Commercially produced aerodynamic pickup bed cap

[cons]

So, the truck's EPA rating is 24mpg mixed.
The way I drove it I got 28ish mixed.
With the additions, I get 33ish mixed.
Under ideal driving, (flat and 55, not tailwind and downhill) I hope to get 36.
I'll keep adding new data. I just moved from Seattle to Jackson Hole though, so I'm not sure how the 6,000 ft. gain will effect it.
Here's a few pics of it:
Picasa Web Albums - Conor - Greenhouse
Next projects are mid-grade gas and better hub caps. Then belly pan.

[100MPGUS]

Originally Posted by cons

So, the truck's EPA rating is 24mpg mixed.
The way I drove it I got 28ish mixed.
With the additions, I get 33ish mixed.
Under ideal driving, (flat and 55, not tailwind and downhill) I hope to get 36.
I'll keep adding new data. I just moved from Seattle to Jackson Hole though, so I'm not sure how the 6,000 ft. gain will effect it.

Next projects are mid-grade gas and better hub caps. Then belly pan.

Email me the pics and I will host them for you and send you the link.

[bondo]

Nice job cons! Those are some impressive numbers you are posting. There have been very few of the smaller pickups like your Ranger on which people have built an aerolid. Should be a great test platform. You definitely have the best rearward visibility with your lid being clear.

100MPGUS - saw your post from 4-11-10. It has been an extreme frustration not being able to secure funding for the Aerolid. The design works and is good for a 12 to 15% increase in fuel efficiency on the average.

I tried my other Senator from my state to get a tax credit on the tax code for the implementation of any aerodynamic device which improves the fuel efficiency of any vehicle, pickup truck or car, by 10% or better. Things seem to finally be moving for me.

Everything was going well with my Senator until the 4% ABA test on an aerolid was posted on this web page. My Senators office knew of ecomodder and it may just be coincidence that thier interest wained in pursuing the tax credit for me after this 4% increase in fuel efficiency was posted as being scientific fact. Fact is the conditions when this test was conducted was anything but optimum.

I have stopped making claims. I'll let others who are testing thier own aerolids do the talking for me.

Bondo

[cons]

Originally Posted by 100MPGUS

Email me the pics and I will host them for you and send you the link.

Sure, what's your email?

For Bondo, thanks for the inspiration. It's fun spreading that inspiration to folks interested in efficiency too and don't realize the potential behind ecomodding. You know, I think one of the best things about my design is how it extends past the tailgate and does't have a rounded corner, to make the air cut-off better. After some more testing for the things mentioned above, I want to extend a similar thing around the entire back (sides and bumper) to cut off the air better there too. That video on the Volt on this website shows how the tiniest adjustment in the back makes a huge difference on air detachment and thus mpg. Another video on this website shows a truck with a lid and you see some air circling from the bottom, to the tailgate, to even the top of the lid. I think by extending the lid out, you're not allowing that air to circulate above the lid. I wish I had a wind tunnel, too much theorizing and testing takes forever!

Good luck on the project Bondo. I can't wait to run into somebody else with a lid like ours.

[bondo]

It is guys like you cons who are out building your own aerolids that are an inspiration to me. I agree with you about extending the rear of the lid past the tailgate. It has to help. Wouldn't it be great to have your own (full scale) wind tunnel!

My Aerolid was wind tunnel tested in a full scale tunnel in Michigan on August 17, 2007. I cannot tell you which American automobile manufacturer it was. That was the coolest day of my life.

The test ran for about 30 minutes at a wind speed of 80 mph. The host truck, with the Aerolid on it in the tunnel, was moving into different yaw angles as the test ran. Several computers were compiling data and there was a group of four members of upper managment who came in to watch the test.

The wind was then lowered to 40 mph. All the aero guys and the managment people went out into the tunnel. A technician broke out the smoke wand at the front of the pickup truck. Man, I wish I had it on video!

The tech hit the smoke, it flowed up the hood, over the windshield and roof of the cab and then down the Aerolid, undisturbed, in a perfect stream until it quickly separated from the lid at the very end edge of the Aerolid. The head of the aero group upon seeing this said, " That's impressive".

I almost fell over. There I was in the wind tunnel of the major American auto manufacturer with aerodynamicists who have IQ's way better than I realizing I had hit optimum aerodynamic shape in a 1200 square foot shop and a ball of clay. I was stunned. It was not ego that made me almost fall over, it was how thankful I was to have said that prayer to guide my hands as I sculpted the clay.

The techs and aerodynamicists spent alot of time at the rear of the Aerolid. They studied the smoke at the rear, how it acted as it separated from the roof end of the lid and how it acted below that, at the tailgate area.

There was one bad thing about the test. After I drove all the way from Little Rock to Detroit, the auto company told me they were not going to tell me the results, delta Cd, etc. Made me kinda mad but only for a moment. The day was magic!

The nice gal, who ran the tunnel, pulled me aside after the test and apologized to me for her not being able to share the data with me. She then said, " You saw the smoke, you know it works."

So cons your assumptions about extending the rear of your lid back, I think, is spot on. To all those who attempt to do thier own aerolids, go for it. Don't worry about getting everthing perfect, moreso do what feels right to you in the shaping of it. That is what I did and believe me, seeing I have no Aeronautical Engineering degree of any type, didn't know about the 12 degree angle or have any template to go by, I was very fortunate that what felt right to me was proven to be correct in the full scale wind tunnel in Allen Park, Michigan.

You guys can do it too!

Bondo

[cons]

Hell yeah! Great story Bondo!

[cons]

Just filled it up again. It's been 3 weeks! Anyhoo, finally I got a tank without going over mountain passes. This one was mostly level roads, on the highway most the time. 35.2 mpg. A full tank too, not some trip with a big downhill or tailwind, but a daily commute of 20 miles for 3 weeks. Pretty sweet for a truck! I've got some JC Whitney mooncaps coming, and am also going to see if I'll get better scores using mid-grade gas. With a few more mods (undertray, side airflor separaters), I might be able to average 40 at some point.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by cons

So, the truck's EPA rating is 24mpg mixed.
The way I drove it I got 28ish mixed.
With the additions, I get 33ish mixed.
Under ideal driving, (flat and 55, not tailwind and downhill) I hope to get 36.
I'll keep adding new data. I just moved from Seattle to Jackson Hole though, so I'm not sure how the 6,000 ft. gain will effect it.
Here's a few pics of it:
Picasa Web Albums - Conor - Greenhouse
Next projects are mid-grade gas and better hub caps. Then belly pan.

cons,on the return from my emergency trip to Phoenix I drove the last 633 miles at 55-mph and pulled 36-mpg with the T-100.
Your Ranger,with a little less frontal area should see 36 mpg with high confidence level.Keep us posted and thanks for the heads up!

[cons]

Thanks Phil, and what mods do you have on that? I wonder what else I should be doing.

[round.boater]

Originally Posted by bondo

I tried my other Senator from my state to get a tax credit on the tax code for the implementation of any aerodynamic device which improves the fuel efficiency of any vehicle, pickup truck or car, by 10% or better. Things seem to finally be moving for me.

Bondo

Any news?
I'm spending the month in a small farming community, and I think my truck has caused a bit of a stir. Quite a few people have asked about it. Any chance someone will finally pick up the manufacturing?