19bonestock88's 2004 Saturn "Ion Green Line" build...

[19bonestock88]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

Living in apartment has its downsides.

There’s almost no upside if I’m honest

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by 19bonestock88

There’s almost no upside if I’m honest

Gotta have to agree with you on that. The privacy that a house (and a properly fenced lot) provide is hard to beat, making encounters with annoying neighbors less frequent.

[19bonestock88]

Big update: the landlord pulled a dirty trick to evict me so I’ve been living off grid for a while, but I’ve been making progress all the same.

I finally fixed the broken front end from the bear hit, pulled out all the AC related stuff, redesigned the fender vents, fully ducted the lower grille opening to the radiator, and installed a front belly pan, going back to the oil sump.

Afterward, I started lightening my doors (rears first), removing a little metal from the inner skin where convenient and drilling lots of holes in the interior door panel and deleting the factory handle, replacing it with a pull rope

Lastly, I’ve installed a lightweight fixed back vintage racing seat on homemade mounts. No height adjustment and no sliders. I’m estimating it’s around 30lb less than the Recaro seat that was there

[19bonestock88]

So far the mods to the front end reduced throttle at 60mph to just 10.2%, or 20% load. Instant mpg reads around 60, but actual mileage in casual use (no hypermiling at all, just driving responsibly) is in the 43-46 range. Still not bad for no engine off coasting at all. I’m now estimating the car to weigh just over 2500lb, given that it was measured to be 2540 before changing seats, and I also finished stripping the sound deadening off the floor

[freebeard]

Big update: the landlord pulled a dirty trick to evict me so I’ve been living off grid for a while, but I’ve been making progress all the same.

Have you posted the adventure in another thread? Else TLDR?

Do you really need those rear window winders? forums.pelicanparts.com: Leather window pulls on a 911?

[19bonestock88]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Have you posted the adventure in another thread? Else TLDR?

TLDR: I was encouraged (by property manager) to lie on my lease about number of pets and they used that to secure an eviction

Do you really need those rear window winders? forums.pelicanparts.com: Leather window pulls on a 911?

Now you’ve got me thinking... I could get another 3-4lb per door to delete the regulators and replace with a piece of seatbelt

[19bonestock88]

So lately my efforts have been focused on weight reduction while my thoughts and brainstorming have been focused on aero, because that’s where the gains in highway mileage are made. I think that after finishing the mid belly pan I’d like to focus on the upper rear of the car, specifically the roof. The roof is basically a big bubble shape but it appears I have detached flow on the back glass about halfway down, with evidence that the air spills onto it from the sides. Driving in the rain shows the glass being dry in the upper half and about 6” in from each side. I have experimented with an elongated rear window visor in the past but with no luck, due to having no spoiler at the time. I *am* wanting to make sail panels extending from the top of the back glass to about 3” above the plane of the spoiler to separate the air from the sides of the car and the air going over the roof/back glass. Would it be possible to add a spoiler element to the sail panels to 1. stiffen them and 2. direct airflow down the glass and over the spoiler? Would that possibly reduce drag?

[freebeard]

Needs a picture or some hand waving.

An inward angled flange? Bertone BAT?

How much of your rearward field of vision can you lose?

[19bonestock88]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Needs a picture or some hand waving.

An inward angled flange? Bertone BAT?

How much of your rearward field of vision can you lose?

The sail panels would look about like my crude photo edit, and ideally in plexiglass so I didn’t lose field of view

Silver bit in third edit shows a proposed bi-plane spoiler idea. Also would be done in some kind of clear plastic to retain field of view

[freebeard]

That might serve as an inner wall. Were it I....

Extend the Bonneville spoiler across the tops of the tail lights. Have the sail panel follow that line from the top rear door corner down to the top of that crease that runs above the door handle.

This will ensure the smoothest contour from the side to the trailing edge of the sail panel.

All IMHO, of course. A smooth surface from the skirt to the Faschenfeld edge would be good.