AeroJeep (remote cousin of aerocivic)

[solarguy]

Excellent experiment.

Your class of vehicle has a lot more to gain, in terms of total fuel saved, than the small hondas, toyotas, etc.

I work at a Wal-Mart Vision center. Wal-Mart changes their signage about twice a year. Guess what most of the signage is made of...coroplast.

If you ask nice, you might get multiple shopping carts full of big sheets of coroplast in almost pristine condition. It might have a picture of a handsome man modeling some handsome jeans on it.


Premium vs regular today is a much different question than premium vs regular from 5 or 6 years ago because of the increased use of ethanol. Premium may very well produce higher fuel economy IF it has less ethanol than the regular. It is rumored to be so in some places. There are several ways to test it without too much time, effort or money. A google search for "ethanol test for gasoline" will get a lot of worthwhile hits. Here's a youtube vid for those who want to try one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsSQSuCiUjE

It's just a calibrated test tube. You put a certain amount of water in, add gas up to the line and see how much the aqeous phase goes up. Most of the ethanol will migrate out of the gas into the water. They are about fifteen bucks.

Please carry on.

troy

[winkosmosis]

I like the idea of narrowing.

Your frame needs to be stronger though. It's a big wing!

[usergone]

Today I finished applying the sheet of plastic I put on, and put some red/black stripes on it. I realized that the license plate holder was far back from the plastic enough that the authorities that be may not like the blurry view, not to mention blocked view by the stripes at certain angles. I erred on the side of caution around police (in this application!? LOL) and just put the plate flush with the plastic. I will need to add lights and/or something before I can test it




Unfortunately I will not be testing this scientifically with ABA, until I get the MPGuino cooperating with my injector. I may do a tank with and a tank without, a couple of times.

[usergone]

After a short test drive at about 55 MPH, the difference was not noticeable (but it was a short drive) and the plastic was not being pulled up like it should have been (but, again, I may need to get up to 70 to see the real difference).I think I need to use coroplast with the amount of skin support that I have (or lack therof) because the plastic sheet is not making a smooth parabolic curve, but sitting high on the cross members and sagging/getting pulled down in between, causing vortexes. I don't really want to add more cross members (at least, not the amount that would be necessary to make a smooth skin surface) so coroplast it is.

Off to walmart... when I get around to it

[winkosmosis]

It looks awesome now that it's complete. Why don't you want to add more crossmembers? I'm surprised it held together with so little structure

BTW, get some reflective tape!!

[cons]

Sure does look awesome! I'm glad you tapered it in. I think it's better and easier for turning. Also, I'd recommend some low hanging fruit: rear wheel skirts, partial grill block, partial belly pan, front gap arch filler, LRR tires, mooncaps. In my experience, the more I add on, the better everything gets (greater than the sum of all parts added together). It's like they work together. When you get coroplast, think about getting more for that stuff. It takes no time to just cut the plastic and tape it on too.
I'm excited to hear the results. Looks sweet!

[Varn]

Flutter is an issue with such soft material and so little support.
Coroplast with cable ties or zote foam are both better but more expensive.
I bet it will be fun parking. Good effort. I need to look at what you did to the front.

Edit:
If you were to reshape the back to cover the top of the camper trailer in front of the burnout you might get better mileage while pulling it

[cons]

Originally Posted by thecheese429

After a short test drive at about 55 MPH, the difference was not noticeable (but it was a short drive) and the plastic was not being pulled up like it should have been (but, again, I may need to get up to 70 to see the real difference).I think I need to use coroplast with the amount of skin support that I have (or lack therof) because the plastic sheet is not making a smooth parabolic curve, but sitting high on the cross members and sagging/getting pulled down in between, causing vortexes. I don't really want to add more cross members (at least, not the amount that would be necessary to make a smooth skin surface) so coroplast it is.

Off to walmart... when I get around to it

Have you overlayed a picture with Aerohead's teardrop shapes? I wonder if it might lead into a little steep of an angle near the tailgate. I did a 12 degree taper all the way back (6 foot bed), and that led me to be 6 inches higher than the tailgate. Your's has a more gradual lead into that angle, but then might drop steeply to be flush with the tailgate. Your addition is too significant to not be noticeable FE gains! It looks awesome, I'm hoping it'll kick ass.

[usergone]

Originally Posted by cons

Have you overlayed a picture with Aerohead's teardrop shapes? I wonder if it might lead into a little steep of an angle near the tailgate.

I can't say that I have, because I haven't taken the time to look for them :P (to speed the process, feel free to point me in the right direction). I wouldn't be surprised if my "parabolic" shape is not "ideal", so it may very well have greater potential. It is, however, pretty much stalled until I get some coroplast sheets (lazy me )

I did, however, spend $25 on 4 pizza pans today. The holes in the spokes of my rims make for some very good mount points. I just used some 14 gauge copper wiring (from romex). I was hoping that I could use the 15 inch pans, but they were too small so I got the 16 inchers which are very close to the actual diameter of the (largest part of) the rim. Too much talk! PICTURES!





I need to put some divots in the pans so that they will "nest" in the rim (because they tend to slide around a little). I am considering painting them. Maybe black...

[cons]

Nice work!