19bonestock88 buys his first ever hybrid!

[Logic]

Originally Posted by 19bonestock88

We are a long ways from experimental aero mods, I figure to first optimize what can easily be and go from there.

What!?
NO-ONE here can resist Aero Mods!

There's actually a debate here (with research links) about weight adding aero mods vs lightening a car.
Most everyone does WAY more stop-go urban driving than constant speed highway.

[redpoint5]

... and yet aero mods are going to pay higher dividends anyhow.

[Logic]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

... and yet aero mods are going to pay higher dividends anyhow.

....
I almost took the bait!

[19bonestock88]

Originally Posted by Logic

What!?
NO-ONE here can resist Aero Mods!

There's actually a debate here (with research links) about weight adding aero mods vs lightening a car.
Most everyone does WAY more stop-go urban driving than constant speed highway.

I didn’t say no aero mods at all, just less of the “I hope it might work” variety and more of the “grab the known good ones from the list” mods. It’s worth noting that I did finance this car so I can’t quite go nuts modding it in extreme ways. I do have some stuff in store though…

Also, given that most of my mods were coroplast I could entirely strip my Saturn of its fairly extreme aero mods and maybe shave ten pounds? Most cars don’t notice such a small amount of weight, especially modern cars that are heavy. This Insight is around 3000lb, I don’t think 5lb worth of coroplast will make a big difference in stop and go traffic

[Logic]

Originally Posted by 19bonestock88

I didn’t say no aero mods at all, just less of the “I hope it might work” variety and more of the “grab the known good ones from the list” mods. It’s worth noting that I did finance this car so I can’t quite go nuts modding it in extreme ways. I do have some stuff in store though…

Also, given that most of my mods were coroplast I could entirely strip my Saturn of its fairly extreme aero mods and maybe shave ten pounds? Most cars don’t notice such a small amount of weight, especially modern cars that are heavy. This Insight is around 3000lb, I don’t think 5lb worth of coroplast will make a big difference in stop and go traffic

True.
Especially as 5 lb is easy to remove by removing excess bits and shortening over-long bolts etc!

The mpg gain per lb lost can be inferred from the last page here.
Looks to be about 0.007 mpg per lb for the combined (NOT urban) driving cycle.

[19bonestock88]

Originally Posted by Logic

True.
Especially as 5 lb is easy to remove by removing excess bits and shortening over-long bolts etc!

The mpg gain per lb lost can be inferred from the last page here.
Looks to be about 0.007 mpg per lb for the combined (NOT urban) driving cycle.

i did see a tiny fuel economy gain when i massively lightened my Saturn (from 2700 to 2300lb) but mostly in mountainous terrain

[freebeard]

Originally Posted by Logic

5 lb is easy to remove by removing excess bits and shortening over-long bolts etc!

I'd thought the deal was to drill out the centers of bolts.

[19bonestock88]

Originally Posted by freebeard

I'd thought the deal was to drill out the centers of bolts.

if that werent so tedius id have done it on the Saturn, with every bolt i could reasonably get to...

[Logic]

Originally Posted by freebeard

I'd thought the deal was to drill out the centers of bolts.

I would say that cutting off excess bolt length is easiest.
Followed by removing brackets and things for non existent bits.
(Brackets etc for kit that's on higher end models etc.)
Then drilling holes in (excessive) surfaces.

If you have a lathe with a 3 jaw chuck; drilling out bolts is a piece of cake:
Self centering..!
Trying to do so with a drill stand; I wouldn't even bother trying!
Easier to go buy hollow and/or Aluminum etc bolts.

(I wish this had occurred to me back when I was riding a 'Nifty 50' (cc motorbike).
A bigger % of total weight...
But back then, 'The wrong head' was running the show! )

[freebeard]

Trying to do so with a drill stand; I wouldn't even bother trying!

I'd center a nut or tapped hole in a plate once and then thread each bolt into it. Fast and repeatable.