I made some aero mirrors

[Cd]

Nice workmanship !
I'm assuming that you want to reduce the cars frontal area, yet I'm puzzled because you have a rain shield installed over the window .

That in itself might even produce the same drag that the stock mirror had before.

[3dplane]

Cd: Thanks! The rain shield is also made by me and it is very low profile or shallow.(only sticking out a little). It was actually not easy to bend the slight angles lenght wise into the banana shaped plexi (or whatever) glass. I need that thing here in FL I always run the window cracked down summer and winter. I also painted or misted the top portion of it black because in the morning the sun would be blinding me/annoying me through that part of it.
Look at the sort of head on picture with the old mirror sitting on the cowling for refrence you will see that it's not the usual bubble sticking out. Good point though!

Carlo! Thanks! You are right I was debating how I want it to look but then I went with the simplest hug the car style.However one can make it any shape they can dream up. You could go the other way around make it wide and flat with a horizontal crease in the middle etc. I remember the Russian guy who built up the body on that car that was awesome job!

Deathrain:Good question! I forgot to mention how I mounted it! ( I might edit it into the first post later).
The inside surface of the mirror is not covered with Bondo! I covered it with clear tape (sand it first) to seal it before the Bondo job on the rest of the mirror.
So I positioned the mirror on the car door where I wanted it then I used pointy wood screws to go through the original mounting bolt holes and poke through the tape marking the screw locations. Then I marked an X so the center point is in the middle of the X. Then I took a 3/8 drill bit and carved away /drilled into the foam making room for the holes to be filled with hot glue! Once cooled I drilled a smaller pilot hole guided by the X marks of the screw locations.
Now I can turn my screws into something rigid (cured hot glue) and it has enough surface touching the foam inside so if snugged the screws carefully it will not rip this hot glue filler out of the foam. The mirrors only weigh 2 ounces so it will not fall off in normal use for sure.

Barna

[JRMichler]

Originally Posted by 3dplane

It's not even the price of it but more the fact that I would have to go after it to find some.I have never seen it on a shelf next to the polyester resin for example. (or I'm not paying attention to see it).

I've never seen it on the shelf either, except once at a marina store. And they had only the wrong size. I use West System epoxy, and get in the gallon size. With the pumps left on the cans, half used cans can set on the shelf for several years without deteriorating. I used it to seal my topper before painting. I get it mail order from Aircraft Spruce.

[puddleglum]

I like the idea, but I assume there is no adjustment. It must have been quite a job to get them set up right. Elmer's or some other white glue works pretty well to seal the foam as well. I haven't used it with Bondo, but it should work. I've used it with fiberglass resin had had success and I would think that is harsher than bondo.

[3dplane]

Originally Posted by puddleglum

I like the idea, but I assume there is no adjustment. It must have been quite a job to get them set up right. Elmer's or some other white glue works pretty well to seal the foam as well. I haven't used it with Bondo, but it should work. I've used it with fiberglass resin had had success and I would think that is harsher than bondo.

You are right there is no adjustment AND it was a pain to adjust them. The glass is a tight fit in the cavity and I had to use a pick many times to get it out and carve away foam from behind to allow the glass to tilt in the desired direction. To the point where the top of the glass is sitting so deep inside (on pass.side only) that I had to cut away some of the inside lip of the housing so I can actually see the mirror on the top side. I even used a laser pointer lighting up a dot in the bush behind the car so I can verify the spot I want to see in the middle of the mirror when sitting inside. ( it was dark when I had time to do this)

That said now I'm used to the tiny surface and I have caught myself changing lanes in both directions in city traffic relying on the mirrors only. Which I did not think was going to be possible when I first installed them

Barna

[cfg83]

3dplane -

Originally Posted by 3dplane

...

That said now I'm used to the tiny surface and I have caught myself changing lanes in both directions in city traffic relying on the mirrors only. Which I did not think was going to be possible when I first installed them

Barna

Yeah, getting used to the new configuration is part of the battle. I have seen this with rear-view mirrors. If I install a rear-view mirror, even if the mirror is *larger* than the OEM mirror, people get uncomfortable because they aren't *used* to the larger mirror, not because there is something wrong with it.

CarloSW2