Receiver-hitch boat tail

[aerohead]

GM's Aero 2000 'Epcot' car had an active rear valance/diffuser.In the video at Epcot Center,in the GM exhibit,you can see the rear panel lower to a more favorable angle when on the highway.
GM's the only company to my knowledge to do it so far.
It's worth knowing,as you get your 'RUBICON' drivabilty,and also some slick open road performance.
Here's a link
1982 GM Aero 2000 Concept Boldride.com - Pictures, Wallpapers

[chillsworld]

Thanks for the link, that's awesome! Think how many folks could utilize that on SUV's and trucks that wander off the beaten path on the regular! Or for cars that encounter steep drive ways for that matter.

Quick question, on your design for the hitch mount... How did you secure it to the rear of the vehicle? Or did you simply intend to design it's footprint slightly smaller than the back of the vehicle so that air would "jump" any gap between vehicle and structure?

~C

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by chillsworld

Thanks for the link, that's awesome! Think how many folks could utilize that on SUV's and trucks that wander off the beaten path on the regular! Or for cars that encounter steep drive ways for that matter.

Quick question, on your design for the hitch mount... How did you secure it to the rear of the vehicle? Or did you simply intend to design it's footprint slightly smaller than the back of the vehicle so that air would "jump" any gap between vehicle and structure?

~C

The premise of the design is that it integrates directly to the host vehicle as if it were an OEM organic extension.There's no gap.
The receiver carries the vertical load in cantilever,checks vertical displacement, while upper tension straps inhibit any longitudinal movement or 'roll.'
The tail on my CRX was built on the car and fit like a glove.It would be the same for SUVs,just a larger structure.

[freebeard]

My parents used to silk-screen magnetic stick-on car door signs. Cut sheets of the blank material into strips and use flush rivets to attach to the boattail. With some marginal grip around the whole perimeter it would help affix the tail to the vehicle. There might be ~1/8" step at the edge, a router should be able to chamfer that.

It might be tedious to peel and tape back each piece to release the -tail, but why would you want to do that?

[serialk11r]

So this is an old thread but I am probably getting a Honda CR-V or something like that and the thought struck me:

A typical hitch rack can be surrounded with a box to make it a detached box cavity/spoiler-like object that doesn't require any body modification.

Furthermore, you can add the straps that come with trunk mount bike racks as anchors for a plastic sheet spoiler extension from the roof.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by serialk11r

So this is an old thread but I am probably getting a Honda CR-V or something like that and the thought struck me:

A typical hitch rack can be surrounded with a box to make it a detached box cavity/spoiler-like object that doesn't require any body modification.

Furthermore, you can add the straps that come with trunk mount bike racks as anchors for a plastic sheet spoiler extension from the roof.

The new tail for SPIRIT mounts to a C-frame, which itself pivots from a JEEP Wrangler-esque bumper-mount spare-tire, swing-away fixture.
I used clamps from 50-caliber ammo boxes to snug the tail to the rear.
Once released, the whole tail swings away, and to the passenger side curb, exposing the storage 'trunk,' as some cargo aircraft do.
I believe that it will be relatively painless to live with on the road.
Since the shell is all compound curves, it's extremely thin for it's strength. Triple-biased, pre-preg, carbon -fiber epoxy, vacuum-bagged in an autoclave, as we did at ABARIS, would render a tail of just a few pounds all-up weight; as a commercial unit.
If vehicle aft-body architecture were rationalized among weight classes, you wouldn't need to own one. You could just lease one for holiday vacation, at the edge of town, and return it when you return home from the road trip. Let the things work 52-weeks out of each year.
Okay, brain-vomit ends now.

[freebeard]

The new tail for SPIRIT mounts to a C-frame, which itself pivots from a JEEP Wrangler-esque bumper-mount spare-tire, swing-away fixture.
I used clamps from 50-caliber ammo boxes to snug the tail to the rear.

Pics or it didn't happen.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Pics or it didn't happen.

I photo-documented the build up to where I got to in 2017. They're on a memory stick.
I'll need to be tutored on how to post them. COVID closed off all access to learning. I'd been totally reliant on Photo-Bucket. What a disaster that became!

[freebeard]

Pics or it didn't happen.

I'm one to talk, I don't even have a functional camera.

You need to conjoin the memory stick and the Ecomodder website. Details vary.

....on some kind of computer, if you can see the [presumably USB] device on the desktop and have an open browser you're almost there.

Then you just go to an album under your Profile and Upload.

Tell us how it works out.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by freebeard

==> Lake Oswego, OR

Did this ever progress beyond a rendering? Did you intend for it to expand and collapse, or is it more of a 'bodykit' for the commercial item?



Split tailgate.

Each side could swing open into a storage locker, with depth equal to half the tailgate width and a width equal to the length of the boattail.

Only now, with AeroStealth's Chevy BOLT, do I have access to a 'SUV' as a candidate. We've run some numbers.
The BOLT's belly is like the IONIQ hybrid. It must have rear skirts, must be paneled in, with the addition of a diffuser.
He'll get a receiver hitch installed and wired then.
When the all-aluminum cargo carrier at Harbor Freight goes on sale, we'll snag one. And begin.
John's already seen over 300-miles on a charge, bone stock.