how to help my matrix

[Daox]

The point of wheels skirts is to keep airflow attached to the rear of the car. I'd go with as full of a skirt as you can.

[Weather Spotter]

Ok I did some work on it today, I made a brace for the bottom so that I can get the right shape.


Here is the bracket I will be using to hold the brace and skirt on.


question is how to do the top. I had two ideas:


Use a hinge so that I can fold it open (for tire rotation).
or


just a bracket



what would you do?

[trikkonceptz]

Back when I was driving my Vibe, it responded well to a change to synthetic oil and transmission fluid change to the tune of nearly 2mpg.

Never got around to changing the tires to LRR, but I consistently drove them @ 50 psi with no issue, I also gutted the rear end of the car by removing the back seats and leaving the spare snce it was always just me in the car.

I also resculpted the nose which helped me stay well above 40mpg throughout my time, but I never got around to lowering the vehicle or adding wheel shirts etc ...

[Weather Spotter]

Trikkonceptz, thanks for the advice! I run Amsoil in my trans and engine, I noticed smoother shifting and longer coasting. I run my ties at 44psi, any over that and the ride gets very bumpy and I did not see it helping past about 44psi.

here is what I got done before it started raining:

Cutting out the sheet metal:


cut piece before bending:


With brace on (right side is only on loosely):


On car (no top attachment):




How does this look?

How would you deal with the gap on the edges? It is due to my bending of the sheet steel not to the exact shape.

[Weather Spotter]

I got the first one done (except for painting).

Open




closed:







After some adjusting to narrow the gap:




Off for priming:


I should have time to make the other one before the paint come in. My car color is special order at the auto parts store. I also need to get the car washed before I can epoxy on the right (front of car) side lower bracket. I my also add some epoxy to the hinge mount to give it more strength (epoxying the back side of the screws should make them fun to take off).

One note on what I did. I made a paper outline of the wheel well then added .5" to .75" to it before cutting. I then bent int the extra material to form a rounded edge so as not to rub the car. It also allowed for size tweaking. These tabs also should help keep air from getting under the skirt.

[KamperBob]

Originally Posted by Weather Spotter

Looking forward to ABA results. Do you have a ScanGauge?

Cheers
KB

[Daox]

Looks much better after you closed the gap up. Nice job.

[Weather Spotter]

Originally Posted by KamperBob

Looking forward to ABA results. Do you have a ScanGauge?

Cheers
KB

Yes I do (since last October and it has paid for it's self already)!

Doing the fine detail bending took some time but cut the gap in half! I made it with an extra 3/4" bent in so that I could play with it since I was not sure that my paper template was just right.

Daox, what is your ideal testing method?

ABA? If so, how sound I do it? for a whole tank at a time (right now my driving is not consistent at all)?

Coast down? There are some nice back county roads out my way that I could use for hours without seeing any other cars http://dotable.com/images/smilies/turtle.gif

Both?

I would think that to do this right I would need to test with both sides on so that the change is bigger (will stand out from the noise better). It will be a few days till I can make the #2 skirt.

[Daox]

Darin wrote a good article a while back on how to test.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ery-11445.html

That being said, I'd do a constant speed test and measure the difference in MPG on a scangauge/mpguino if you have either. If you don't, a coast down is all you can do.

[Weather Spotter]

With a scangauge, How to I reset it for each run?