, what's next?

[wagonman76]

Originally Posted by gascort

Looks really good! I'm trying to work on cheap material sources now; used siding is a good idea!
Does it all come in strips, or is it in a sheet, just bent?

Im not sure what it comes as, but the pieces I found were about 1 ft wide, and about 6 ft long. Light gauge aluminum, it is extremely lightweight.

No problems on the way to work today. I noticed it kicked out of warmup mode about 1/4 mile sooner than usual, and the temp was a tad higher than usual, maybe 5 degrees, not much.

Not sure whats next. Ill have to see how much I actually use my passenger mirror on the freeway before thinking about taking it off and making a blocker plate. I do see how the tires could use some shielding. I might come up with a wheel flare that attaches using the same screw holes as existing trim parts. This is my nicest car and my summer ride so I want to leave everything totally reversible. The 6000 wagon you see in some of the pictures is my winter ride and Ill start a fuel log for that when the snow comes and Ill probably do some mods to that as well.

I have been thinking about wheel caps. Possibly some light gauge stainless steel circles that I can get burned here at work. Use a toggle bolt to attach it using the center hole that every wheel has.

Good to see that your Escort is doing well. I actually have a 92 wagon, 1.9 5 speed that was given to me for free last year by a friend of the family. Its a real pile, and no maintenance was ever done to it. It needs a lot of work before I think I would save any money with it. Right now it only runs on 3 cylinders, new plugs and wires didnt help. I can get a used coil pack and module for a few bucks at this one junkyard on the way downstate, Ill stop next weekend when I go. At least if I do get it running good for cheap, I would have no qualms about adding totally radical aeromods, like full nose job and boat tail, maybe even popping out the rear side windows and bending down the roof and turning it into more of a fastback. The tailgate is bashed in and doesnt even work anyway. I dont even like Fords but Im only keeping it since it probably can save me gas money in the future.

[gascort]

I'm really anxious to do some crazy aeromods to it - I have a 95 mustang if I ever want to drive around in a nice car, but I haven't driven it once since getting the 'scort!
Good luck with yours, and the future aeromods on your celebrity. I used to have an 89 olds cutlass ciera with the 3.3 and it would get ~30mpg on the highway.
Matt

[wagonman76]

Well so far so good. I just filled up today and got 30.7 mpg. Ive never ever gotten 30 or more going back and forth to work. Hopefully when I go downstate and back on Sunday Ill gain a mpg or two as well.

Oh yeah when I got home tonight, I cleaned out the trunk. There was more in there than I had thought. 3 steering knuckles, 2 brake rotors, 1 wheel bearing, and a partridge in a pear tree, 2 drive axles, an old trailer hitch and drawbar, 2 jacks, 1 full size spare, my little girl's stroller, a metal shelving unit from the side of the road, a load of 2x4 scraps, paint cans and bondo and stuff from when I fixed the rust 2 years ago, some spare oil, tranny fluid, brake fluid. I kept the spare, wrench, and 1 jack, and the fluids. I probably dropped at least 150 lbs. Maybe thatll help future tanks too.

[trikkonceptz]

Originally Posted by wagonman76

Oh yeah when I got home tonight, I cleaned out the trunk. There was more in there than I had thought. 3 steering knuckles, 2 brake rotors, 1 wheel bearing, and a partridge in a pear tree, 2 drive axles, an old trailer hitch and drawbar, 2 jacks, 1 full size spare, my little girl's stroller, a metal shelving unit from the side of the road, a load of 2x4 scraps, paint cans and bondo and stuff from when I fixed the rust 2 years ago, some spare oil, tranny fluid, brake fluid. I kept the spare, wrench, and 1 jack, and the fluids. I probably dropped at least 150 lbs. Maybe thatll help future tanks too.

150lbs is a conservative estimate ... Holy cow !! Yeah that should help .. LOL

[Johnny Mullet]

MPG savings are rated from the best results as follows in my experience...................

#1 Changing driving habits
#2 Weight reduction
#3 Tire inflation
#4 Aerodynamics