Project: The AeroFocus

[MetroMPG]

Agreed - you're admirably brave for a teenager! I seem to remember everyone (self included) being overly preoccupied with what everyone else might think at that age.

Question: you don't have a fuel log here (doesn't mean you don't keep records). How are you going to be able to determine the tail's effect on MPG? Of course, if it's close to "the template", we know it'll be an improvement regardless.

[Big Dave]

Keep up the good work.

It looks like you've rediscovered the 1964 Shelby Daytona coupe rear end. It was an outstanding design, allowing the Shelby Daytona to achieve higher top end speed on the Mulsanne straight at Le Man with a carbureted 289 than the 427 powered Fort GT or the competing Ferrari.

I say if you find a good horse, ride it.

[HydroJim]

WD40- Thank you very much

MetroMPG- I actually just started driving recently. I can pretty much bike anywhere I need to go so i havent used much fuel. You're probably wondering why I have a car and did these mods? My mom is going back to school for nursing and she's going to be busy all the time, so I got the car pretty much for baseball and fun. I go out of town a lot for baseball so I figured it wouldn't hurt to save some money going there.

With my estimated miles per year of $2,500, it'll take me 2 years to pay for all my mods. Which isn't too bad with such low mileage. Most of all, the project was a lot of fun. Not necessarily "worth-it" in my case, but I'll know how to do it to my commuter car when I'm older

Big Dave- I can definitely see the similarities between the shelby and my car. I just wish I had all that horsepower...

The moment you have all been waiting for:






There are still many hours ahead of me finishing, sealing, and painting the tail, but for now, I consider the project mostly complete. I can't wait to take it for a test drive as soon as I figure out a way to seal the boat tail to the car.

[Weather Spotter]

As for how i attached the foam. I used the pre glued stuff so that tool care of one side, the other I used caulk and epoxy to attach it to the car.

In your case I would try hot melt glue (glue gun) it will stick to the plastic and the foam yet be removable if needed.

from the pics it looks like you got some wrinkles in the coroplast, how much tension is on those?

How is the rear view out the back?

[Daox]

Hot glue may melt in direct sun.

[Weather Spotter]

so only use it on the inside. use caulk on the out side.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by HydroJim

I can't wait to take it for a test drive as soon as I figure out a way to seal the boat tail to the car.

You can't really seal it if you want to be able to open the hatch.

Duct tape would do it, temporarily, but the hatch would be shut.

* Make a shallow wedge, just a little bit taller than the spacing between the car's body and the boattail, and tightly stick it onto the car body , directly in front of the gap.

* Rubber seal around the front end of the boattail, if you can find something suitable that closes the gap.

[Cd]

[IMG][/IMG]Great job ! ( and so quickly too ! )

Looking more and more like the Daytona :

[HydroJim]

weather spotter- If my first idea doesn't work I'll probably have to end up going your route. I may also eventually drop my goal of having hatch functionality because this thing is HEAVY and I don't think it's going to be easy to seal this gap and allow the hatch to be open and closed. As far as the wrinkles in the coroplast goes, I'm not really sure what the negative of having those is besides appearance?

euromodder-I may have to take a trip up to the autoparts store and see what the have, but in some places where the body panels switch over, the gap becomes as 1" high so it's very hard to find something that will work.

Cd- I may have the add a daytona type spoiler to get the last 12 inches of my boat tail to line up with the template. I'll see what tuft testing tells me, but for now I'm not worried about it.

Here is a photo of the process I'm using to seal the gap. The metal part is 3 inch wide 26 gauge galvanized steel that is bent at a angle so the the leading edge touches the body of the car. Then, I added 1/4" rubberized foam weatherstrip to protect the car's body and allow the metal to make better contact with curving body panels. There are still some gaps, so I'm hoping my metal pieces don't become huge metal air flaps when I get up to highway speeds.


Here is a photo of the process I'm using the seal the gaps between coroplast panels. On the left is what the seam used to look like. On the right is what it looks like after I'm done. The finish should be better after I paint the tail. The technique is being called "heat gun viola"

Steps:
1. Prepare "Heat Gun"
2. Power on Heat gun and point at seam.
3. As coroplast begins to flex, bubble up, and melt pull heat gun away
4. As soon as possible, press a flat sheet of metal against the seam.
5. Let cool and...
6. "Viola!" a smooth water tight seam.



Oh, I also checked out my tail lights for the first time at night. All I can say is WOW! I'm sorry for whoever pulls up behind me because these are BRIGHT. I may add lights on the mirrors because from behind I appear narrower than I actually am.

Tail lights in action. I have the blinkers flashing for effect

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRGpBhf5k5Y

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by HydroJim

I may add lights on the mirrors because from behind I appear narrower than I actually am.

This is a good idea. Also, because the lights are closer together than normal, a following driver may also think you're further away than you really are. Mirror mounted lights will help address this. (Basjoos' Aerocivic was struck from behind on the highway once at night, if I recall.)