New modder in Statesboro, GA
 

Hi everyone,
My name is Clark, I have been lurking and reading for a while, but with a 1.5 mile commute I didn't really have the drive to risk angering the wife unit modifying the car... but I got a new job that requires a LOT of driving (100-120 miles/day mostly highway) and that changes the equation a bit. So: my car is a 1999 Toyota Avalon V6 with 197k miles. It is as-yet unmodified although I now have permission from the wife to tinker with it (I only told her about boattailing the wheels and covering the gaping holes in the stock alloy rims... easier to get permission for little things then get big later). I got my SG in the mail yesterday and it's hooked up and working. I will gather some data today with no mods at all as a baseline.
I am fortunate enough to have experience in my wood shop and in metal and fiberglass fabrication, so I will be building most of my mods in balsa wood and styrofoam, then 'glassing over them and removing the styrofoam. On the early to-do list are: radiator and lower inlet blanking plates, covering the fog lamp cavities, boat-tailing the wheels, radiusing the aft side of the wheelwells, and putting on airdams, at least in front of the front wheels. I need to get a better look at the underbody before I know if underbody panels would help. I want the mods to look reasonably professional, but then with a shop in the back yard, if I don't like the way something looks, I can trash it and make another :) Some stuff will be painted to match, other stuff will probably wind up black (cause who needs a Diamond White Pearl wheel boattail?) Needless to say, this will take some time, but I've got plenty of that (need at least 11 more years of govt employment to retire).
All advice cheerfully accepted, with the proviso that money to change the 6 out for a 4 isn't in the cards. So I will have to work with what I have.

Commute today is the worst-case scenario, apart from driver technique: dirty car, tires at 'whatever pressure' (i.e. not nearly max, actually a little low), excess city driving because I was learning the way to the base hospital. Apart from 2 miles of city on my end, and 3 or 4 on the Ft. Stewart end, it was 34 miles of straight relatively flat back road with a 55mph speed limit. SG says that I averaged 32.1mpg on the way there, and 30.2 on the way back. I was frankly expecting like 24-26 with the V6, so I was ecstatic this morning :) Can't wait to see how much cleaning and waxing does, to say nothing of further mods.

Welcome from another Newbie from Augusta Ga area.

Thanks Tesla! If you need a shop to do work, come on down :) I have a nice wood shop with some metal and fiberglass capabilities.