Accord aero mods, 4.25% increase, more to come

[mikeyjd]

Originally Posted by Istas

Body panels and front bumper are not subjected to 800+ rpm and are (somewhat) insulated from the shock of road bumps by the suspension, but I will take this as encouragement too. And thank you very much!

i find that they do stretch, but mostly just marginally enough to notice that they aren't quite as tight. I will leave a 1/4 inch tail next time so I can tighten them after a few thousand miles. I haven't had 1 tie break in about 10k miles though.

[Cobb]

800 rpms?!?!? Is that before you car starts moving or after? Thats like 90 mph?

Yeah, the upper grill with the H logo really makes the air dirty. I had coated mines in black duct tape and it made a bigger difference than I would of suspected.

[Istas]

Originally Posted by mikeyjd

i find that they do stretch, but mostly just marginally enough to notice that they aren't quite as tight. I will leave a 1/4 inch tail next time so I can tighten them after a few thousand miles. I haven't had 1 tie break in about 10k miles though.

Thanks for the info. I am being convinced more and more. I have a feeling my desire to have them soon will override my worries about lightweight, flat, flexible pieces of plastic coming off my car.

Originally Posted by Cobb

800 rpms?!?!? Is that before you car starts moving or after? Thats like 90 mph?

Yeah, the upper grill with the H logo really makes the air dirty. I had coated mines in black duct tape and it made a bigger difference than I would of suspected.

The data on tirerack says the stock tires for my car of the type I'm looking at have 808 revolutions per mile, so at sixty miles per hour or one mile per minute, that's 808 rpm. Doing the math for outer tire diameter, and doing the math for engine speed/gear ratios, works out too. And I'll occasionally be going 80 or faster to keep up with traffic so I'm not a danger to everyone else on the highway, so it'll need to hold up to faster than 800 rpm.

Yeah, the engine bay is pretty bad for aero, period. The more air you can manage to keep out of there (without overheating anything), the better.

[Simonas]

Wow! You did a very clean job.

[elhigh]

That is a really clean looking aero nose. Very nice work.

[Istas]

Originally Posted by Simonas

Wow! You did a very clean job.

Originally Posted by elhigh

That is a really clean looking aero nose. Very nice work.

Thank you both! Mainly I lucked out on the original shape of the car, it's pretty smoothly shaped to begin with and none of the areas to cover required compound curves.

[j12piprius]

How did you attach the aluminum (?) panels to the front?

[Istas]

Originally Posted by johnlvs2run

How did you attach the aluminum (?) panels to the front?

It's galvanized sheet steel, sold as roof flashing. I forget the gauge, it was too long ago that I bought the 50-foot roll.

And I used slotted hex washer head sheet metal screws, size 8x3/4. I've added a picture of them to the linked gallery; here's a direct link to that image. http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...ps13f0064a.jpg

They're not the most elegant solution, but they were the easiest, cheapest, most reliable way I could come up with for non-permanent attachment. They work fine for holding these mods to plastic bodywork; my first car, to which I performed the same mods, has had them hold up for over four years now and no sign of failure. I recommend choosing ones with the deepest thread bite you can for the size you've chosen. The one in the pic is not as good as the previous ones I got.

Thanks for the question! I've added those details to the original post.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Have you never considered to replace the rearview mirrors for smaller ones out of some sports motorcycle due to their aerodynamically-enhanced profile? This mod could still increase the aerodynamic efficiency of your car while retaining the functionality of the mirrors.

[Istas]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

Have you never considered to replace the rearview mirrors for smaller ones out of some sports motorcycle due to their aerodynamically-enhanced profile? This mod could still increase the aerodynamic efficiency of your car while retaining the functionality of the mirrors.

I just about never use the side mirrors, preferring to turn and check the blind spots directly rather than use the limited view of the mirrors. In addition, state laws for Montana only require one mirror that can see directly behind the car for 200 feet (similar to PA, where I lived before and drove my Legacy with mirrors removed to no complaints from local law enforcement). And this car has good visibility.

So I'm going to remove them entirely, once I figure out how I want to handle the void they leave (which is triangular, varies in depth from one end to the other, requires both waterproofing and sound insulation, wedges under part of the door structure on one side, and appears to be holding in place the front edge of the window trim). This is giving me pause on how to accomplish, as I want to be able to easily remove and replace it, if/when I need the side mirrors (due to, say, blocked view from cargo). Grill blocks, airdam, rear wheel skirts, and smooth wheel covers are all easier than that, so I'm doing them first.

Thanks for the suggestion!