Project: The Anal Probe
 

I no longer own this car. Here is how far it came... at its peak!

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8044/8...8079b181_z.jpg
New Air Dam by Tyler Linner, on Flickr

http://ecomodder.com/forum/emgarage....vehicleid=5394

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Below are bookmarks to other parts of the thread to save everyone the trouble of scrolling page after page. Enjoy.

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QUICK LINKS:
Front belly pan v1
Front belly pan v1.1

Grille blocks, front wheel flares v1, smooth wheel covers
Tuft testing flares and skirts
Front wheel flares v1.1

Front wheel strakes, rear wheel skirts
Rear belly pan v1.1

Paint job, driver side
Paint job, pass. side
Paint job, pass. side (more)

Boat tail computer model
Rear box cavity (pseudo-boat tail)

Boat tail construction (Pages 47-55)
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I picked up a 1992 Ford Probe GL 12V 5spd yesterday for $cheap. It's going to be my winter car to keep the '81 VW Rabbit convertible (best: 35mpg) and 65 Ford F100 (best: 15mpg) out of the salt.

I'm planning to do some cheap body mods such as an air dam and rear skirts, and practice driving better. I bought the car from my friend Cullen whose mom was driving it getting 26mpg when it was supposed to get 28mpg. This is a woman who exceeded the EPA rated mileage in her 90s Durango. Cullen thinks it's getting bad mileage because of a broken O2 sensor wire.

EPA ratings for this car are 21/28mpg. I'm shooting for 40mpg with the aero mods and some conservative driving.

Anyway here are some pictures when I brought it home.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6131/...21bc5b8f_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6079/...91809512_z.jpg

First mods:

Removed side mirrors and covered the holes with duct and electrical tape

The rear tires were higher profile so i switched them to the front and the short tires to the rear.

Debadged it and wrote "MUSTANG!" on the rear hatch.

Took off the front plate and put it in the windshield

Spliced the O2 wire back together

Also cleaned the thing out. I got a box full of trash out of it and found $2.07 in change.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6191/...0b3a9830_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6147/...1813509a_z.jpg

lol
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6088/...20e7869e_z.jpg

Getting the thing put on insurance tomorrow so I'll be able to drive it around a little more.

I have a few questions for the wise, though. :thumbup:

What kind of plastic sheet should I use for the air dam and wheel skirts? My school store sells urethane (?) sheets, and they're pretty good for vacuum forming and other model making. Will these work okay, and what thickness do people usually use?

How much improvement do people usually see from mooneye wheel covers?

Anyway, I'm looking forward to bringing the aero era back!

Cheers :D

...your avatar picture looks more like a SAAB than a Ford?!?!

It is a SAAB 96 V4 rally car ;) I'm a big rally and motorsports fan!

If you want better mpg, you should re-badge as "Geo Metro" or "Smart for 5. That will get you at least 5 mpg improvement since you wont feel the need to show of "Mustang-like" performance! Most of us use 4mm Chloroplast that goes for $15 to $20 for a 4 x 8' sheet for mods. If you box off the wheel wells and install a belly pan you will significantly cut salt rust damage and reduce drag at the same time! A belly pan take a lot of material so low cost and low weight are critical.

Most states you will get a ticket for having a covering over your license plate or for not having it mounted to the front of the vehicle, most states also require two rear view mirrors so while removing the passenger mirror is ok removing the drivers side is unsafe and can also lead to a ticket.
For my grill block I used a thin sheet of nylon, it was about 1/4" thick and is a bit heavy but is really sturdy, it's flat black so it blends in and ends up looking like a stock part, but coroplast is cheap and light, draw back to it is that I have not heard of a glue that will stuck to it yet so you are left sewing it on with zip ties, wire or screwing it on.
Most people would start with a tune up of their new vehicle, fluid changes all around, jack up each wheel to check for bearing play and drag, look at the tires for signs of uneven wear.
As for moon disks, do a quick search on here and you will see that people find them worth the cost, otherwise if you have more time then money pizza pans or again, coroplast.

Thanks for the comments guys!

If you've got a Tatraplan badge lying around I'd totally put it on! :thumbup:

Coroplast looks like a good solution- I'll have to go search for some at Menard's or something. I was thinking of a belly pan too- maybe a little down the line. I'm not worried about salt damage on this POS car (it already has two holes in the pass. door), but the drag reduction would be great!

Yes, the plate thing is illegal but I got away with that for a few weeks like that in my Rabbit. If I get pulled over I'll just say when I bought the car it didn't have a license plate mount. :D

As for the mirror, MN statute 169.70 states that vehicles must have a rear view mirror, but not that it has to be on the exterior of the vehicle. The one on the inside of the windshield hasn't fallen off yet so I'm golden! :thumbup: Also, I always look over my shoulder anyway because I don't trust the mirrors.

The air dam will probably be zip tied on, and I'll search for the wheel cover stuff. I bought it from a friend who I trust for mechanical stuff (hes restoring a VW Rabbit Pickup at the moment) and I know he kept it in relatively good shape, disclosed janky ****, etc. The rear wheel bearings seem to be good, but I haven't checked the fronts.

Also, I won a $180 lifetime alignment at the car show yesterday so this Probe will be getting all straightened out asap! :)

Edit: Here's a Photoshop from a few weeks back, previewing some mods.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6001/...7deb69a0_o.jpg

It looks very EV1 in that set up!

Mod #1: Get those retractable head lights to retract. You will gain significant MPGs.

Congrats! See if you can get them to do a zero-degree toe front alignment.

fyi - http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ent-17893.html

Also, a partial grille block should be up there on your list of really quick, effective aeromods.

+1 on getting those headlights down. I had an '89 Accord with pop-ups, and you could hear/feel the turbulence when they were deployed vs. hidden.

Welcome to the site & have fun with the project!

I try to emulate the best! ;)

Actually it looks like the rear window is already an ideal 15* slope, so no boat tail for me!

I looked into it. A new motor is $113 from Rock Auto. I'm not about to go junkyard scavenging for a 20 year old motor either. It'll probably stay like this unless I sell my Porsche wheels :p

(FS: professionally painted black 15x6 Cookie Cutters, $200! Porsche 944 fitment)

Set up the alignment appt for tomorrow morning. Will do the 0*- good idea!

Today I made a partial belly pan that goes back to the front of the front arches. Also made two grille blocks. Will post pics after dinner!

I'm really amazed at how little wind noise there was coasting in neutral at 65mph. Just a little buffeting on the B Pillar for some reason. :confused: Tried out a little EOC and stuff today. Fun fun!

Oh, and I sanded a bit and painted the rusty spots. You almost can't tell!

Cheers Tyler