Project: The Anal Probe

[Galane]

Just make sure you have no air leaks in the back that could draw the exhaust inside the car.

[Sven7]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I've asked a friend about it and he said he had his alternator rebuilt locally for $40- the same price for a reman unit. (on a 78 Impala) I'd rather just get a reman or new one to avoid the trouble (since I don't have a car to drive in the mean time). Another friend works at a shop and he's going to get me a deal on one.

I don't have the time to take it apart and replace the brushes or whatever seems to be wrong- I didn't even have time to grease my bicycle's bearings over Thanksgiving weekend. But the car is kind of a priority, as it's the gateway to my social life. :/

I'm not going to point the exhaust back toward the car, even if it is the undercarriage. If nothing else it would just coat everything in black soot. Oh, and there is a ~2" wide drain hole open in the spare tire well.

Edit: Apparently "a blown fuse in the lamp circuit can cause a no charge". Guess I have to check my sockets. They are the expected culprit for the broken left turn signal so... I really f*ing hope that's the answer because it would be two birds with one stone.

[renault_megane_dci]

Originally Posted by Sven7

I'm not going to point the exhaust back toward the car, even if it is the undercarriage. If nothing else it would just coat everything in black soot. Oh, and there is a ~2" wide drain hole open in the spare tire well.

I have been misunderstood.
The pointing is not necessarily very agressive.
Maybe you just google DTM exhaust and you'll get a better (actual) picture of what I am saying.
As for the black smoke, your car being on gas and I assume properly tuned (as in self tuned through its lambda sensor and ECU), I don't think you will get anything like black dust.

Using the exhaust fumes is one of Basjoos mods ...

[johnunit]

Have you considered running a straight pipe (or glasspack muffler) in place of your stock one? It would save some weight, probably some engine efficiency, and would make it MUCH easier to design a rear undertray because of the reduced space. You could probably do it for under 30 bucks for all your parts. I know finding somewhere to do it is a problem, but it might be worth it in the future. In general I think you might be near law of diminishing returns in terms of aero, and the engine might be your next step. What that specific engine benefits from is outside my area of knowledge though.


Otherwise, really great job. I love how full-on you've gone and it looks something bordering on cool with the new paint job.

[Sven7]

I'm not going to do anything to the exhaust or engine just yet. I think the DTM tip things go into the "splitting hairs" category and I'd rather finish up a full belly pan and do a partial boattail. As well as skinny tires.

I might also sell the Probe later and buy a Geo Metro. A baseline MPG higher than my best aero-Probe tank would be a good thing.

Also, the Probe needs a manifold to downpipe gasket before any other exhaust work is done. It's winter too, which makes it very low priority. Sorry, the "project" is kind of at a stand still until it gets like 40+ degrees out. (Except for the alternator- I'll bite the bullet and change the stupid thing)

[deathtrain]

just think to yourself that you are down here... it was in the low 70's today.

[ps2fixer]

Great Read and great workmanship!

You did your mods well, I would be willing to drive a car looking like that, but not the areocivic, just a little too extreme for me .

i am hoping to clone quite a few of your front end and under mods on my 92 Camry with my baseline mpg of around 27 in the warm weather with my "gental normal driving" and hope to hit 40mpg with the addition of driving habbit changes which is a bit of a push since I drive at night a lot, so my mods also include LED lights.

For your running probs, you need some diag tests. Jump start the car, if it starts, the alt is dead (or battery mega crapped out), but if it don't start then I would look elsewhere such as checking for spark, listen for the fuel pump by putting your ear up to the rare piller and having someone cycle the key. You need 3 basic things to make the engine run, spark, compression, and air/fuel mix, pin point what one is failing and you cut out 2/3s the equation.

PS. I'm also located in Michigan, cold as hell tonight (about 7F in mid state was low 30s yesterday)

Also keep the photos comming, loving it.

[a8ksh4]

Awesome thread. I graduate in ~14 weeks, and can't wait to dive into an project like this. I want to do a pop-top style aero-shell for my truck and a reverse trike with a ninja 250 for an ultimate mileage vehicle.

I kind of wish my truck was more of a beater so I could just attach chloroplast with self-tapping screws like you're doing.

[FXSTi]

Sven7,

In keeping with your car naming tradition, if you get a Metro, I vote for it to be named Project Metro Sexual.

Kirk

[Sven7]

Probe lives! I ripped off the air dam, called AAA for a tow up to a friend's house and put in a reman $95 alternator. Used my other friend's deep cycle Optima battery and drove it home. They talked about some mods that I would like to ask you all about. First of all, I need to get a "real" volt gauge instead of this stock one. Then I can wire in an alternator cutoff switch.

They suggested:
Having the alt rewound to 30 or 40 amps to use less power (OG is 70amp)
Wiring in an alt cutoff switch (in the plans, if 10% savings is true)
Hotter NGK spark plugs (JDM Yo!)
Advancing timing a lot and using Premium gas. (Has anyone tried this?)
Lowering the headlights and cutting out the bumper, putting a clear fairing over it (This has already been in the plans)

It was also running really rich in the garage so we might throw an autometer (?) on it to see what's the matter. It's all black magic to me so I'll post when something gets done.

We also got some battery terminals for the wires because the bolts were all stripped out. $4. And I found a can of fluorescent pink spray paint and had a little fun. The air dam and front belly pan are in the cargo area right now and I'll replace em when I get some time. It's supposed to be like 40* today...

Originally Posted by ps2fixer

Great Read and great workmanship!

You did your mods well, I would be willing to drive a car looking like that, but not the areocivic, just a little too extreme for me .

i am hoping to clone quite a few of your front end and under mods on my 92 Camry with my baseline mpg of around 27 in the warm weather with my "gental normal driving" and hope to hit 40mpg with the addition of driving habbit changes which is a bit of a push since I drive at night a lot, so my mods also include LED lights.

For your running probs, you need some diag tests. Jump start the car, if it starts, the alt is dead (or battery mega crapped out), but if it don't start then I would look elsewhere such as checking for spark, listen for the fuel pump by putting your ear up to the rare piller and having someone cycle the key. You need 3 basic things to make the engine run, spark, compression, and air/fuel mix, pin point what one is failing and you cut out 2/3s the equation.

PS. I'm also located in Michigan, cold as hell tonight (about 7F in mid state was low 30s yesterday)

Also keep the photos comming, loving it.

Thanks, be sure to post up some pics of the Camry. I'll have to read the LED headlight thread later on.

Originally Posted by a8ksh4

Awesome thread. I graduate in ~14 weeks, and can't wait to dive into an project like this. I want to do a pop-top style aero-shell for my truck and a reverse trike with a ninja 250 for an ultimate mileage vehicle.

I kind of wish my truck was more of a beater so I could just attach chloroplast with self-tapping screws like you're doing.

The motorcycle project is one I've also wanted to do. Patiently awaiting a build thread!

BTW, the screws are only on the wheel skirts. The rest is just duct tape and zipties.

Originally Posted by FXSTi

Sven7,

In keeping with your car naming tradition, if you get a Metro, I vote for it to be named Project Metro Sexual.

Kirk

Hehehe. I concur. Perhaps I'll have the money to buy a Metro after graduation. A boattail would be hard to resist. AeroMetro, anyone?