Friendly Wager: 60 mpg 95 Mercury Tracer

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by M_a_t_t

I had fun though and I'll restate what I've said to others: My other hobbies have no ROI (making things go fast). So I'm having fun modding my car for better mileage and the side effect is that I save money on gas day to day.

Well said.


Congrats on a solid effort anyway! The odds were stacked against you (especially this time of year). I hope you get to eat some of the dinner you have to buy.

[Natalya]

I think you're close enough. If you get 60 pounds in those tires and wait until the summer to try again I think you'll have it. Maybe lose another 100 pounds from the car too.

[Xist]

Have you considered having a midget drive the car?

Who wants to chip in and buy M_a_t_t pizza?

[M_a_t_t]

I only weigh 130 lbs as is. Not sure weight of an average midget is, but I'm sure its not that far off.

I am kind of hoping that when the warm weather hits I will get it. Time will tell.

[Xist]

While a midget might weigh less, how the heck would they drive?

[Frank Lee]

Jeebus, M A T T needs pizza just so a gust doesn't blow him away.

[Xist]

"Okay guys, I tried again, and almost won. I think that it was all of the weight that I gained from free pizza!"

M_a_t_t, how tall are you?

[M_a_t_t]

They have pedal extenders and of course booster seat style seats for adults.

5'6" with shoes on. I got my height from my mom and skinny from my dad.My older brother is 6'2" and my 2 step brothers (aged 14 and 15) are already taller than me.

I had to adjust my headlights so some of the tape has been removed from around the lights.


In case you are wondering, thats not a full parking spot. I park there because it faces the sun better and I have a solar setup inside the car (panels not weatherproof, going to upgrade soon).

[M_a_t_t]

I would like your guys thoughts about some mod ideas I had.

Side skirts/wheel boat tails:
Currently the body curves to the inside where the tires are. The rear wheel skirts that are currently on the car show roughly where the two lines cross (also shown in sec A-A). I had to bow the lower edge of the covers to get them to clear the wheel that low. The rear bumper has a more aggressive line towards the inside than in front of the rear wheel. So the wheel pokes out higher up than it does in the front.

I was thinking I should keep the shape of the skirt thats on the car now, but add a section that extends the body line out along the plane of the wheels. The front airdam currently ends maybe 1/2 inch out past the wheel plane. I think if I could extend this line using front wheel skirts, side skirts, extending the rear skirts, and adding a boat tail after I would see max benefit (in this area of the car). Ignoring problems like opening doors and what not, would this be the best way to attack this section of the car? The other alternative is to extend the pinchweld as a side skirt and use mudguard style mounts to make a smooth transition to the side skirt. I've made a sketch to show how the body lines are currently. The boat tail starts at the shape of the rear bumper so it is still accurate in that regard.

NOT TO SCALE


Hood height:
I know testing has shown negligible results, but on paper it makes sense and I have a practical purpose for this. I want to add a solar panel on the hood and figure mounting in this location would be least detrimental to aerodynamics. The base of the windshield does see turbulent air (seen during rains) and I can see the whole wiper (blade to arm), so adding the thickness of the wipers to the hood and tapering it towards the front won't hurt visibility. I don't however know how to handle the fenders. Should I attempt a rework for better flow around the sides or can I shape the hood such that in combination create better flow? I am considering redoing the fenders for the front wheel skirts anyway so it wouldn't necessarily add any extra work. I was thinking basically the same as Aeroheads truck is shown here if I were to leave the fenders alone.




Last thing that is on my mind: does the side taper in the back still apply to the front? If I make a nose should the side taper be ~10 degrees?

Thanks,
Matt

[Xist]

I would not think that nose taper matters; undoubtedly any... implant... would be narrower or the same width as the hood, indicating the rest of the car is at least a few inches wider on each side.