Piwoslaw's Peugeot 307sw modding thread

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by jabb

Nice to see some work on your car.
How much will that coroplast cost you (in PLN) and what is it called in PL? Maybe I'll find a shop here in Lodz.

In Polish it is called 'polipropylen kanalikowy', comes in sheets of 1600mm x 2000mm or 2000mm x 3000mm, 3mm to 5mm thick, and costs under 20 PLN.
Here is one company I found: Folplex, and here is one which has a store in Lodz: Tuplex. I haven't been to the store yet, so I can't say how good the material is.

BTW - You've stated that DRL will shave 150-200W energy consumption. As far as I know maximum power for headlight bulbs is 55W each so it's going to be 110W max. You still need position lights. However I think that changing other bulbs for LED replacements will give you some nice gain.

With normal lights the dash board lights are also on (5-8 bulbs with 5-20W per bulb), but I'd like to wire the DRLs to be on only with position lights and no cabin lights. I've already replaced two position bulbs, and two flasher bulbs, with LEDs.

EDIT: As of May 4 (or May 20) 2009, Polish DRL law has been changed to comply with European DRL law, so position lights are no longer required with DRLs. This saves even more watts, and allows for much simpler wiring

[Piwoslaw]

I had some free time this afternoon and decided I would tape the Kardboard Kammback and wheelskirts on while I drove to check out a road for potential testing. So, the sun is shining, I got everything on (used a whole roll of tape to make sure nothing flies off)), I even painted one of the skirts with some old spray paint I found in the depths of the garage, I put the key in the ignition, and... it starts POURING It was short, but intense. A 10 minute downpour (filled and overflowed our 220-liter rainbarrel in under 5 minutes). All I could do was run to the house and take a pic.



What you see in the picture is now called a Sagging Soggyback and a Soggyskirt. Ruined. Totally destroyed. After 10 minutes the sun came out again and I had to pull all of that tape off. Those cardboard templates were supposed to be the stars of next Sunday morning's testing. Now you can squeeze water out of them.

So what's next? I dunno I used up my best double cardboard, I don't have enough time or will to fight traffic from one end of the city to the other just to buy a sheet of coroplast, even if I did I won't have enough time to make new skirts and a Kammy before Sunday morning, next weekend is out of the question. And the forecast is more rain for as far as anyone can tell. It's been raining here for the past two months, have I mentioned that enough times yet?

[Daox]

Dang, sorry to hear about that. Perhaps they can still be used as templates for when you get around to making new ones out of whatever material you decide on.

[i_am_socket]

That sucks. I've had my fill of rain this summer too.

You should be able to use them as rough templates for the next version (possibly of cardboard again for testing?) even thought they no longer have any structural stability.

Try a liquor store or something for empty wine/beer cases. They can be assembled into properly sized pieces with duct tape and doubled up for strength.

[cfg83]

Piwoslaw -

Rats. I agree with i_am_socket, let 'em dry and try to reuse them as a template.

Maybe you could invest in a tent-shade-thingy to keep your test-mods dry. You could always reuse the shade for something else.

CarloSW2

[Piwoslaw]

I threw them into the back of garage, I hope they don't warp too much. Maybe the next batch will be coroplast?
Gee, I could have used the garage, since Dad-in-law took his car to work today, but:
1) Svietlana is so big that she's a pain to get into and out of the garage under the house, so she's only been there twice since we got her,
2) When it started raining, I was on the way out, so the car would have already been outside, anyway.

Eh, a guess it'll have to be coroplast. I'd wouldn't mind fooling around with cardboard, but not with this weather.

Thanx everyone for the kind words, I know "you feel my pain" (to cite an ex-President).

[Piwoslaw]

On Friday I finally decided to get that coroplast. I checked out what the company had to offer, and the 2-3mm thick stuff seemed too flimsy. Unfortunately, the only coroplast that was UV-resistant was the 10mm variety, which is overkill for my Kammback. So, the sheet I got is 5mm thick, which turned out to be stronger than I expected Does anyone know how to protect it against UV? I plan to spray paint it, so maybe 2 layers would be enough protection? (BTW: Is spray paint a good idea with coroplast?). I googled UV-protection foils, but they seem to be more expensive than the coroplast, so I'm not ready to invest into that option.

The 5mm coroplast came in 2m x 3m sheets, so I had to cut it up before putting it in the car. I hope I didn't make the pieces too small to use.

I also got a 1m x 2m sheet of 1mm HIPS, for the wheel discs. And here is my second question: Do I need smooth discs on the rear wheels if I plan to cover them with skirts?

Coming home with the plastic I stopped at a boneyard and bought two central lock motors, for 20PLN/4.50EUR/6.30USD each. That's much better than at a different place that wanted 50PLN per motor. Now, I need to find a way to tap into the fan circuit.

I also stopped at a scrap metal yard looking for aluminum bars to act as reinforcements for the wheel skirts, but they had just gotten rid of everything in the morning Keep looking.

So that's the update, hopefully I'll start working on the Kammy or the grill block today or tomorrow.

[groar]

Hope all this work will permit you to beat your record (63.97 mpg)

Wait, don't beat your record please or you'll beat mine with megane (65.35 mpg) which is 22% lighter than your svietlana (2491 lbs vs 3225) and has 26% better aero (0.31 x 21.4 sq.ft. vs 0.33 x 27.46 sq.ft.)

Denis.

[Piwoslaw]

Aaaah, I didn't notice that. Now I have a new goal, hehehe

Actually, my goal is the same as your's, Denis: 1600km on 1 tank. That once when I had over 60mpg was only half of a tank, so I say it only half counts. My driving technique has given me a 10%-15% increase in FE, and I am hoping the aeromods will give at least another 10% (so I get the "Hypermiler" in my signiture ).

[Daox]

Sounds good Piwoslaw. It also sounds like you got some good mods coming up.