Aerocivic - how to drop your Cd from 0.31 to 0.17

[dcb]

If cold is a concern, there are plenty of heater cores available, and you can leave the grill closed longer if you use coolant to heat the cab. I wouldn't turn my nose up at reusing any extra heat if it's extra cold. given how prevalent liquid cooled cars with heat are, that's easily accomplished.

[donee]

Hi All,

All I can say, is a variable cooling intake is very much needed. We have had 20 to 30 mph steady winds out of the direction my home trip as the crow-flies is in. With Hypermiling technique driving my Prius, the car does not get into a warmed up state sufficient to ensure an engine shut down below 35 mpg, until like 3/4's the way into the trip. But Friday, its like the hottest day of the year here (95 F with 105 F THI), BUT with 30 mph gusting to 40. The car never got fully warmed up over that 1 hour / 23 mile trip! The wind was making the air speeds up to 80 mpg, and with pulse and glide, the car just did not reach the temps where it would shut down the engine.

[enuro12]

Excellent thread!

Its now 1am and i've just read every page. Thanks for the detailed log of mods and effects. I'll spend the next few days day dreaming and taking all i've read.

Thanks!

[usergone]

Originally Posted by JJMunoz

I was thinking of using the styrofoam crash protection that's comes under the front bumper cover on the outside...

Originally Posted by JimIsbell

Yes, I agree with you about pretty....but my wife DOESNT! But your mods could be prettied up and still work, maybe even better, but that might take a lot of work that was better spent on research.

How's this for foam, any aero shape you want, AND PRETTY? Try covering your car in expanding polyurethane foam, then shaving down to the right shape and painting. (Jim, looks like you and I were onto the same idea)

Originally Posted by basjoos

It probably would get better mileage with more ground clearance, but its not as easy to raise an independent suspension as it is a truck with solid axles. It would also raise the center of gravity and make it more tippy in a turn, reducing safety.

You could always put tires on that are a little bigger than stock. Get a few CM extra, and taller gear ratios to boot. Not sure if the extra weight of the bigger tire would offset any gain, though. Prolly not

Basjoos, I have a question about the construction you used. It looks like you used a lot of coroplast, then aluminum sheeting, held on with rivets or screws, but what is that glue/filler type stuff you used on the coroplast? I guess it is the same stuff you used in the body gaps?

[basjoos]

Originally Posted by thecheese429

Basjoos, I have a question about the construction you used. It looks like you used a lot of coroplast, then aluminum sheeting, held on with rivets or screws, but what is that glue/filler type stuff you used on the coroplast? I guess it is the same stuff you used in the body gaps?

At this point, the only Coroplast is on the belly pan, side skirts, and front wheel air splitters where I need the flexibility to pop back from impacts that aluminum sheet doesn't have. The filler/seal stuff is mostly white exterior grade latex caulk from Lowe's, although I did use epoxy putty on some locations where I needed thicker layers than could be done with caulk.

[usergone]

Basjoos, looks like they found you! Thanks for the info, btw

On a serious note, this can tell you what people think of extreme ecomodding:
Can A Honda Civic Even GO 88mph? - That Will Buff Out - Funny Car Photos

[basjoos]

That type of stuff doesn't bother me, some people think my car looks weird, others think it looks cool. I've noticed more "performance" car buffs in the former group because my car isn't a NASCAR clone like their idealized car (I guess most don't follow Speedweek at Bonneville) I've noticed more kids and non-car enthusiasts in the latter group since they don't have a strong pre-conceived idea of what a car is "suppose" to look like and can evaluate it purely on its "neat" factor. I get more thumbs up than thumbs down on the road and of course lots of pictures taken. But until they can point to a "normal" looking car that can match my car's combination of mileage and high speed performance, the detractors have no leg to stand on.

At 88mph I have about the same wind load that I used to have at 65mph in my pre-aeromod days and that wind load is just barely beginning to make its presence known at 88mph. At that speed on flat ground I am still well within the lean burn performance window and getting mileage in the low 70's.

[PaleMelanesian]

Yeah, those NASCAR vehicles are specifically designed to be less than ideal for drag. Some of it is for downforce, some is just to handicap the race. Average Joe doesn't see that, though. He sees 180 mph and thinks that car must be the best way to do it, not realizing it's a crude brute-force approach.

[Cash68]

Nascar is effing ghey.

[crx driver]

Can you please tell me how you came across that superMID?