Accord aero mods, 4.25% increase, more to come

[Istas]

Yeah, but that's extra money for no improvement in efficiency. I can't have that.

[Joggernot]

Are those mud flaps behind the front wheel??

[Istas]

Originally Posted by Joggernot

Are those mud flaps behind the front wheel??

On the brown Subaru Legacy (which is now retired), yes. The one visible in the pic was helping form some of the structure of the sheet metal rust hole patch on the driver front quarterpanel. I later removed the flaps after I replaced both front quarterpanels from a junkyard.

There are no mud flaps on the Honda I'm currently driving/modding. There are those... air deflector tabs? in front of the front wheels but they're now covered by the airdam/undertray. I might work on making my own deflectors/boattails for the wheels, sometime.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Istas

Yeah, but that's extra money for no improvement in efficiency. I can't have that.

Sure. If the main goal of of such projects are the savings, why to be so obsessed with the looks?

Anyway, with the grill block, rear wheel skirts, and external mirrors delete, it's incredible how the Legacy resembled a Jetsons' vehicle

[Istas]

Hehehe, never thought of that. It must be the tall, wide-open windows.

[Istas]

Started on the rear wheel skirts. Passenger side first, simply because it's easier to access while the car's in the garage.

Have the support bar for the lower skirt bent into shape and attached. A three foot bar was just long enough. Using the same sheet metal screws as before to attach the ends; the bottom edge of the well on front and back is plastic so they should hold fine once the skirt is in place.


(a few more pics of details in the album: Honda Photos by IstasPuma | Photobucket )

At no point is it closer than an inch (a little more; about 3cm) to the wheel or rim. This might be a bit more than needed, but I'd rather be safe than cut it close and I still need to attach the skirt, which will take up non-zero thickness on the tire side. Also, the tire on there is a snow tire that's slightly smaller than stock, and I plan on putting higher-profile tires on, so I want some room. (205/60R16 stock, I'm going to try 205/70R16 (which also has a 0.5" narrower tread width as a bonus))

Now to begin the Cardboard Aided Design for the skirt itself. I think two holes in the edge of the metal fender should hold well enough. I plan on using spacers for the back edge of the skirt to hold it maybe a centimeter away from the bumper, to allow air to vent out so the wheel well and skirt don't become a parachute.

[niky]

Shame to screw holes into the metal. You could use some mounting tape around the rim, instead, then put a lid in the skirt for tire changes.

[Istas]

Originally Posted by niky

Shame to screw holes into the metal. You could use some mounting tape around the rim, instead, then put a lid in the skirt for tire changes.

There are very few applications where I've found tape to be an acceptably durable solution (to me), and car body is not one of them. I considered using neodymium magnets, but even then I'd worry about slipping on particularly hard bumps.

I'd just really prefer unquestionably sound, and for me that means bolting through. It'll only be two holes on either side, and they'll be on the folded-under part of the fender so barely visible if I ever take the brackets off. The holes on the plastic bumper stand out a lot more than will the four holes in the fender rims.

[Istas]

Not perfect, but I think it turned out well enough. Edges of the skirt folded over so they don't slice off fingers.

The rear of the skirt is offset from the bumper a bit (using plastic tubing as spacers) to let air out so it doesn't act as much like a parachute, and overlaps with the bumper so the airflow (hopefully) exits in a relatively smooth, backwards direction along the car's side.

Used stainless steel hardware (because I learned my lesson from last time), including nylon lock nuts. I'll now be keeping two wrenches (nuts aren't the same size as the sheet metal screws) and two screwdrivers (didn't have flathead-slotted bolts) in the car at all times in case mod removal is necessary (for towing, changing a flat, etc).

Between the hardware, brackets, aluminum bar, and sheet metal, it's turning out to be maybe $15 a skirt. Worth it for stainless steel hardware I think.

Two more pics (from different angles) in album if you're interested: Honda Photos by IstasPuma | Photobucket

[niky]

Lovely! Makes me feel bad about the last set of skirts I made... but then, those were made out of cardboard...