The Phil Knox fleet - 34 years of aeromodding
 

I talked to Phil on Saturday - I was hoping to meet up with him in Texas this weekend, but unfortunately my trip was cancelled, so it'll have to be another time.

I didn't realize until I read the edmunds.com piece featuring several ecomodders from this forum that he's been doing this stuff for so long!

Anyway, we talked about a bunch of stuff, including many of his vehicles, and I thought it would be interesting to present his "aero fleet" in a single thread. So, with Phil's blessing, here it is:

The first one he aeromodded was his...


'64 VW Karmann Ghia

http://ecomodder.com/imgs/knox/knox-karmann-ghia-s.jpg

• bought to replace a thirsty El Camino with a v8 that could get 18 mpg at best
• the Ghia was purchased wrecked - the previous owner had smacked into the back of a big Caddy, braking on a wet road.
• Phil put the front clip from another Ghia on it, and then started modding it after reading about Car & Driver magazine's Crisis Fighter Pinto
  
• Reshaped the front to mimic a Porsche Carerra
• was good for 41 mpg @ 70 mph

'62 Dodge D-100 pickup

http://ecomodder.com/imgs/knox/knox-1962-dodge-s.jpg

• this was his grandad's truck (still has it!)
• the shape of things to come?

'70 VW bus

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...6&d=1244319471

• link to thread with more details of this project: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...-van-8675.html
• Modding this VW was Phil's thesis project, and he used many of the same techniques NASA did for its van testing:
• full belly pan
• skirts on rear wheels
• 18 inch tapered rear extension

1984 Honda CRX

http://ecomodder.com/imgs/knox/knox-crx-side-s.jpg http://ecomodder.com/imgs/knox/knox-crx-front-s.jpg http://ecomodder.com/imgs/knox/knox-crx-rear-s.jpg

• ultimately, the mod set included: nose, hatchwing, gap-fillers,wheel skirts,wheelcovers,bellypan,and boattail
• 18% improvement in mpg, 36% drag reduction, 9mph improvement in top speed
• Estimated Cd: 0.23
• tested at Bonneville, and systematically at Chrysler Proving Grounds, in Michigan in 1991.
• Still has it! (On guard duty - long story)

'94 Toyota T-100

http://ecomodder.com/imgs/knox/knox-toyota-s.jpg http://ecomodder.com/imgs/knox/knox-toyota-skirts.jpg http://ecomodder.com/imgs/knox/knox-sailboat-hull-s.jpg

• what *hasn't* Phil tried on this famous truck? :)
• @ 75 miles per hour, with aero mods fuel economy improved to 32 miles per gallon from stock 23.3 mpg.

Custom mini hypercar

http://ecomodder.com/imgs/knox/knox-...ar-front-s.jpg http://ecomodder.com/imgs/knox/knox-hypercar-rear-s.jpg

• under construction
• motorcycle based
• VW front end?

Did I get all of them, Phil? :)

Thanks for the inspiration and the education!

More pictures/info on hyper car!!! please :D

I'm really digging the KG!

Phill has been at this for quite some time eh? Kudos!

Very nice work.

Love the CRX and the Ghia

I always loved the look of the KG. An e-KG would be a nice project.

I will second that. That bike/car looks interesting.

Heh, all I could think of is electrocardiogram. An EV conversion on that car could only be called "The EKG Machine" in my eyes. :thumbup:

Hyper car!!! I've wanted to build something like this for 20 years!!!! I might have to now. I always thought it would be best to use a 700cc or larger shaft drive (or belt drive) motorcycle for the rear. But always thought using a Mustang II style front suspension would be better and help to keep a lower profile.

Is that a Goldwing fairing turned upside down on the front of that?

Something I read recently suggests going with a belt or chain drive is better than shaft: you can re-gear a belt/chain drive (via a sprocket swap) more easily to get the engine RPM where you want it.

Having been a rider and almost getting a rider instructor certificate... I was thinking shafty or belt for ease of maintenance only... Power/efficiency losses through a shft drive are higher than a chain or belt drive though. And my original ideas for the three wheeler were more performance oriented, but wouldn't take much to be FE... And I would prefer a 2 seater, side by side. And a chain drive setup could be adapted to allow an electric reverse. Tire choices for the rear could be made a little taller to adjust final drive also, if gearing for what you want wasn't available, or using a shafty.

As for riding, I never really liked the weight transfer when on the throttle with a shafty. Could cause probelms in corners if getting on or off throttle. But shouldn't be a problem for a three wheeler. And using 2 wheels out front would be more stable than VW powered trikes.

That KG is beautiful - the new nose really works well with the rest of the car.

Hypercar: Phil is channelling the ghost of the HM Freeway. Yes, I want one. But I could actually build one with parts around the house.

(thumps forehead)

I think I just found a new hobby.

Looking at Phil’s three wheeler in progress, I looked at some treeware on three wheeled vehicle dynamics.

Some cars (basjoos, the T-100, Prius, Insight) are approaching the point of diminishing returns as far as Cd improvement go. We have to have frontal area reduction. Going with a tandem arrangement can reduce frontal area by 40% easily.

Phil has opted for the 2f1r (two front one rear) tricycle arrangement. This arrangement has a natural tendency to understeer (push). This is preferred for consumer automobiles. Most cars push. It keeps you from spinning them. This is one reason that Ferrari Enzos are such notorious wodowmakers. They are dead neutral – exactly what the professional race driver wants and (coupled with all that power) easily able to get away from the average joe. Also considering the 2f1r arrangement has a tendency to spin (ground loop) this a doubly good thing.

If he is using a motorcycle drivetrain, making a special, wider swingarm would allow him to mount a wide sports car rear tire to give the vehicle resistance to groundlooping.

The 1f2r arrangement tends to oversteer and is vulnerable to the “highside” rollover unless the vehicle can at least partially bank into the corner.

nice fleet Phil. This thread prompted me into scanning in my first modder. the pic taken in '75 of my '73 pinto 1.6L 4spd., air dam, flex fan.

I think so,my senior moments forbid me saying anything in a definite affirmative.There are some more materials on the way in the post.Hope they help! And yes,that is a VW front end.Keeps things simple.Hypercar,as well as everything else on hold until more shop/studio completed.Mother Nature is digesting my projects faster than I can shelter them.The Karmann Ghia is slated for electric conversion.I've cut the roof off it,have another bubble canopy.May have to do a laminated safety glass windscreen to be legal.I only live 6-moles from Denton,so low-tech batteries probably okay for me.I like the "EKG"!

About a month ago,I saw a Pinto at the gas station.Kinda rare! And it had virtually none of the modifications CAR and DRIVER pulled off so very long ago.I thought about saying something to the owner,then decided not to.To think this person had been losing out for so long with this car was unreal.

diesel_john - great pic! Nice to see someone else has been doing this a long time.

That looks like a partial grille block on your Pinto - horizontal strip along the top portion?

Actually the grill is stock, the hood edge turned down over the grill a bit.

Shortly after this pic, my alter ego turbocharged the 1.6 L and total'd it.
KIDS

Not sure about Texas laws and windshields but depending on size/height/mounting regs. you may be able to insert a flat oval glass into a cut out section of the canopy. That's what I've been considering for a similar project. Would hate to do it but it would help maintain much of the canopy's intentions.

Good God, i'm drooling...does Phil Knox happen to have a Website? I'd love to know some of the Specs on these mods-especially that Hypercar! That critter's just BEGGING for an EV twin, with a 5HP continuous motor and a few banks of parallel Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries for two strings of 60 Volts or so...

Phil doesn't have a dedicated site (unless he snuck one in since last time I checked with him). But if you've got questions, just ask - his EM username is "aerohead".

Phil needs to update the T100. I chatted with him last fall and he said he was planning on a trailer design. Today I spotted him on I-35 going south from Gainesville, TX with his newly designed trailer. It looks sweeet

How do i get ahold of phil, I am in texas as well. I am trying to do some aero work to this truck.

I'm here!
 

xx,just now catching your post.
If you'll start a thread on the pickup we can all jump in and help you to death.
If you haven't seen basjoos' AeroCivic you need to.Mike has pretty much set the aero-modding benchmark with his Civic.And everything he's done applies to our trucks.
Also,a good,from the side photo of the p-up taken with a telephoto lense would be helpful.If not that,maybe we can scare up an image to work with.
Your 'drop' is going to help you.You've cut both frontal area and improved the fineness ratio with one stone.

Thanks! I think I did a while ago let me look.

Yup here is the link
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post185506

all?
 

Darin, I think you've captured the meat and potatoes of it. A very late thanks! There were some things I did, and did for friends and neighbors which were never documented. I never thought I'd be sharing, or that there'd be any real interest.
A diffuser recommendation in 1990 helped bag an LSR at Bonneville the next year. The whole thing captured by ESPN. That was rewarding
We've covered the three trailers elsewhere here at EcoModder. I have a 26-foot sailboat hull ear-marked for a gooseneck RV travel trailer.
I think the 'blistered' half-tonneau invention ended up on a thread.
The padded-bra, ideal nose invention is in the photo-albums.
Of your top-notch work on the DARKO video from 2014, I can't thank you enough.
Lots of expertise here at EcoModder. :thumbup:

mini-hypercar
 

Apologize for the very late reply.
The photos probably represent the project as far as the mini will ever get.
Riding the donar bike, a water-cooled, 700cc, Honda Shadow, 57-bhp, shaft-drive, V-twin, in traffic, proved to me the danger posed by automobiles (motorists), and I've no confidence that anyone would be spared. After losing my brother on his Harley-Davidson, it really drove home the challenge it would be to engineer for the nut behind the wheel.
I'll recycle the components best I can, but I just don't see a safe way to experience this type of vehicle.

KG
 

She was a great way into amateur aero. I did all the body, paint, and upholstery, and had built a modified, balanced and aircraft-spec engine for her, but it was stolen from the Lancaster Junior College where I'd constructed it, just before the tin went back on, so I never got to see what that might have done.
There was a whale-tail, 911 Carrera-esgue spoiler which was never photographed. With the 5-speed and taller gearing she might have shown higher mpg. Sold it to an Air Force Captain at Reese AFB, and graduated to a '70 model with 12-volt electrical. Nice to have windshield wipers AND headlights at the same time.:D

e-KG
 

I've seen some nice specimens in Dallas. In the meantime though, used EVs have come to market, with regen, and all the range I'd ever need, for half what I'd pay for the conversion. It's a harder call.:o

Goldwing?
 

I found it in a boneyard in Breckenridge, Texas for $ 25, and the seller wasn't sure of its origin. It is a Vetter, and would have been a straightforward integration onto a composite body shell.Homage to Craig.:)

Pinto
 

It is what Don Sherman of CAR and DRIVER did to a Pinto that got me going down the aero road in March,1974.;)

insert
 

The early 70s HONDA Hawk, Bonneville, LSR motorcycle did this to improve outward forward vision.
I have a few pieces of flat, DOT, laminated safety glass just for this contingency.:)

Bonneville 2012
 

I snapped these two when I bumped into Phil at Bonneville's "World of Speed" event. I was doing an aerodynamics science lesson with my 4th grade daughter, who we were homeschooling that year.

https://ecomodder.com/forum/member-c...ring-world.jpg

https://ecomodder.com/forum/member-c...odded-f150.jpg

BLAST FROM THE PAST!

Makes me wish I have a picture of my Superbeetle parked next to the T-100 (outside the Mexican restaurant at Bonneville Salt Flats). It was an interesting size comparison. They have a similar CdA. :)

http://ecomodder.com/imgs/knox/knox-hypercar-rear-s.jpg

I lost a cousin to a thoughtless cager when I was in high school. But now I'm contemplating an Arcimoto FUV. They have to call the full roll cage an 'upper frame' because lawyers.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...6&d=1244319471

This is important to me. I still can't find the 3/4 rear view of the one with the conduit and canvas box cavity. Randy Grubb's Volkstream:

https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/pb...cff55c92600c66
https://autos.yahoo.com/volkstream-b...204730654.html

Plus, at Permalink #24 is possibly the first time I mentioned Polymetal.

conduit and canvas
 

That was Bob Parson's Subaru-powered Vanagon, Yucatan Peninsula Special.
The photo might be imprisoned at PhotoBucket.
His 1970 Chevrolet C-10's angled, doped-fabric, tonneau cover was constructed identically. Kudos to wife Jacque, who's a master with a gear-drive sewing machine.:thumbup:

Hey Phil, very old thread, but I was wondering about your CRX. What’s the deal with the wing and the C-pillar’s being raised up? Was the super tall rear end for high speed stability?

C-pillars
 

I thought I'd go ahead and morph the C-pillars and trailing edges together, transitioning the tumblehome into a more semi-circular, half-body section with infinite transverse pressure bleed.
In the photo, that rear wing opening is actually 'closed' off with plexiglass. Dead air pools inside, between the flying buttresses and rear 'wing'.
The overhead wing extension forces the air off the roof to follow more of a 'Kamm' contour, sequestering any potential turbulence below it. A captured separation bubble dragged along with the car.
She could pull 100-mph in 5th-gear. Before the mods, 93-mph was the top speed, and that was in 3rd-gear, @ redline. 82-mpg @ 55-mph was the best I ever saw.
https://ecomodder.com/forum/member-a...works-aero.jpg
PS, you can see how I abandoned the Ford Mustang GT-type diffuser opening.

JacobLeSann -- Thanks for asking. I guess I'd never seen this before. It's like a pre-Prius.

It looks like I found this in 2020-09:

https://ecomodder.com/forum/member-f...box-cavity.jpg