Gotta rebuild the boattail

[aspera]

I think they make a one-piece drag racing fiberglass front end for your Civic. It replaces everybody panel ahead of the firewall. IIRC, they come in a widebody version. Since they're fiberglass (maybe) you could fiberglass over the wheel wells since you're using narrow tires instead of wide drag slicks. They you'd just have to find a way to limit your front steering angle a bit. No moving fender parts. You might be able to play with wheel offset or use different control arms to make a narrow track setup for your now solid state fully-skirted Civic.

It looks like you'd be able to tweak a one-piece nose to your use. You could mount it higher than normal for instance. That would raise the hood to shroud your wipers. You could also build a frame and mount the whole thing on hood hinges. It would basically be one BIG hood. You'd have great access to your engine bay.

You could drill some holes in the nose for radiator cooling or you could move the radiator back to your new boattail {hint hint}. 90mm Hella headlights would be an easy to mount lighting upgrade. Drill some holes and wire them up.

[MazdaMatt]

Basjoos, Aspera is absolutely correct. I have a road-race Del Sol and I pulled off the hood, fenders and bumper and replaced them all with a one-piece front-end. It was 900CDN and totally worth the cost. The lines are smoothed out and the fenders are flared at the front edge and top. It was very simple to mount it. I cut a hole for the rad, but it wasn't really needed unless driving at racing pace. It does have a slightly high "point", but it could easily be extended downward. I don't have any small post-able pics of it, pm me your email and i can send it.

[basjoos]

Thanks for the info, but those fiberglass front ends would break my car mod budget. Everything I do to my car must pay for itself in fuel savings within a year or I don't do it. My entire budget for rebuilding my car from this accident is $200. It would cost several times that just to buy a fiberglass front end.

So far on the boat tail I have rebuilt the aluminum bar frame, mounted the sheet metal skin, and completed the electrical work. Next up is to line the interior with sheet plastic, rebuild and reglaze the hatch, and then repair the damage to the front end. This is a busy time of year for me since I've have had my first winter frost and I am busy clearing out the frost blasted summer vegetables, setting up cloches, and planting the winter crop.

[TestDrive]

Originally Posted by basjoos

I plan to add a more spectacular red LED lightshow to the back of the boattail including more running lights on the sides of the boattail.

Have you considered including reflective tape in the mix?

[Bullyveldt]

I hope you made a police report in the small case that the guy is found.

When I was working in Alberta I loved how the collision damage was supposed to work. If someone attended a body shop to get work done they required a small slip from a police force, which they recieved after reporting their collision. Shops are legally not allowed to work on a damaged car unless it has one of these stickers. That way if a hit and run occurs, the police can do a fan out to the local body shops to call if someone is looking to get a car fixed without a sticker. We caught a few guys that way.

I know few places do that but if you don't report it, buddy won't get found, if you do, the worst that happens is he won't get found.

Glad you are safe and I'm interested to see how the new mods turn out.

[basjoos]

A policeman was at the scene and took down my data. No idea what, if anything, resulted from it.

[Bullyveldt]

Originally Posted by basjoos

A policeman was at the scene and took down my data. No idea what, if anything, resulted from it.

Good stuff. So is most of your cars aero mods done in sheet tin or aluminum? Thats what it looked like when I saw the pics. And I think the idea one mentioned about talking with aviation engineers or group is an idea.

[basjoos]

I initially made the aero mods in coroplast and clear vinyl, then rebuilt them in the more durable, but pricier, aluminum sheet and plexiglas once they had proved themselves.

[basjoos]

Originally Posted by TestDrive

Have you considered including reflective tape in the mix?

It might be fine from the side, but wouldn't work for vehicles approaching from the rear since my boattail has very little rearward facing area, and most of that is taken up by the license plate. Also a bright red self-illuminated taillight would be visible from futher back than a reflector that is depends on retro-reflecting another vehicle's headlights (important when dealing with 100+ mph would be tailgaters).

[Tango Charlie]

I know you do your mods in the most economical way you can, but I can't stop thinking of aircraft technology in regards to your boattail. Wouldn't it be neat to have aviation position lights on the sides of your boattail?

Of course, the green lens would have to be replaced with another red one, and those little buggers aren't cheap. I know, because I've dropped one!