Aerodynamic Truck Front End Swap? (1990 mazda b2200)
 

I have an electric 1990 mazda b2200 which has a very squared frontal area I would like to know if anyone here has ever attempted a front end swap to something smoother like this guy did with his semi New Build Pics How much would something like this cost and how much range would I gain? What would be the most ideal shape? Could I make it bolt on?

I'm not Mr. Science, but I'm sure that it would help, as long as you also pay attention to the rear of the truck as many threads on here deal with.

I could only say if you are a hands on kind of guy, you could make a wood mockup of the frontend you want, and then have an experienced fiberglass guy make a mold from that.

Very spendy unless you can do at least some of it yourself.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-la...526-images.jpg

A front end similar to this picture might be doable.

This is George Poteet's BLOWFISH: a '69 'Cuda set up for Bonneville.
If you google this, many more pics available.

The build story on the semi tractor was very interesting. It seemed a shame that at least they could have provided before and after mpg figures for the
tractor alone say at 55mph.!!!!

I've seen some front bumper covers on the side of the highway after a crash that looked like a good starting point, wrecker guys dont pick them up all the time. would cover the bottom half pretty effectively i would think and go up from there.

I believe the Mazda B2200 shares the same components as the same year Ford Ranger. However, I don't know if the Ranger has a lower Cd.

The very worst part of your truck is the under side, fallowed by the back of it, a square front end is not the worst shape but once you get the under side and back of the truck smoothed out then looking at the front is fine... but the front is the least of your drag.

I understand , i was more thinking about a radical approach, mainly the plastic front bumper cover of say a newer car as part of a new front end design copying their approach. as for my 88 ranger i recently added a partial grille block and seemed to have picked up at least 1 mpg

In all reality grafting on a new bumper will probably look like a hodgepodge Fast and Furious car. Unless you're going to scratch-build an entire clamshell front, rock the 80's look with a big chin spoiler, and spend your time building an aero cap.

This guy's got the idea.
http://www.skspeed.com/images-dyn/CustomerRides/18.jpg

Gee , I thought Hodgepodge was the new look around here . Good thoughts, just thinking outside the box, literally

I already have a plastic front bumper from a body shop that I am using as a front bumper maybe I will post pics. I also have plans to do all those things mentioned here belly pan aero tuck cap but I guess my mentality is to get the things that I consider the hardest over with first. How much would something like this cost to do from scratch and what could I use to mock up a model to get an idea of how it would look on the truck? Anyone recommend a graphics program for that? Oh and I was also think about whether it would give me more room for batteries in front and what about the bumper where would I put that?

anyone
 

I've done my Dodge and Toyota both,adding onto what was already there.
Both have cedar wood and drywall screw skeletons.
The Dodge has Masonite skin.
The Toyota has aluminum skin.
I also did the CRX,taping cardboard over the nose and fiberglassing it in place to create a slip-on aero fascia.
The nose won't actually add so much by itself as buy you an insurance policy for aft-body mods added later.
If you'll find the thread 'Back from Bonneville' there are some photos there.:)

There isn't a bolt-on solution to a better nose for that truck, however, you could probably make something work from a Camaro or Firebird front end if you know how to manipulate ABS plastic.

Flexible plastic epoxy is only like $6.99 a tube. You'd have to cut it in several places and make filler panels, but the width should be pretty close to fit.

The hoods on some of the Firebirds come out to far into the front end would you have a year in mind for either the firebird or camaro? What do you mean by filler panels? Where would the flexible epoxy be used?

Aerohead's T-100 is the most aerodynamic road pickup I know of.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8004/7...48c921aa_z.jpg
Aero-Dynamic by jeff868_2000, on Flickr

For visualization many people here use Google Sketchup. I use Autodesk Alias because I have a student license :)

If your going to go that radical i still think front bumper cover from one of the common econo cars would work as a starting point , Aeroheads lower bumper panel looks like it came off a small car and went from there design wise, beautifully done Truck i might add. ,

design
 

The design is from R.G.S.White's 'Method of Estimating Drag Coefficients,' MIRA,1968.Hucho's books touch on his work.
White has a recipe of parametrics.When you take the best from each category they add up to a Cd 0.24 car,plus-or-minus 7-8%.

You'd be using the nose clip only. You'd have to cut it to adjust how tall it is to fit the front profile of the truck's nose.

The flexible epoxy is used to hold filler panels together between the areas you need to cut to make the nose clip taller.

Certainly not going to be an easy job, probably easier to start with a wood frame and glass it.

Aerohead, does that hood blister work? Been able to quantify any effect?

Where do I find that book I looked it up on google and nothing:(
Maybe you could make a pdf of it:thumbup:
Right now my truck is getting a consistent 60 mpg equivalent would any aeromods improve the city mpg/watt-hours per mile? If the front end on aero's truck came out even further would it improve it?

blister
 

Frank,the short answer is that I don't know.
I was very interested in the GTP-style windshield from the Maurader Lola Mk-4.IF they would sell one to me,and they said 'maybe',it would be $3,000.
It's probably as 'ideal' as I would be able to find in DOT laminated safety glass.
So anyway,the idea,short of morphing on the expensive glass was to create a blister fairing to soften the pressure spike created by the greenhouse erupting up out of the body by altering the angle of attack to the windshield,header,and A-pillars.
Without the blister,the last foot of the hood will tin-can at highway speed.You can just see it displacing up and down.
And the burble at the cowl kills any water dynamics 1/3rd way up the windshield in a rain.So I pretty much new it was 'dead' there.Which is good for ventilation!
And with the blister,the ventilation IS compromised.
In a rain,water is pushed all the way up the blister,so the boundary layer is very active upon it.And rain which makes it to the glass is actively fanned-out by the airstream.
One definite liability is that the lower portion of the glass remains dry in a rain which is tough on the wipers.It's not a hardship,and it can be 'fixed',but I'm busy frying bigger fish.
Without on board instant- results computing capability it might be hard to 'see' a difference in A-B-A on road 'tank' testing.
My 'guess' is that in a wind tunnel,the Prandtl' line of discontinuity would show a modified pathway.If I make it to the A2 Wind Tunnel next year I'll be able to find out with their smoke wand.I hope to put the whole test session on You-Tube so everyone can scrutinize it.
PS I covered the entire 'cowl' area above the blister with cardboard and duct tape to bridge the existing gap at Bonneville.The time slips registered no effect at 105 mph.
In 1990 I had done the same with the CRX and it also showed no change to performance.

White
 

I'm mailing the paper to a member.Perhaps they can post it.I've done a composite buildout of the lowest drag recipe but haven't found time to follow it all up.24-hrs a day is not enough!

Here are some pics of the truck to give everyone an idea of what I am working with. The truck definitely looks cooler from the side. The grill is blocked from behind by pieces of lexan glued to the grill but one of them fell of though on my ride to the shop:( Haven't had time to do any other aeromods I have been to busy with insulating the batteries its about to get damn cold here :mad:

And for some reason ecomodder won't let me post with more than one picture per reply :confused:

Now this is just my humble opinion but I think what you have now is pretty fantastic. If you really want to fabricate something that will make a significant improvement, an aero cap or at the very least a tonneau cover would probably be the best things that you could do. The front end is not perfect but it is really good and unless you clean up the aero at the rear anything you do to the front probably won't make a noticable difference.

Yes, I must concur the air dam looks pretty slick, how'd you build it? need one for my Ranger, I think maybe fender skirts and a filler for the cab- bed area would seem pretty easy and some improvement for cheap,

also on your truck ,it appears to be begging for a raised rear hood line, shouldn't be that hard looks like all square edges,

R.G.S.White
 

For those who want to search,the proper title is:
"A Method of Estimating Automobile Drag Coefficients",R.G.S.White,SAE Paper No. 690189,Society of Automotive Engineers,1969.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
An abbreviated portion of the paper was also published in :
CRC HANDBOOK of APPLIED ENGINEERING SCIENCE,SECOND EDITION,1979,CRC PRESS,INC.,Boca Raton,Florida 33431
ISBN # 0-8493-0252-8
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 75-117044

here's a picture of my little Escort with the grille block made out of sheet plastic , so far not much testing but seems to help warm up and coast speeds up 1 mph [IMG]file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Tom/My%20Documents/My%20Pictures/DSC00418.JPG[/IMG]

You mean like an induction cowl I thought about it but I couldn't find one that was as wide as the hood 54 inches I think. I couldn't see your picture radioranger and how did you test coast speed variation? The front air dam is just a rear plastic bumper from a body shop up the street from my house and I cut it down a bit and bolted it with two quarter inch bolts to both sides to the existing plastic.It still needs to be painted and held up in the middle somehow though.
I have thought about the aero cover for the bed but if I were to do that I would want to make it a hatchback bed cover but I wouldn't know where to start:confused: Has anyone here done that?

Sorry about the picture , havent quite figured it out yet, I test on a three mile long hill , starts out steep and then very long even grade where I usually max out at around 50 mph , so far coasting at 51 or 52 so seems a tiny bit better, plus brought my mpg back op to almost summer levels 39 , was averaging around 37 38 in summer 40 , on the truck the hood bump it seems could be made out of wood with triangle or moulded edges by the fender line, I thought about using a conical section so the air spills off the sides, I am going to partially cover my bed on the ranger, seems if you cover just the rear 1/4 of the bed it helps a bit and should be pretty easy to bolt on , probably hang the back edge of the plywood past the tailgate a foot to extend the airflow, pretty cheap to try anyway.

http://media1.break.com/dnet/media/2...43e30cc67d.jpg

Ask and ye shall receive.