Black & Green modding thread (1998 Civic DX Coupe base)

[teoman]

That key looks very awesome!

Would you be concearned in an accident?



Would you mind doing a tutorial on it?

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by teoman

That key looks very awesome! ... Would you mind doing a tutorial on it?

I will do that, but this post is just about the wheel well covers.

I didn't take enough photos, so here is a hand-drawn set of sketches of the mechanism I used for mounting the wheel well covers:


Here is the conduit pipe (found in the road) that I cut to make 10 mounting "clips":


You can see in the diagrams I drew that I cut a slit into the sections of pipe and a hole for the sheet metal screw. You can also see a side elevation of the wheel well with various clips and mounts installed. Lastly, in the diagram, I drew an image depicting how the clip works to hold the cover on to the car. Essentially, the sheet metal screw goes through the wheel well cover and directly into the conduit pipe clip. When tightened the sheet metal screw is essentially clamping the wheel well cover to the side of the body of the car via the clip mounted inside the wheel well. I used pieces of one-sided sticky weatherstripping that I had laying around to create a cushion so that the hard plastic doesn't scrape up the paint. I wish I had done that in the previous generation of these wheel well covers, because I did damage my paint. I stopped caring about the paint that much years ago, but I don't seek to do damage to it.

A key goal of these wheel well covers is to avoid any sort of structure underneath the cover. substructure adds complexity and bulk. I want these to be simple and as close to flush with the body and tire as possible. In some places these covers are only mm away from the tire.

The view from above:


I cut the plastic from the long rolled form it came in such a manner that its factory-made curvature bows the cover away from the wheel a little. The plastic is rigid enough that it holds shape. It's kinda like a suspension bridge, which bows upwards away from its river.

These below images show the covers in place. I always use a combination of found in the street stuff, leftover parts, and new store-bought supplies. That's sort of a theme with this car: this Eco Rat Rod recycles bits of the road it rides on. (Some of the images appear to be getting screwy and re-oriented as I upload them, sorry.)

[freebeard]

I see. What I'm contending with is a rolled rather than flanged edge. Possibly, angled slots might work.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by teoman

That key looks very awesome! Would you be concearned in an accident? Would you mind doing a tutorial on it?

Comedian Steven Wright once joked that when he got home to his apartment one night he accidentally put his car key into the apartment building door... so he drove the apartment around the neighborhood a while. I wanted a key that could attempt to do that. This is the next best thing.



It is made using a couple washers that I found, an old house key, an old car key, so that high heat J-B Weld two-part clay ready mix in your fingers, a little two-part Jewelers epoxy, and two buttons that I purchased online.

I trimmed both the door key and the car key so that they would fit within the profile of the washers. I glued them together using the jeweler's epoxy. I then glued together the washers and the buttons with the eyehole backing removed. When those two had dried I have fixed them together using the J-B Weld stick.

The last thing I did was paint the buttons in black plasti dip, wiping away the surface of the button design before the Plasti Dip could dry. The effect was of course to feel the negative space with black plasti dip why leaving the button design clean.

The washers are steel. They respond to magnets. I store my keys on a magnet on my fridge.

I'm not concerned about what happens in an accident any more than I would be with any other set of keys I might have in the ignition. I have a bigger concern with various unsecured objects that sit in the car with me at all times, such as tools.

[freebeard]

black plasti dip

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by mpg_numbers_guy

That car looks awesome. Mods look very clean too. Are your side skirts made out of that plastic as well, or did you use rain gutters?

Neglected to answer this, sorry. The side skirts are painted rain gutter. They are not my favorite. I have considered using the black plastic from the wheel well covers, but the curvature of the roll that is useful for the covers becomes a problem for the side skirts. It is hard to make that plastic stay flat.

[freebeard]

Take a look at cutting down a Direct TV dish. They're about the size of a car tire. I'm hoarding one against using it as a mold for making a fiberglass part.

[California98Civic]

I made a quick CAD flat spoiler to take with me to El Mirage tomorrow. I'll be able to film the dust flowing in the wake, take photographs of how the dust settles on the back of the car, and do coast-down testing.

28 neodymium magnets hold it in place and make it easily removable. Blue painters tape will be used for "sealing" gaps and smoothing transitions and holding it in place during tests.

These photos tell the story, but for some reason EM is now flipping some of my photos 180 degrees upside down. That is really disappointing. I was gonna narrate them a bit but they look ridiculous. Lemme know if u have any questions and I'll try to describe. Bummer.

[19bonestock88]

It looks good to me! It’s worth noting that you’ll need to add some reinforcements underneath the spoiler to keep it up... I like the thought of the neodymium magnets, but it’s an idea I can’t copy (plastic car lol)

[Xist]

I just tried posting pictures here, but it shrank screen captures of test, so I posted them on Imgur, and shared them here.

Only one downvote so far!