3rd gen Prius aeromod thread

[Vman455]

F***ing Photobucket. For now, I've left all my hosted pictures on that site, so if you right-click and "open image in new tab" you can still see them.

[ECO-AKJ]

Didn't work on my android note 4 using chrome, but luckily I have a photographic memory

[Vman455]

Thou art Stowaway, and on this rack I will build my tail.



The plan is to use 2" foam board as a base, cut to the planform of the tail, then add 2" forward and rear bulkheads, then 1/2" board formed to nice curves to make the top, sides, and bottom, then fiberglass the whole thing.

[Vman455]

I've re-hosted all the pictures on this last page on Ecomodder; I'll keep working my way backwards as I get a chance over the next few days.

[hayden55]

So to add to the madness have you considered modifying the regen braking circuit like the first gen pri guys have done? Basically they put a pot in line with the braking circuit and makes the car think your braking way harder at the top of the pedal and gives you a large amount of regen at the top of the pedal without squeezing the **** out of your brakes and losing all that energy.

[Vman455]

Some more work on the tail today. I had a couple trips to Kansas in the last month, and just to try out the cargo carrier I installed a box temporarily on back:



Now that I've been home this week, I got some 2" foam board and cut a piece large enough to be the platform for the streamlined tail:



Since I frequently carry bikes in back and use the car for sleeping in on road trips, I wanted to preserve hatch access. The tail is spaced 6" away from the bumper edge to facilitate this, just enough so I can stand between the tail and bumper, and exactly enough clearance for the hatch to swing upward and clear the box.

I took the plan taper from the rear bumper cover--which turned out to be more aggressive than I thought, 12 degrees--and extended it with a straightedge onto the tail platform:



Then, I gradually tapered the angle to 21 degrees at the end of the tail.



Cut out one side:



And then the other:







You'll barely be able to see it coming down the road:



The tail itself is 36" long, giving the car a total 42" extension from the rear bumper edge for a total length of 218", 9" longer than a regular cab 6.5-foot bed F-150. Length/depth ratio of the vehicle system will be 3.81:1, up from the stock 2.99:1, and the width of the tail at the back is 35", a little more than half the width of the car at the rear bumper.

[MetroMPG]

The tail is spaced 6" away from the bumper edge to facilitate this, just enough so I can stand between the tail and bumper, and exactly enough clearance for the hatch to swing upward and clear the box.

Gap fillers at some point in the future?

[Vman455]

Perhaps, although I haven't figured out how I would engineer that. This is going to double as a cargo box, since the construction will be a foam/fiberglass sandwich, so the inside will be as rigid as the outside. I think I'm going to include a cutout at the front for the lower window, since that will be even more useful for parking with the extra length. Then, I'll tuft test it to see what the airflow is like and think about gap fillers if necessary.

[freebeard]

You'll barely be able to see it coming down the road:

I found that too, with my boat tail mock-up.

It looks like a good start. What do you think of having slides under the foam deck, with a lever that would move the whole tail front-and-back the 6 inches you want (or more)?

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by Vman455

Some more work on the tail today. I had a couple trips to Kansas in the last month, and just to try out the cargo carrier I installed a box temporarily on back:



Now that I've been home this week, I got some 2" foam board and cut a piece large enough to be the platform for the streamlined tail:



Since I frequently carry bikes in back and use the car for sleeping in on road trips, I wanted to preserve hatch access. The tail is spaced 6" away from the bumper edge to facilitate this, just enough so I can stand between the tail and bumper, and exactly enough clearance for the hatch to swing upward and clear the box.

I took the plan taper from the rear bumper cover--which turned out to be more aggressive than I thought, 12 degrees--and extended it with a straightedge onto the tail platform:



Then, I gradually tapered the angle to 21 degrees at the end of the tail.



Cut out one side:



And then the other:







You'll barely be able to see it coming down the road:



The tail itself is 36" long, giving the car a total 42" extension from the rear bumper edge for a total length of 218", 9" longer than a regular cab 6.5-foot bed F-150. Length/depth ratio of the vehicle system will be 3.81:1, up from the stock 2.99:1, and the width of the tail at the back is 35", a little more than half the width of the car at the rear bumper.

For comparison:
*2005 AeroCivic 3.719,Cd 0.17
*1983 GM Aero 2002, 3.854:1,Cd 0.14
*1983 Ford Probe-IV, 3.828:1, Cd 0.154
*2013 CUER, 4.071:1, Cd 0.11