Glad to be here
 

Hi all. This is a great site. I have a Gen 1 Prius. I want to mod it out as much as possible. Basjoos, you're my hero.

I first project is to build rear wheel skirts. I hope to get some help here.

Hi bestmapman - welcome to the site.

The Aerocivic is a stunning machine isn't it?

I've added skirts to my car, and measured about a 3% efficiency gain at 80 km/h / 50 mph. I also attempted a number of tests (admittedly flawed) to measure the effectiveness of skirts on a 2007 Camry Hybrid, as well as a 2006 Corolla. Just so you don't get your hopes up too much, I'd estimate that rear skirts on a sedan like your Prius will probably only improve efficiency slightly - ie. in the range of 1-2% at around 55 mph.

That said, in my books, 1-2% is worth chasing!

A number of people here have posted pictorial DIY's on skirt construction. I'm just heading out, but if you don't turn them up before tomorrow, I'll post links.

my thread has some pics of the rear wheel skirt building process.

For me the trick was finding the right materials to build with. Find a sheet of plastic about 1/8" or so thick. Try your local home-improvement stores and if all else fails, a plastics supplier. You can find anything you need online, but shipping a full sheet of 4'x8' plastic is a killer.

Where did you get the ABS plastic?

From my areas' former local plastics supplier / grumpy old guy that builds sheds.
He happened to have a sheet of ABS lying around collecting dust, and he (reluctantly) sold it to me. As for finding him, I just looked up "Plastics Suppliers" in the Yellowpages.

Welcome to the site! I can't wait to see what you do with the prius, :)

greetings and salutations, that said, plastic sheeting can be found on google. most of your home improvement stores sell it online. My own first mods are going to be; re-manufacture my engine, and replace the tranny with the higher reaer gear unit. I have to make the engine as efficient first and foremost.
Glad to see you. S.
Keep us posted.

Here is what I have done so far.

1) aerodynmaic hubcas (from Mikes)
2) Front grill blocking
3) remove radio antennae (want a shark fin)
4) scan guage
5) EV button
6) EBH (engine block heater)

Now I want to get into some more extensive mods.

Currently I can get 60 MPG in the city consistently, 70 MPG if I can stay to my planned route.

On the highway I am consistently only at 50 MPG. I want to move that up as much as possible.

So, Aero mods here I come.

Do you have any pictures of what you've done thus far? I'd be really interested to see them on a 1st gen prius.

It is the generation 2 Prius. Sorry typo in the first post. I'll post some pics shortly.

Ah, cool cool. No one has the poor gen one, :p

I'll be interesting to see what kind of highway FE you can get out of a Prius with its Cd knocked down into the mid 0.1's.

I agree, basjoos. I'd love to get my hands on a Gen 2 Prius to see how much better it could be made. I tell you, if I knew anyone nearby who had one...

I thought Phil in BC had a 1st gen Prius.

He doesn't count, :p

I think he upgraded to a 2nd gen.

Welcome bestmapman.

Here is a pic.

Mine is the one on the left. The one on the right belongs to FireEngineer on Priuschat. He came over to my house and installed an EBH.