Aerocap for a Tacoma Pickup?

[Fubeca]

Looks good - can't wait to see the finished product and hear about your results!

[mjboks]

ccrider, the aerocap looks great. You mentioned you'll be removing it often, how much does it weigh using 1/2" plywood? Right now I'm leaning towards 1/4" plywood but still debating on forcing a compound curve. How are you attaching to the bed?

Thanks for all the pics. Can't wait to hear the results.

[ccrider]

mjboks. i did not lift the cap yet but home depot's website claims a sheet of 1/2" plywood is 39lbs i bought 2 sheets and had about a half sheet in scraps. and i used about 4 2x4's riped in half then cut to length and home depot claims they are 12lbs each minus the scaps. so i figure it is in the 100lb range. it should be easy to take off with 2 people and i think i could climb in the bed and lift it by myself.

it is attached with 4 L brackets. 2 on each side of the bed and 2 T brackets on the front of the bed each bracket have 2 1/4" self tapping metal screws in it through the metal on the bed. my truck is an old junker so you may not want holes in your truck bed.

i just got done with my 200 mile trip and for the first hour my mileage was climbing to just over 30 mpg on my scanguage and then it started to rain really heavy and strong cross wind for the next 2 hrs. and then my mileage went down to 28mpg. when i did the 200 mile trip on friday without the cap the scangauge was around 26mpg. i was getting 30mpg with my truck in the summer without the cap but in the winter with the cold and winter blend gas i was getting in the 26-27mpg range. so it seems to me like it gave me 3 or 4 mpg.

[ccrider]

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[ccrider]

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[BamZipPow]

Looks very nice!

You might want to slip some sort of protection between the cap and the cab...I used some soft foam shelf liner on mine that I got at Walmart fer about $6.

Have you thought about taping the gaps where the top meets the sides?

[ccrider]

bamzippow i though of attaching some stiff flat rubber to the cap so it seals against the cab. i'm not sure what to use. i dont want anything stuck to the cab because it will be a hassel when i am taking the cap off. i'm not sure if the seal will make any noticeable difference i have the gap no bigger than 3/4".

anyone have any input on the gap filling?

[BamZipPow]

Actually...the gap I was talking about filling is was this...


The space between the cab and the cap will need some sort of protection as yer bed will move enough where yer cap will contact the cab a few times during a drive. It's this contact that you need to protect yer truck from. If it hits hard enough...it can dent it in pretty bad...

[ccrider]

i finished my first tank with the aero cap and i cant catch a break with the weather after the monsoon rain i drove through last weekend on my 200 mile trip i did a good amount of city stop and go driving and my tank average was 27.74 mpg. which is a little better than what i have been recording in my fuel log for the last few tanks but considering the extreme conditions i guess my results are good. now this weekend i made my 200 mile weekend trip, the temp was 10 degrees when i arrived and it was night driving, my scan gauge read 27.9 mpg at the end of the trip.

one of these days the weather will break and i think i will get the substantial increase in mpg that i would like to see

maybe in the warmer weather i will try a A B A test. the only thing is my truck is a base truck and does not have cruise control. so would i be wasting my time doing an A B A test?

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by ccrider

maybe in the warmer weather i will try a A B A test. the only thing is my truck is a base truck and does not have cruise control. so would i be wasting my time doing an A B A test?

ABA would be awesome.

I will say it's fairly difficult to do without cruise control. It takes a surprising amount of attention to hold speed within 1 mph. If you do it, you should also record your average MPH per run as part of your data.

The longer your A & B runs, the better, of course. More time to average out the inevitable speed fluctuations. More important would be finding a road where you're not affected by other traffic (aero effects, I mean).

Or rather than MPG testing, you could measure simple coast down distance with & without the cap to get a relative indictation of the cap's performance.

But MPG figures are more interesting.