Project "Save the Flea!" Winter beater: 2007 Civic 1.8L, 5-speed

[ScottDR]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

I received a PM asking about the air dam:

Some photos... pardon the road salt mess. (MAN, that's a lot of road salt mess! No wonder our cars fall apart after 2 years in southern Ontario winters.)

I put the airdam on "loop side" up, and screwed through the loop into the extreme upper portion of the small factory rubber air dam. Probably more than every 4".

3.5" of clearance. It scrapes regularly on dips & driveways, but I haven't "hit" anything with it yet.

Screws... clearly not stainless...

To keep the lawn edging from being pushed back by air pressure, I braced it using short sections of lawn edging. There's enough give in them that if the air dam hit something, they would slide down as the airdam came backward.

Thank you for showing your work! That bracing in the center is ingenious. Self correcting, if you will. Awesome.

Thank you again!!!

[MetroMPG]

Another weekend, another couple of panels...



That top center panel is coroplast - it'll be removable. There's a coroplast "framework" underneath it.



One more side panel to go, then trim up the bottom panel where it meets the bumper.

Next photo (next weekend?) will be outside the garage, so we'll get our first look at the entire car+tail in one photo! Goal = tuft testing video.

It's been parked for ~5 weeks. Proving I guess I really don't need a car.

[BrandonMods]

Looks great! subscribed

[benphyr]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Another weekend, another couple of panels...

...It's been parked for ~5 weeks. Proving I guess I really don't need a car.

Since you don't need a car but love to make these awesome modifications I think you are waiting for someone to suggest the following:

Save yourself some dough by not buying a car each winter; but you love to mod, so instead mod a car belonging to someone like-minded who does not have the time or energy to do it themselves.

A win-win situation:
win for you - no need to buy winter car
win for other eco-conscious person - cheap/free mods that they otherwise would not get around to
win for environment - less gasoline burned by newly mod-ed car

I wouldn't know who anyone who would appreciate that kind of service... -nudge, nudge.

[pgfpro]

Nice work Metro!!!

You are defiantly getting the boat tail mods down to a perfection

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by benphyr

I think you are waiting for someone to suggest the following
...
I wouldn't know who anyone who would appreciate that kind of service... -nudge, nudge.

HA. You overlook the enormous fly in that ointment: I take FREAKING FOREVER to get things done! Otherwise a perfect idea if said person (wanting custom cardboard aeromods) is willing to part with their vehicle for a couple of months while I putter away on it.

[MetroMPG]

Free of the garage, that is!









It was finally rigid enough to put on the car and drive it over to the house, where I'm going to finish it in the basement. Why? Consistently warmer and being closer at hand = it'll get finished sooner than later.

Lots of finishing work to do!

[MetroMPG]

Whoops! Things get a bit too "fast" at the very end. Maybe I'll fix it with a little spoiler. Because racecar!

This is the closest-to-template project I've ever done. In the past I've usually just eyeballed it.

I'm eager to get this done and try it out. I was tempted to do a highway run, but bare cardboard & sloppy, slushy roads aren't a good recipe for structural integrity.

[Daox]

Woo, lookin good!

How do you go about attaching the plastic to the cardboard?

[ScottDR]

I agree with the others, looking great! Can't wait for some testing!