1st gen Odyssey project

[greasemonkee]

I've gone from my 60mpg civic hatch to running a 95 odyssey for work. It was disappointing getting the news, but due to a route and cargo change the civic seldom gets driven and now run an Odyssey converted to a cargo van. Right now with a 1000 mile weekly run, the pig consumes $126/week at 26.5 mpg carrying about 700 lbs of cargo. The goal is 32 mpg which frees up $22 a week. However, every mod I do must pay for itself in 6 months or it's not worth it to me.

I've got two 4x8 sheets of coroplast on hand and will be starting with rear wheel skirts and panels which will cover the trailing edge of the front wheel and terminate at the rear most point of the vehicle tapering off at the correct angle.


Wheel skirt skeleton is complete





I am uncertain how much angle to put on the trailing edge of the rear wheel to the rear bumper. Hopefully the coroplast will have enough strength to hang 4-5 inches from the ground. 65 mph will be the max speed.




???


Tips, advise, thoughts are always welcome. This thing is gonna be a lot tougher than a civic.

[a8ksh4]

What are going to be your priorities on this one? In addition to the rear wheel skirts, I'd think based on other threads here: maybe lawn edging airdam and side skirts, covred top of hatch, tire pressure ^, grill cover... Mostly simple stuff.

[MetroMPG]

Are the roof racks deleted yet?

Also: was this available with a manual transmission? This 1st gen is about the size of the current Mazda5, no? And the Mazda is available with a stick.

I'm currently looking after my friends' place while they're away, and my vehicle for the next 2 months is a 2nd gen Odyssey. Bit of an oinker. Wish it were a 1st gen. I'll mostly be bike riding anyway.

Watching with interest.

[Gasoline Fumes]

My parents have a '97 Odyssey (With Isuzu Oasis emblems). It also gets 26 MPG. And surprisingly competent lapping Watkins Glen International!

The underside could use a lot of aero work.

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Are the roof racks deleted yet?

Also: was this available with a manual transmission?

Only transmission was an auto. I think a few have been converted using Accord parts.

I really need to get rid of the roof rack.

[greasemonkee]

Manual conversion sounds interesting, but no room for the shifter. Roof rack holds the hand truck in an overflow situation. This van has 135 cubic foot of usable cargo capacity and every bit of it is used - I mean ALL of it, all that's left is the driver seat and most days there is no more than a small hole to see out the passenger window and mirror.

The 98 received a 2.3 vtec engine that had roller rocker arms and 3 valve mode that operated identical to the vx - a bit more efficient. Interesting that they perfected the driveline and chassis for one year then produced a piece of crap destined for trans failure.







Tire pressure is maxed, grill block is soon to come, not sure about the air dam because of the height and steep leading edge angle of the vehicle's nose, diverting a considerable portion of the air under might be better after a bellypan is installed.

[aerohead]

If I were tasked with getting an Odyssey up to 32 mpg I'd go right for the tail.
Your Cd is 0.32,and to get to 32 mpg would require Cd 0.19.You'll never get there without putting the wake on a diet.
If she were mine,I'd remove the rear hatch and construct a clamshell-door,or swing-away boat tail.
You'll compensate for some of the weight of the new tail by removal of the hatch,and you'll have an opening tail for loading and unloading.
Cargo aircraft will give you some ideas for how to articulate things.
My femmebot has an Odyssey and Honda's done a good enough job with it to go directly to the tail.
The other mods will be table scraps compared to this main course.

[MetroMPG]

Phil: you have a way with words as usual! Right on the money too.

[greasemonkee]

Most economy passenger cars are .31-.32 Cd, the Odyssey is .39 according to numerous sites including this one 1995 Honda Odyssey Specifications | Used


I doubt I could swing anything that resembles a boat tail due to cost and time required, but a fairly long kammback is possible provided the material is available.

Thanks for the ideas

[Sven7]

You could try doing a cardboard mockup and glassing it quickly if you don't have time for the full aluminum structure/coroplast skin treatment. You wanna work on those sides as well as the top. There's a Toyota Sienna on here that you might build after.

[greasemonkee]

Thanks for that Previa pic.

The kammback on that toyota is similar to what I had in mind.


Here's some of the lower section.