Prius 75-91mpg

[Nathan jones]

I did a brief thing of a plan. On the side view I will make the arches a little bigger for 195/55 or 60 tyres, they are 45. And the first picture is the car now and the yellow line maybe a splitter that could be done after. And the line on the rear bumper is a crossmember underneath, that will possibly have to be the apex..

...also maybe the bonnet and bumper could be one piece, the air scoops up from underneath

tiny change, the curve bit where the badge sits, is plastic so will saw it straight and no badge there, its a funny place for a curve, like you would see on a suzuki or something, needs to be linear like the cars ethics

extra edits, the roof channels, bridge and smooth painted white also

[Tahoe_Hybrid]

Originally Posted by elhigh

Removing the rear brakes I can maybe understand, but the fronts? Holy smokes.

I've seen some people deriding ecomodders and hypermilers for unsafe practices, but I've never agreed with any of them until this moment.

I drove for 5,000 miles or so with non working rear brakes it added about 30 to the stopping distance.

[Tahoe_Hybrid]

Originally Posted by Ecky

I agree completely - he's nuts. I have every indication he drives 30-40mph under the speed limit and lives in a rural area where he's unlikely to harm anyone, but even so.

I believe he has also removed his radiator fan, because the 1.0L is so unloaded it generally doesn't ever get up to temperature, even with a full grille block and hot air intake. Can't recall if he swapped his glass for lexan or not.

I drive 15mph under the limit I can get way better MPG in selected routes

60 -> 45 technically that is the minimum speed in California so i'm not breaking the law

that is why i put a but plug on my hitch to discourage tailgaters it's going to rip a huge hole in your front end of your car.

at 45MPH it reads on the display 41MPG
no brainier better then 26-29mpg at 50-70mph. (way less if there is a head wind)

if there is a tail wind i'll go the regular speed as it will read 50-60MPG on the gas meter display in 4 cylinder mode (even like a slow 7mph tail wind breaks the rear tail drag)

[Nathan jones]

Yes there are more variables and latent energy the reason its not 8x but half the speed is 4x less fuel. Anyway I've decided to make also the rear hatch entirely from scratch gf, it needs to be a different shape, also the rear wheel covers will be rectangular and stick out an inch but be smoothed pretty cool, also front wings from cf but will be seperate to the bonnet. the splitter will just be for show as the air will go a different way. all surfaces need to be as shiny as hell. Aluminium underneath, rear door sections may be 3mm plywood or cf, not sure yet

All my brakes work, maybe someone read stuff wrong. Stops quicker than any car I've had

....also I was going to level off the bonnet, it has a point in the middle, despite the flat windscreen maybe the air pressure split by it joins the dips in the roof, not sure, any shapes do add surface area. I may keep the point and run the entrance angle down the same, a little further forward and pointy than the picture. All adds mpg at the expense of mid speed handling

also will try 195/50 soft compound track tyres on the front, at 28psi should be just right when warm. The 185's can stay on the back, they've never slipped out

It will go for new drop links, a arms and suspension parts, maybe radiator. A 102mpg, 0-60 in 7.2 £10 a year road tax car thats only had a road spring in 5 years deserves more

Oh engine oil and 3 gearbox oil changes

n.b the road spring was broke when I bought the car

[Nathan jones]

The final consideration was a leaf. But the prius is cheaper to run, if the 1500kg (doesn't even have an ice) leaf was hollowed out would be close (range +30%) but the prius is still best. At present my landlord pays the electric but I may soon move..if a leaf with a .26 or lower cd comes out for 2k I will consider it, they're all so **** really, god knows how they sell that trash, like a bunch of old guys just wing it and a bunch of goofier old guys buy what theyr'e told. Still they give me cheap cars and pay my taxes, small mercies I suppose, sweet dreams ecodudes

[Nathan jones]

It's not eco related, except in small tyre weight offset but the 0-60 today was 6.8 so the 7.2 would be a good estimate for 55 profile tyres. The battery was about 80-90%

Anyway added some photos, I decided to split the air to the lower dam so openings will be made in the bumper, from the nose down looking from above the air goes to the sides and there will be a modest splitter. The bumper edges just giving the car overall shape.

With the rear, it will have the large diffuser same as the white car but yellow areas show the floor extending to the rear. The venturi is just fake, contemporary

I have reopened the upper cooling slot so air is pulled through and down maybe 1.5 inch by 15 or something

One more thing, decided on 195/50. I use the tools online below, they are good

[Nathan jones]

Hey guys just update, the prius last day out before surgery and temporary replacement . Also the roof will be wood and the drivers door kevlar/glass

[Nathan jones]

hi guys, have been trying resin infusion..not so easy but have two days to improve the process...have recieved lots of glass and ordered kevlar cloth for the drivers door. I plan to have as much carbon at the front as possible, glass in the centre and rear and move the fuel tank to the boot, may get 45/55 weight at best...

also some aluminium parts I replace with 40% reduction in weight (resin & cloth) or from what I can calculate (30% for glass)

and nobody will make driveshafts although with prepreg it may not be that difficult..nah..

[Nathan jones]

Does anyone know if I weigh a suspension arm and use 45% weight of carbon/resin it will be ok? Bearing in mind 30% is safe

...I will do 40, the car is light anyway..

photo, flat floor supports

[M_a_t_t]

Are you reinforcing a metal (steel?) skeleton for the reduced weight or just resin and carbon fibre?

I don't know the characteristics of carbon fibre, but I would atleast compare the compression and tensile strengths of the materials.

Theoretically you could reverse engineer the control arm to get the total resistance to deflect/bend in up/down and forward/back. The design of the control arm will reflect the characteristics of the material.

Then you could use the numbers for carbon fibre (and reduction % if you think safe to do so) to design the replacement.

The weight will depend on where the resin/fibre is. I don't think that a weight number is enough information to give any kind of reasonable answer. E.g. if you made a flat plate that weighed 50% the control arm it would probably snap. I doubt that a 1/4" carbon fibre plate will support the car. So redistributing the weight so that more of it is vertical will increase strength in the up/down direction