2nd day on forum, first "coroplast" mods today..lol

[dwestmodesto]

I have a 2004 Dodge Ram2500 quadcab longbed 4wd with a 5.9l cummins turbo diesel. Not exactly what most would think of as an "economy" vehicle. I inherited it from my dad, and it is a great truck, so I am keeping it. On the highway it does pretty good, getting between 21 and 23mpg. I read yesterday here about using coroplast to clean up the air profile of the front of vehicles. I stopped by a sign shop while out doing errands today. I asked if they had any coroplast scrap from mistakes or other projects. I told him about your site and people using it on cars. He went and looked in the dumpster and came back with a piece 14" x 8'. He gave it to me for free. I asked him the price if I wanted to buy whole sheets...he quoted $30/sheet. I brought it home, and used 2 pieces to close off the sides of the ram's grill. The grill opening is much wider than the radiator/intercooler/oilcooler/air conditioner condensor. It is now 1/2 the original size. Coroplast is held on inside the grill with nylon zip ties. While having the hood open, the area on both sides of the radiator were an aerodynamic disaster. I cut two more pieces and sealed the area from the inside of the headlights down to the bumper to the sides of the radiator. I plan on painting it black, and it should all disappear. There is a 3/4" gap around the bottom of the headlights that I will seal with flexible black vinyl. I will seal the areas between bumper and hood, and between the bottom of the bumper and the air dam later. I am planning on extending the stock airdam down 6", and then sealing up the front 2/3 of the bottom of the engine bay. I will post some pics up of the first steps later.
Thanks for all the info I have gathered.
Dave

[dwestmodesto]

Lots more work to do...and I need to get the camper off the truck. It isn't supposed to be there except when we are camping. I blew the hydraulic jack when loading it, rebuild kit is here, but not installed yet.

[RobertSmalls]

The big gaps between body panels on Durangos and similar Chrysler products have always bothered me. Good work picking up some of their slack.

Although your engine bay + cab is as long as my entire car, it looks like you're headed in the right direction. Any plans for an aerodynamic bed cap?

[dwestmodesto]

Originally Posted by RobertSmalls

The big gaps between body panels on Durangos and similar Chrysler products have always bothered me. Good work picking up some of their slack.

Although your engine bay + cab is as long as my entire car, it looks like you're headed in the right direction. Any plans for an aerodynamic bed cap?

Aerobed cap possibly in the future. Right now I need to fix the camper jacks so I can take it off when I am not using it. I bought it at Thanksgiving. Talk about having your mileage go down. It is an aerodynamic nightmare. Plus, it weighs 2000lbs. Truck is about 7100lbs empty, so is right at 9100lbs with the camper. It got about 16mpg with the camper driving 800 miles over Thanksgiving break. About 7 mpg less than without the camper. I like the idea of the aerobed cap, maybe when a few other projects are done..lol.

I need some black spray paint for the coroplast..lol

[Christ]

I love the painfully obvious grille block!

If you're REALLY into modding stuff, you can cut the grille and fill the gap between it and the bumper, cut the bumper cover and fill the gap between it and the headlights, etc...

Repositioning body panels will not only make your ride look like it was built with some quality control (unlike the appearance of most Chrysler vehicles), but will help with aero and give you a chance to really look over your vehicle for places that might be an issue in the future for rust/corrosion and dirt build up, etc.

[dwestmodesto]

Originally Posted by Christ

I love the painfully obvious grille block!

If you're REALLY into modding stuff, you can cut the grille and fill the gap between it and the bumper, cut the bumper cover and fill the gap between it and the headlights, etc...

Repositioning body panels will not only make your ride look like it was built with some quality control (unlike the appearance of most Chrysler vehicles), but will help with aero and give you a chance to really look over your vehicle for places that might be an issue in the future for rust/corrosion and dirt build up, etc.

The next election, I can have my politics show through my grill. lol

[Christ]

You don't want to do that... you won't have a truck very long. I'd like to say it would be fine, but let something stupid happen during the campaigning, and you're likely to have a riot over your truck.

[alohaspirit]

youve got a great opportunity for a steath grill block right there