2014 Mirage aeromods A-B test: grille block, mini-Kammback, air dam, mirrors, 1 wiper
 

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1402343053

To get ready for the 2014 SMCC Economy Run event in Montreal, I put together some coroplast mods for the 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage 5-speed I borrowed.

(See also: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...cyl-29176.html )

I ran out of time to do a couple more mods that I would have liked: cowl fairing; rear wheel skirts; taped over the holes in the wheelcovers.


Pretty good factory "mods" ...

Mitsu hasn't left as much low-hanging fruit on this entry level car as other companies do on theirs. The Cd. is 0.28 in North America, and comes with multiple factory aero elements like:

- drag-reducing spoiler/roof extension
- partial lower grille block off (and the size of blocked area is different for CVT vs manual)
- relatively smooth wheel covers (base model)
- narrow section LRR tires (165 mm)
- "optimized" rocker panel design
- sharp trailing edge/corner on the rear bumper cover
- plastic underbody panels
- front wheel/suspension deflectors

Here's what I added to that...

1) Grille blocks

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1402348280

This mod is less extensive than it looks, because Mitsu already blocked out about half of the "apparent" lower grille openings in the Mirage. I closed the upper slot plus a bit more than half of the lower openings.

2) Fog light inserts

Probably no real effect from covering these, but they looked lumpy and I had the plastic & tape out already, and so why not.

3) Air dam

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1402348956

Added a ~3 inch dam as far forward as I could, wrapping smoothly back to the front wheel arch on the sides. It left about 3.5 inches of clearance (and it scraped 3 or 4 times during the drive).

This mod is hard to do when you can't drill your borrowed car! Lots of tape (and later Goo-gone) used!

3) Passenger side mirror delete, driver's folded back

Replaced with a small (approx 2.5 x 3 inch convex mirror); folded the driver's mirror back and taped a convex mirror on its trailing end.

4) Passenger wiper delete

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1402365475

It parks unusually high and at an odd angle on this car (and on the Micra too, I noticed). Although it might also be angled so the local flow goes more from end than face-on. A quick tuft test would answer that.

5) Kammback/spoiler extension

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1402348547

This adds about 10 inches more to the roofline and up to 15 inches on the sides, and includes a notch to show the LED center brake light.

Testing...

I used my usual flat, straight 1.6 km test route. Conditions were perfect: 25C and dry, no wind at all. There was never any traffic ahead of me in my lane, but sometimes oncoming traffic went past on the other side.

I would have liked to do A-B-A, but didn't have time. Also, this car doesn't have cruise control, so I had to use laser focus on that speedometer needle. It's pretty easy to hold this car at a dead steady speed, but it did wander half a km/h or so up or down. So take all this with an appropriately sized grain of salt!

I did A-B-C, where...

- A was all mods in place;
- B was all mods in place except the air dam;
- C was all mods removed


Results ...

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1403278089

I removed the air dam separately because I was most curious about it. It was pretty much a given that all the other mods would help or have little effect, but the air dam had the potential to actually make things worse, and I wanted to check that.

The fuel economy improvement between unmodified (C) to modified (A) was 4.5 % @ 90 km/h / 56 mph based on these numbers.

A1 - 57.15 mpg US (average of 2-way run)
A2 - 56.8
B1 - 56.1
B2 - 56.15
C1 - 53.7
C2 - 55.0
C3 - 54.8

No additional "A" run?

No cruise control?

BIG GRAIN OF SALT INDEED :D

GIANT GRAIN of salt!

Do you have any more photos? I'm curious to see how you secured a mirror to the back of the folded down driver's side mirror.

It looks like the mirror is attached with a liberal amount of duct tape :)

Canadians don't need no stinking SALT, they're the PEPPER-of-the earth kind'o people (wink,wink)!

Cool

You are correct, sir!

For the passenger side, I made a coroplast baseplate shape to fit where the mirror base was, and created a coroplast "pod" to which I attached the convex mirror. Of course, all held together and attached with liberal amounts of duct tape. :)

Proof!

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1402365123

VERY SWEET!!!!

THe black gives it just enough contrast to be called a 'sports' model.

We'll still need that stinkin' salt to melt us out of our icy snowbanks! :D

I agree! A "pro" quality kammback & grille blocks in black would look excellent. This is the proof of concept.

And I'm biased of course, but I think the car looks much better with the Kamm on it. And it still had an unobstructed rear view on the level.

Your test route is 1.6kms


I find that too short by about 998.4kms

I don't trust a SG to that degree of accuracy that your depending on.

I was thinking of doing the same thing on my wrx sti, but I ended up just removing the whole mirror.

I've gone passenger side mirrorless with the Firefly, but I often miss it when backing into very tight spots (which I seem to do a fair amount). The inside convex mirror just doesn't help in those situations.

After trying this on the Mirage, the Firefly's going to get a custom/permanent (non duct tape!) small outside mirror. Oh and also a little mirror on the end of the driver's side mirror for when it's folded.

That spoiler extension looks mint!

Safe to say these modifications would have a larger percent improvement at 65-70mph while wearing the OE 165/65/14 Dunlop Enasaves.

I've been looking around for smaller side mirrors for the Black Widow, but all the ones that look like they would work well seem . . . .expensive!

Have you guys come across anything cheap?

I really want to stay under 10 bucks apiece if possible. If it costs more than that, I'd have to drive 50,000 miles to recoup the cost of the mod and I might as well stick with what I've got

Something to consider is to activate a mirror to swing out when you put yer car into reverse so you git the visual when you need it. Same principle as the "STOP" signs fer school buses when letting the children off. ;)

That's not a bad idea... though a manual lever to flip it in/out would be easier.

Completely slick. I'm a sucker for a well done Kammback.

I found these at my local O'reillys

Unlike other blind spot mirrors out there, These are ADJUSTABLE and FLAT. I like that they are flat because i do not get the "distortion" of using a convex mirror therefore i can actually see oncoming cars in the next lane on the freeway and when i need to parallel park, i can always reach over, adjust the mirror to face down so i can see the curb.

Amazon.com: Custom Accessories 71173 Chrome 2" Round Adjustable Blind Spot, (Pack of 2): Automotive

Interesting... those numbers suggest that the mods done in the Mirage duct-tape eco-run can't have made much more than a 2-3% difference? Quite hard to do anything on such an aerodynamic car with such little grille opening and a slippery shape!

I would love to see a separate test for the rear kammback alone... that's something I'd want to try, myself.

Agreed - the painters tape mods in the US eco-run would have had a pretty small impact -- the grille block probably being the biggest change.

I still have the Kammback. If I have time before Monday, I'll see about doing a quick ABA comparison.

Ebay link

Here's the ones I used, they were the smallest ones I could find on ebay. I used the stock holes for the mirror to hold them on with some thick washers and a spacer to give them clearance. They work equally well in the traditional horizontal position to give a wider view but I use them set verticle in combination with an inside convex mirror. The 2 mirror set up doesn't have any blind spots. The inside one was a safety first baby mirror at home depot.

Wow, that's crazy!

Here are the ones I bought off Amazon last night after about an hour of searching:

Amazon.com: 2 x Popular Adjustable Heavy Duty Motorcycle Street Bike Bar End Mirrors Fit 7/8" For BMW Suzuki Yamaha Honda Kawasaki Buell Ducati: Automotive

I would have saved a couple of bucks if I'd waited on your reply

Well you have good taste!

For the small price difference it will probably be nice to have them quicker through amazon.

I like Amazon because they ship quicker than eBay, but they just built a giant warehouse about 10 miles from my house, and now I have to pay sales taxes on anything I buy from Amazon :(

Me too.

Solution: Base yourself in a tax-free state, then they can build any warehouse they want and you're okay. :thumbup:

Graph numbers
 

Metro,

Thank you for the excellent work and for sharing with us all.

A few questions: Who would let you borrow a Mirage for a week? You don't have to answer that, I'm just curious and sounding a big "Thank you!" to whoever it is.

The numbers below the graph and the bars on the graph match but the metric numbers added to the graph conflict... is that just an error in those metric numbers? Which is the original data?

Just for clarification: Correct me if I have misunderstood. Those numbers are numbers for a steady speed run, for comparison of modifications, right? (But they do not correlate directly to overall driving averages or to sticker mileage, right?)

Benphyr

You can thank Mitsubishi Canada. They loaned it to me for 2 weeks because of MirageForum.com

Thank you for pointing that out! That was my mistake copying the metric conversions into the chart. The MPG values are the originals.

I've fixed/replaced the graph image.

Right - those are steady speed numbers taken after getting the car up to speed, resetting the scangauge after passing a signpost at the beginning of the run & recording the result at the end of the run.

I will never know how you convince a car company to let you borrow a car on their dime like that :D

You start a enthusiast forum for the car that brings a cult following, and free technical support for them.

TACT - the verbal ability to tell someone to go-to-hades in such a way that they look forward to the trip.

Update on the tiny motorcycle mirrors I got off Amazon and hi-jacked into this thread (sorry!):

First off, they were awesome, actually looked and felt well-made, so for the money they would have been a good deal.
Unfortunately, athough they technically fit, in the end I just could not find a placement for them that would have allowed me to open the doors no matter how I turned them. . . .so I sent them back:(

The search continues!

I'm starting a Ferrari forum! :D

Oooo... good idea! I'm starting a luxury sailing yacht forum!

Too late. You need to get in before there are established cults.

I'm starting an Elio fan website. Then if they ever get built...

Elio forum: good idea! Do it! (None out there already?) Hope it doesn't turn out like the Aptera forum.

I like the mirrors. I've been wanting to do something similar but I'm going to have to find a way to retrofit some other mirror on my car because the stock ones don't stay folded in.