Hey everybody! Check out my Corolla 'Insight'! Any tips, comments, or suggestions?

[AaronMartinSole]

So you can click under my user name and find my Corolla 'Insight'. I just finished these mods today. I had cardboard template testers, but it rained yesterday. Went through a few versions, improving every time. I got my hands on some coroplast, spray painted them, and put them on. The horrendous cardboard front air dam was just for testing today, and I've already taken it off after getting an mpg reading at the gas station. I'm going to be testing without the air dam for now. I took it off also because I wanted suggestions on how to properly make a front air dam. I was also wondering if there are any tips to keep in mind when making rear wheel skirts. My front smooth caps aren't flush, and air I think can get through. Will that make a difference? Maybe I'll just fill the cracks with some black electric tape.

This last trip was 37.62 mpg. Probably an improvement of about 5-6 mpg. An improvement of 11-12 mpg over EPA city! There is nothing like the anticipation and the joy of a gas station pump reading. We're weird people, aren't we?

This is all in my car profile, but I'll put it here too:

Description: I drive 90% city miles with normal traffic. I'll go on the highway maybe 20 miles a week. Short 5 mile commutes to and from everyday makes up for the bulk of my driving, with about a dozen traffic lights. A few times a year I might make a long trip, a couple hundred miles on the highway. I might just take a trip to a lake or something just to test out highway miles sometime.

Current Mods: =Current cardboard air dam is just for testing! I know it's hideous. I will have a black coroplast final air dam if I decide to.

-90% Tape Grill Block (for winter)
-Rear Wheel Skirts
-Front Wheel Smooth Caps
-Disabled Daylight Running Lights (DRL)

+Tires 40psi (I want to up them to 45, for winter?)
+0W-20 Synthetic AMSOIL

>Maybe I'll turn the engine off at red lights. I'm toying with the idea.

Planned Mods:
-Lowering the car an inch or so with new springs and struts (debating this because of the cost. Probably won't do to be honest but I really want to. Hopefully in the distant future.)
-Front Air Dam (planning on using zip-ties)
-Front Wheel Skirts
-Duct Tape Cardboard Kammback (I want to test this. If it works, maybe a permanent one with clear plastic, but I don't want to do anything invasive. How do you do a Kammback on a sedan?)

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EDIT: 1/2/12 - Version 2.0 completed. Just need to install front wheel deflectors. Not sure what to go for next. Maybe front wheel skirts eventually, but that's a big ask.

Tips, comments, advice, suggestions welcome.

[GRU]

you're on the right track.

is the cardboard being held at the bottom too, because if it's not then in the wind it will flex and move up...i noticed my lawn edging was going up when driving on the highway which is not doing what it's supposed to...
Also try to angle the airdam so that is picks up the air over the car instead of at the ground

[AaronMartinSole]

Shark Nose or Snow Plow?

That's exactly what I was wondering about and the advice I was looking for! Thank you! So what you're saying is, the air dam should be more of a 90 degree angle, instead of sloping to the ground as it is in the picture?

I was wondering about that. What is better; a shark nose type of bumper, or a straight, 90 degree, snow-plow type of bumper? I guess with the cardboard air dam you see, I maybe thought that having it angled would push the air under and over. I thought maybe that the least amount of contact of air with the cardboard surface, and less surface, would be better. Please tell me if I'm wrong ecomodding gods!

I suppose I thought it would be like a hang-glider or a parachute or bird wings, and I am afraid that maybe a 90 degree large cardboard flat surface would actually increase drag, and that maybe a more of a shark nose type of bumper, like a pointy fighter jet, cutting through the air, would have less drag. Which is better?

Originally Posted by GRU

you're on the right track.

is the cardboard being held at the bottom too, because if it's not then in the wind it will flex and move up...i noticed my lawn edging was going up when driving on the highway which is not doing what it's supposed to...
Also try to angle the airdam so that is picks up the air over the car instead of at the ground

[mackerel]

I'm thinking you should try to sweep it forward slightly, like an old fashioned locomotive cow catcher. Sweeping it back makes a concave shape between the ground and the dam.

[AaronMartinSole]

Wow, I did a search on locomotive cow catchers. I think that's a look that might catch on with customized cars! Heh! That's a third option and a really interesting one! I don't think I've ever seen anyone do a front air dam like that!

So I guess the question is which would be best:
1.) Shark Nose, pointed bumper, like a bullet.
2.) A 90 degree flat front air dam, like a snow plow but flat.
3.) A cow-catcher bumper, where the air dam points down, towards in front.
4.) I'm also seeing a lot of air dams here on ecomodder where there are thin strips, even lawn edging, somewhat offset or behind the bumper, and under it.

I've seen shark nose bumpers and I've seen flat snow plow bumpers here on ecomodder, but I am very curious about a cow-catcher bumper. It would catch the air and bring it up and over the hood of the car. But I have no idea. Perhaps I should test, but I wouldn't be the best person for that job. Which would be best?

Originally Posted by mackerel

I'm thinking you should try to sweep it forward slightly, like an old fashioned locomotive cow catcher. Sweeping it back makes a concave shape between the ground and the dam.

[Gealii]

Originally Posted by AaronMartinSole

Wow, I did a search on locomotive cow catchers. I think that's a look that might catch on with customized cars! Heh! That's a third option and a really interesting one! I don't think I've ever seen anyone do a front air dam like that!

So I guess the question is which would be best:
1.) Shark Nose, pointed bumper, like a bullet.
2.) A 90 degree flat front air dam, like a snow plow but flat.
3.) A cow-catcher bumper, where the air dam points down, towards in front.
4.) I'm also seeing a lot of air dams here on ecomodder where there are thin strips, even lawn edging, somewhat offset or behind the bumper, and under it.

I've seen shark nose bumpers and I've seen flat snow plow bumpers here on ecomodder, but I am very curious about a cow-catcher bumper. It would catch the air and bring it up and over the hood of the car. But I have no idea. Perhaps I should test, but I wouldn't be the best person for that job. Which would be best?

My .02 would be that the best design would be like basjoos aerocivic's front bumper design. aerocivic.com

As for #4 the reason i used lawn edging behind and under the bumper was because thats were the factory air dam had went before it was ripped off by the previous owner hitting a curb. And the farther forward an air dam is placed the more of a chance of it hitting the ground.

[AaronMartinSole]

Yes! The hammerhead shark, pointed bumper that the aerocivic has! I was leaning towards that one, but the one question I have about that particular air dam design is the underbelly aerodynamics. Wouldn't that design allow air to flow through the aerodynamically dirty underbelly of the car? Would I then have to get a belly pan? I'm not sure I'm up for that task, but I might be.

But then there's the flat snow plow air dam design. AndrewJ's Civic: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea....html#post2283

I'm just not sure.

[Gealii]

The shark design would probably be best with a belly pan. Would you be willing to do an air dam just pass the engine bay? This would increase warm up times, Add safety towards your engine/tranny in case an object gets in there as well and would help in FE. Considering FWD vehicles most the under-body is already pretty smooth.

I see the blunt air dams as helpful, but it would add frontal area so the gains would be less than the combo

[GRU]

what Gealii said, shark nose, like to aerocivic will work great if the underbody is clean (smooth flow) but if it's not then get the air away from under the car

[gone-ot]

...also, take a look at the "air-splitters" used on race cars (NASCAR, F1, etc.), they're typically raked down and forward (like train cow-catcher), with a flat-bottomed plate at their front edge (hence, the "splitter" terminology).