2006 Civic Coupe Aero Mods

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by JacobLeSann

Recently took the car on a road trip 913km to the west. I had been carefully spending time building and testing until I ran out of time last minute. For the millionth instance; I built up several mods on the spot from scratch. Ran out of materials and had to call it a day before I could finish the diffuser.

Here are some pictures:













The result? Well…

Cooling is good. I added two strakes to help keep any large debris from getting sucked into the grille. The car held a constant and consistent 87-89 Celsius. I think it might have gotten a bit higher at one point in slow traffic, but I don’t recall fully.

Wind noise has been greatly reduced. Car is quieter for sure, and very enjoyable to travel in.

High speed stability is great! The car felt planted and very controllable at 170-200 km/h.

but…

The actual mileage wasn’t very good. Hm. Whereas before I was pushing towards 800km per tank, this time I could barely break 600km. Crappy!

There was black ice and heavy rain on the way out, but it did warm up. However, it was plagued with heavy winds. I noticed the worst gas mileage at this portion of the trip. After reaching my destination, the mileage was pretty good. When leaving, it was a bit worse yet again.

Temperatures varied from -14 to 6 degrees celsius, and wind speed varied from 5-35 km/h. I drove 100 km/h the whole way with very little deviation or any stops.

Is the lack of a good mileage a result of the elements or a failure in my prototype design? Have to see.

Hm..

You, like the rest of us, just lack the financial resources which are available to a multi-national corporation.
Otherwise, you'd just take it to a 'laboratory' where the only 'variable' was the vehicles shape, and you could easily 'test' for a shapes effect.

[JacobLeSann]

Aerohead, absolutely! It’s a time thing as well (of which we have previously discussed). I plan to get one of my other cars on the road, so that I don’t have to rely on this car. Once that’s said and done, I will have the whole winter to optimize this car. Even then, I’m at mercy of the weather and poor recording equipment.

One thing is for sure, the car is a bit too low for these parts! I crawled underneath the car and noticed that the panels I hooked to the rear trailing arms had been ripped apart, as well as a few other sections.

“What if I fused a WRC car with an Ecomodder special?”, that’s what I ponder as I stare at my 97 Civic Hatchback.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by JacobLeSann

Aerohead, absolutely! It’s a time thing as well (of which we have previously discussed). I plan to get one of my other cars on the road, so that I don’t have to rely on this car. Once that’s said and done, I will have the whole winter to optimize this car. Even then, I’m at mercy of the weather and poor recording equipment.

One thing is for sure, the car is a bit too low for these parts! I crawled underneath the car and noticed that the panels I hooked to the rear trailing arms had been ripped apart, as well as a few other sections.

“What if I fused a WRC car with an Ecomodder special?”, that’s what I ponder as I stare at my 97 Civic Hatchback.

Did you see Julian's air suspension that he did on his Gen-1 Insight?
I trashed both sides of 'Spirit's' nose last night. It was full Moon, and wildlife and road-kill was everywhere.
I enjoyed a feral hog and jack-rabbit at 100km/h. The hog got the passenger side, and three minutes later, the jack-rabbit took out the driver's side.
It's a good thing I wasn't doing the posted 75-MPH speed limit.

[JacobLeSann]

Shoot, sorry to hear that! What material was the nose made of? Fiberglass cross-woven mat? I hope it’s repairable. The Spirit is an icon of this site and it’s sad to hear it’s been damaged. Though, that is part of a car’s life when it’s actually used.

A feral hog is foreign to me, but I did have two pigs at one point. They were heavy. Did the hog take out any radiator supports or frame crossmembers?

I hope all goes well in repairing it!

———————————————-

Air suspension. Yes, I have seen Julian’s insight. I’ve seen a similar setup on my boss’s new Ram 1500 as well. I’ve gone through cycles of wanting/planning air suspension and then canceling on it. I’ve heard a lot of complaints about cold weather failure and high repair cost. It gets to -45 Celsius in the winter and I don’t want any liabilities.

A well-designed lift and good bodywork design, combined with add-on floodlights mounted on a lightweight front pushbar…..Heck, throw in a limited slip diff up front….hmmmm

Could be fun, but talk is talk!

Let me know what state the Spirit is in! Very sad to hear about that.

[freebeard]

It was full Moon, and wildlife and road-kill was everywhere.

When I went through Eastern Oregon on the way to Bonnevile, the Kangaroo mice went 'tick' [something] went 'tock' and the rabbits went 'thump'. Bird's breakfast.

In the 1980s, down by K-Falls, my ex-wife hit a bull.

[Phase]

Originally Posted by freebeard

When I went through Eastern Oregon on the way to Bonnevile, the Kangaroo mice went 'tick' [something] went 'tock' and the rabbits went 'thump'. Bird's breakfast.

In the 1980s, down by K-Falls, my ex-wife hit a bull.

Def gotta be careful in eastern Oregon. Seen coyotes, mountain goats, bighorn shee/rams, and antelope on the sides of the road there. Apparently there are a few wild wolf packs now too out that way but are mostly confined to remote mountains

[freebeard]

In Beaverton it was Racoons.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by JacobLeSann

I’ve noticed from the get-go that this car does not like any form of grille block. It likes to kick in the rad fans at stop lights, which isn’t correct (imo) in this fall weather.

I had a 2007 Civic sedan for a year or so, and I did a bunch of mods to it, including a full upper & partial lower grille block. I didn't notice the fans running excessively.

You may have seen this thread already...



Thread: 15 mods = 15% MPG improvement: A-B test, 2007 Honda Civic 1.8L, 5-speed

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by JacobLeSann

You've probably seen this thread as well... Even correcting the less optimal rear window geometry of the sedan vs. your coupe, a full tail only provided a slight improvement. (Around 3%).





Thread:


CivicTail project: ginormous aerodynamic tail on '07 Civic sedan

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by JacobLeSann

Shoot, sorry to hear that! What material was the nose made of? Fiberglass cross-woven mat? I hope it’s repairable. The Spirit is an icon of this site and it’s sad to hear it’s been damaged. Though, that is part of a car’s life when it’s actually used.

A feral hog is foreign to me, but I did have two pigs at one point. They were heavy. Did the hog take out any radiator supports or frame crossmembers?

I hope all goes well in repairing it!

———————————————-

Air suspension. Yes, I have seen Julian’s insight. I’ve seen a similar setup on my boss’s new Ram 1500 as well. I’ve gone through cycles of wanting/planning air suspension and then canceling on it. I’ve heard a lot of complaints about cold weather failure and high repair cost. It gets to -45 Celsius in the winter and I don’t want any liabilities.

A well-designed lift and good bodywork design, combined with add-on floodlights mounted on a lightweight front pushbar…..Heck, throw in a limited slip diff up front….hmmmm

Could be fun, but talk is talk!

Let me know what state the Spirit is in! Very sad to hear about that.

In order to know the extent of damage I'll have to take Spirit out of service, and I'd have to come up with alternate transportation for the duration.
I can tell that the western red cedar skeleton, under the aluminum skin has been crushed on the passenger side. And the fender is buckled. Ditto for the headlight assembly. Turn signal was 'killed'.
I was in the midst of repairing my driveway, and adding a culvert when I left for Thanksgiving. I'm gonna stay on task, and get that behind me, while I ponder my options. The concrete & rebar portion of the job has to be done while weather and temps permit.
Inspection & registration is due in February, so I have a bit of a time window.
Repairing a 39-mpg pickup truck is a nice problem to have!