I think its time to start my aero journey!

[pumafeet10]

My project vehicle is my DD, its a 2000 Honda Civic CX, not much to look at right now but hopefully I can put my crazy ideas to work!

I have been hypermiling for about 2 years and have gotten some decent results

Right now i am averaging about 66 mpg with a mix of city and highway driving.

I have been using any and all techniques to get my mileage as high as possible, including eoc'ing, p & g, 70psi in my tires, removed side mirrors, carbon hood, complete upper and lower grille block, interior rear of front seats removed and all rear sound deadening and spare removed

The car is pretty bare bones with no ac or ps, so as we all know this is really the perfect car to Hypermile!

The car is cosmetically kind of rough so I thought what better thing to do then make it more aero at the same time.

A couple years ago i bought a Cwest fromt bumper off of ebay, thought at the time the jdm thing would be really cool man, dur well i got it for a good deal and realized if was fiberglass and that I could modify it to close off all of the openings.

Well after that I thought if just closing all of the openings would be best for aero or should i completely redo the shape, this was after looking at basjoos civic thinking the bumper needs to be more pointed, like this > .

here is what the bumper looks like:


Then as look would have it a few months ago a bolt on my front lower control arm decided to snap and that made my wheel and tire push into my fender and dent that pretty well, so I thought I will just replace that and use my cwest bumper.

BUT here is where is had the other idea of using a one piece front end came in.

The carbon hood I have has a chipped corner, doesn't fit worth a darn, has messed up gel coat and one of the fasteners for the hinge is stripped. So i thought well my bumper is messed up from the previous owner, the grille block and a really poor repaint that was done previously.

So with a bad bumper, fender and hood I went looking on honda-tech to see if any drag racing guys might have a front end for sale and I found one.

Here is a pic of the front end, but im not sure if aerodynamically it is the best shape or not.


The one thing about using the one piece front end is I would also most likely be able to make wheel skirts pretty easily, and drop alot of weight at the same time.

I guess im wondering what is the best shape for the front end is, or really what solution should i go with to lower my cd as much as possible?

Thanks

David

[SVOboy]

You can go for the one piece front end, but you'll need to hack it up for lights and such.

I would focus first on a boat tail before overhauling the front end, personally, but that's just me

[pumafeet10]

see thats something i would love to do, but really not sure where to even start with this and make it look seemless.

The front end seems to be a bit easier, unless you have some secret on how to make the boattail or kammback thinga ma jig

[SVOboy]

Well, there's a few on here! You could use the stock wing mounting points to make the kammback, or a rear bike rack to build a boat tail on...Or just weld it on!

[pumafeet10]

i have been trying to think of a way to make that work and still look atleast somewhat reasonable but i still can't wrap my head around it

[SVOboy]

Welding and painting can result in a very professional-looking job, though difficult

[pumafeet10]

if i could make some kind of system i could latch on then i would be game, but then again that picture of the maroon prius that was on the homepage before would be my ideal situation!

[SVOboy]

It can be done if you're willing to apply yourself

[aerohead]

IMO,I'd recommend you read through the entire seminar series and mod/data series.There's enough empirical data contained there that you should be able to build your car on paper and know the results before you spend anything.

[pumafeet10]

I had actually read the papers quite a while ago without this vision that I have today.

I can say that from reading it seems that there are a few ways that i was thinking.

After reading the info about nascars that their front ends and bodies are shaped more like the second picture i posted, the one piece front end.

That would cause most of the air to go over the car instead of under it, also very much like bonneville cars where the air seems to go around and over the cars.

But i keep thinking that making the front > shaped would be best but still unsure!