Rear Wheel Skirt using water heater drain pan

[Christ]

Originally Posted by cfg83

Christ -

Thanks. For my wheel cover fastneres, I think am close to what you are describing. I am going in the direction of T-Nuts on the inside of the faux plastic lug nuts :



I haven't posted it yet because I have been underwater with other @#$&@#* distractions.

CarloSW2

Exactly that picture. You can find them at hardware stores all over. I usually salvage them from old/worn/unable-to-be-saved furniture. Takes a screwdriver and a bit of patience, but they're pretty easy to remove.

[alohaspirit]

Originally Posted by cfg83

Hello -

Ok, I took my own advice and started a v2.0 wheel skirt. The problem was, the v1.0 skirts took maybe 15 minutes to take off but then it took at least an HOUR to put them on. This discouraged me because I would take them off before taking the car for service and then *leave* them off because it was too exhausting to reinstall them (mee lay-zee).

Now, I already had this idea of turning the outside of the skirt into a flush "trim piece" with holes :



I made a cover piece like this :



I used plastic pop-rivets, but I was fearful that they might hit the tire if I went over a pothole or something. Therefore I trimmed some of the rivets and used a plastic washer to reinforce them :



To demonstrate how little they stick in, I did this demo reverse-mount :



Once it is installed it looks like this :



The number of rivets is not symmetric. The forward leading edge has two extra rivets to keep the wind from sneaking in and trying to open up the skirt.

Now, there was a problem that I predicted but didn't see for maybe two weeks. One morning on the freeway I heard a loud *BAM* like a rock had bounced up under my car or something. Once I was at my destination I realized that one of the wheel cover bolts had hit the skirt. Here is a view of the inside of the skirt :



The good news is that :

1 - The skirt was barely damaged, it looks normal on the outside.
2 - The wheel cover did not fail. It does have a 2" crack near one of the bolts, but it's otherwise fine. So fine, in fact, that I have left it on.

This makes me happy because the system "failed gracefully". It has also motivated me to look for a more flush wheel cover bolt system. This is the direction I am going :



And here is another comparison showing the old sticky-outy bolts and the new flush bolts + the skirt :



In addition, my cohort and I will be working on a trim piece to keep the lower edge of the skirt from *ever* doing this again.

I will publish the new wheel cover bolt installation system in another thread, but me too tired.

Here is the current look :



CarloSW2

Originally Posted by cfg83

NachtRitter -



Yes, I retired v1.0 and bought two new pans. There is a 1" overlap of the pans. There is a little "belly button" of plastic at the dead center of the drain pan where I think the plastic was injected. My friend made that the center point and we nailed it down onto a board. Then we ran each pan through his band saw by turning it around that center point. That was the key to cutting it accurately. Otherwise it would have been agony to cut by hand.

I had pictures of the process, but I can't find them right now. Here is the picture of the overlapping pieces before I made the holes :

Apart :


Overlapping :


Also, I didn't have to retire v1.0. I could have just cut it and used it as the trim piece that you see. However, then the circular cut would have been more problematic (allthough still doable). Also, the covering doesn't have to be plastic, it could be metal. The trim piece is just the "base".

CarloSW2

this is great information

i hope to something similiar but i dont have a band saw

[BamZipPow]

Originally Posted by alohaspirit

this is great information

i hope to something similiar but i dont have a band saw

Then you need to be creative...

You could set up a center point (nail) and use a strip of wood with a hole at one end and a blade set into the other end. Set the pan onto the nail and place the wood strip over the nail withe the blade towards the pan. Make multiple passes to make a clean cut. Take yer time...yer not in a race.

[NachtRitter]

Originally Posted by BamZipPow

Then you need to be creative...

You could set up a center point (nail) and use a strip of wood with a hole at one end and a blade set into the other end. Set the pan onto the nail and place the wood strip over the nail withe the blade towards the pan. Make multiple passes to make a clean cut. Take yer time...yer not in a race.

Pretty much what I did... Put a nail in the center, tied a string to the nail, then tied the other end of the string to a dremel tool... wasn't perfect but worked reasonably well.

[Gone2]

Originally Posted by cfg83

Hello -

Ok, I took my own advice and started a v2.0 wheel skirt. The problem was, the v1.0 skirts took maybe 15 minutes to take off but then it took at least an HOUR to put them on. This discouraged me because I would take them off before taking the car for service and then *leave* them off because it was too exhausting to reinstall them (mee lay-zee).

Now, I already had this idea of turning the outside of the skirt into a flush "trim piece" with holes :



I made a cover piece like this :



I used plastic pop-rivets, but I was fearful that they might hit the tire if I went over a pothole or something. Therefore I trimmed some of the rivets and used a plastic washer to reinforce them :



To demonstrate how little they stick in, I did this demo reverse-mount :



Once it is installed it looks like this :



The number of rivets is not symmetric. The forward leading edge has two extra rivets to keep the wind from sneaking in and trying to open up the skirt.

Now, there was a problem that I predicted but didn't see for maybe two weeks. One morning on the freeway I heard a loud *BAM* like a rock had bounced up under my car or something. Once I was at my destination I realized that one of the wheel cover bolts had hit the skirt. Here is a view of the inside of the skirt :



The good news is that :

1 - The skirt was barely damaged, it looks normal on the outside.
2 - The wheel cover did not fail. It does have a 2" crack near one of the bolts, but it's otherwise fine. So fine, in fact, that I have left it on.

This makes me happy because the system "failed gracefully". It has also motivated me to look for a more flush wheel cover bolt system. This is the direction I am going :



And here is another comparison showing the old sticky-outy bolts and the new flush bolts + the skirt :



In addition, my cohort and I will be working on a trim piece to keep the lower edge of the skirt from *ever* doing this again.

I will publish the new wheel cover bolt installation system in another thread, but me too tired.

Here is the current look :



CarloSW2

Can anyone tell me what these wheel covers are made of and how they are mounted. They look absolutely wicked, not to steal someone's idea, but mimicry is the sincerest form of flattery.

[cfg83]

Sentraguy -

Originally Posted by Sentraguy

Can anyone tell me what these wheel covers are made of and how they are mounted. They look absolutely wicked, not to steal someone's idea, but mimicry is the sincerest form of flattery.

No, the goal is to copy and *improve* on each other's designs. Here is the thread :

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...isk-11838.html

The plastic was too brittle, so I moved on to pizza pans, but the mounting system was perfected and stayed the same. Zero failures in two years (knock on virtual wood).

CarloSW2