AM's '96 Ford Aspire mod thread - Page 3 - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

AeroModder · 03-01-2011, 02:48 PM

I got a bit of work done in the measuring/comparing department.

I found a better profile image of a 5-door Aspire, and matched up the template as best as I could (even estimating my ride height as compared to the image's):

With the spoiler, I was looking at it's height and how close it would bring me to the template:

Estimations put it at just around halfway between the bottom of the rear glass and the template. I also laid the profile shot over the Prius overlay, matching the templates up perfectly.

You can see it's not going to take a lot of additional height to bring the angle up to Prius territory. I'd like to find some wind tunnel images/video of the Pruis to see if I should go closer to the template, or if a Prius profile is close enough.

AeroModder · 03-03-2011, 02:49 AM

Just used up the first tank, without any mods. Baseline MPG is 39 with a mix of city/highway.

Tomorrow I'll be popping on some smooth wheel covers. I took some nice-looking hubcaps and put clear plastic over them, giving the the smooth, convex shape with some decent looks.

Scangauge is installed, and I picked up a cheap camera today. Pics of the car to come!

AeroModder · 03-03-2011, 06:40 PM

I installed my smooth wheel covers today.

We'll see if I notice a difference. The Scangauge seems to be showing around 1.11 GPH as the average fuel use on the highway. I don't think I'll notice a difference with the wheel covers, since the previous ones were already pretty smooth.

aerohead · 03-03-2011, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AeroModder

I got a bit of work done in the measuring/comparing department.

I found a better profile image of a 5-door Aspire, and matched up the template as best as I could (even estimating my ride height as compared to the image's):

With the spoiler, I was looking at it's height and how close it would bring me to the template:

Estimations put it at just around halfway between the bottom of the rear glass and the template. I also laid the profile shot over the Prius overlay, matching the templates up perfectly.

You can see it's not going to take a lot of additional height to bring the angle up to Prius territory. I'd like to find some wind tunnel images/video of the Pruis to see if I should go closer to the template, or if a Prius profile is close enough.

It looks like Hucho got his best results along the Template with the Golf/Rabbit.He hit at 10-degrees.
The Prius is close,so you're gonna benefit either way.Maybe some quick and dirty cardboard and masking tape mockups would give you a sense for your outward vision to the rear.GM is doing Template roofs on their wagons,as they're 'short'.
On the coupes and sedans they're a bit fast but GM has very stringent outward vision criteria which trumps aerodynamics way back to the 1980s with Aero-X.

AeroModder · 03-03-2011, 07:23 PM

I'll probably do that. I was planning on getting some plexiglass or lexan for a new rear window, but doing a mockup with cardboard first would allow me to figure out where the placement would be best.

I'll also be tuft testing the rear to see what's going on with it right now, in stock setup. If the weather holds, I'll see about getting a video of it.

AeroModder · 03-04-2011, 05:21 PM

Got some tuft testing in, and the results are interesting. there seems to be good attachment all the way down along the sides, but the middle is completely detached almost all the way up the hatch. The side attachment is most likely from vorticies.

Still image at 55 MPH:

Video at 65 MPH:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm2RP...el_video_title

I also removed the OEM mudflaps and took some video of the Scangauge readings at 55 MPH, both on and off. I'll be uploading those videos soon, but here's the before and after pictures for the moment:

Before:

After:

The reduction in wind noise from the mudflap deletion is definitely noticeable. I decided to get some video after seeing my GPH reading stay pretty steady around 1.08, +/- a bit, when it was around 1.15 before.

EDIT:

Here's the videos from the testing:
Flaps on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdzEWCYTYk8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUpklnWbX4g

Flaps off:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDQEOIcjT5c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9Co8GJdjy8

Christopher Jordan · 03-05-2011, 11:41 AM

Impressive! I did not realise those little mupflaps were so noisy. Prompted me to to do the same with my Aspire. Now that gas is hovering around $4. here and oil at $104+ this morning, these cars sure make good sense to ecomod!

Varn · 03-07-2011, 09:55 AM

I would be curious about the amount of flutter your wheel disks have. Reminds me of the sheet of plastic wrapped over the sofa in the bed of the pickup truck.

Perhaps you might consider some heat shrinkable plastic or cloth. As far as plastic you could use Monocote.

In cloth think polyester, it can be gotten at the local fabric store or can be had in the form of dacron from an aviation supply such as aircraftspruce It is used for covering airframes. In either case use glue to glue the edges on.

I am going to remove the mud flaps from my VW.

AeroModder · 03-07-2011, 12:17 PM

I've noticed a small amount of flutter, and I'll probably be redoing them. This was v1.0 just to test the theory, and it does seem to hold.

I might also try them with the plastic off and see how much of a difference there is. Otherwise, I'll probably cut the plastic into circles and get them to fit tighter.

AeroModder · 03-07-2011, 04:48 PM

Before I get into constructing a kammback, and while I'm waiting for materials to come in, I decided I'll give delta vortex generators a shot on this particular body style.

A-B-B-A testing to be done on a clear day. I'll be marking the exact positions of the VGs before I remove them so they'll be replaced in exactly the same way.