Scion xA aero mods

[miket]

You cant get stereo depth perception from a 2D screen, at least not without those special goggles, screen and cameras. Mirrors have an advantage of reflecting the 3D image, at least if you can see the mirror with both eyes. Also I imagine people with bad near vision could have issues because instead of focusing on far away objects, or far object apearing slightly closer than they really are if the mirror is apsheric, they have to instead focus really close, to see thing in a screen thats a few feet ahead.


My fathers toyota tundra has nearly useless rear view mirror, at least its useless when stuff is always packed up to the cap. Im going to buy him one of those rear view cameras and probably place it by the license plate. The side view mirrors are relatively big ones but replacing them might have issues. If i dont i'll at least add multivex. Multivex Mirrors - The Most Optically Advancec Vehicle Mirror Systems Ever Developed


I ran across a bizarre configuration whith dual rear cameras where the rear left facing camera was on the right and the rear right facing camera was on the left. I know objects directly behind the vehicle would overlap in the dual displays and there would be a wide angle view. I think the angles would be exaggerated, i dont know its hard for me to imagine the view. See here behind the trailer.http://www.owlseyecamera.com/images/...20e-Mirror.jpg


edit: What is the electronic shutterspeed on your cameras? i was looking at one that was 1/60-1/100,000 which i assume means its good in bright light.

[silverinsight2]

Originally Posted by 2009Prius

Another dumb question I have is whether it is possible to mount the camera inside the car. The field of view may be sacrificed somewhat but the installation may be easier.

I would like to have the camera record my speedometer to stop the local police from making their quota.
Is there a 12v camera with recording unit to capture a minute or two on an endless loop?

[2009Prius]

Originally Posted by silverinsight2

I would like to have the camera record my speedometer to stop the local police from making their quota.
Is there a 12v camera with recording unit to capture a minute or two on an endless loop?

One possibility is to use a laptop and some software. Another is if you have ScanGauge it can report the max speed of the trip. Good luck!

[toxshox]

Sorry I have been lurking for a few days and just joined. I wanted to send a PM to Neil but alas the moderators have put a limit on newbies to the site so here it is.

"Neil,

I found your thread on your adventures modding the xA and just wanted to say thank you for your efforts and for documenting so thoroughly what you did and your findings. I too have an xA and frequent mostly scionlife.com and cleanmpg.com but found your post via a random google search and now am an ecomodder too. My adventures are documented on scionlife here:
scionlife.com/forums/showthread.php?t=191926
My goal is to replicate what has worked for you and implement some of my own twists based on things you have done. I am not done reading your whole thread (it is really long), but I will keep reading and posting my adventure.

Thanks again for your posts!

-Landon"

[NeilBlanchard]

Thanks Landon, I'm glad you found the thread and that you find it useful. Feel free to ask me any questions right here on the thread, so that others can possibly make use of it.

I was hoping to do a full belly pan at some point, but I am putting all my efforts into my CarBEN open source EV concept car...

I'll cross link your thread, so others can see what you're doing:

http://www.scionlife.com/forums/showthread.php?t=191926

One thing that I did to help keep the temps more normal is to block up the vent out of the plenum in front of the radiator, in the "chin" area. Once you reduce the volume of air going into the grills, then you need to cover those vents, to force more/all of the air through the radiator.

[Arragonis]

Old question but

Originally Posted by 2009Prius

One possibility is to use a laptop and some software. Another is if you have ScanGauge it can report the max speed of the trip. Good luck!

Something like this can record images.

Vehicle Camera video Mini DV DVR spy car sport Recorder on eBay (end time 22-Aug-10 17:20:27 BST)

It records onto SD cards in 10 min blocks. When the card is full it deletes the oldest one to make space. I have one with an 8GB card and it can record 40 min +

[harshalsk]

Neil,

Thanks a million for all the great information you have posted here and the mods you are doing on your xA.

This have inspired couple of xAers and trying to follow some of your mods. You can track our progress on Scionlife forum.

See the link below in LinkBack Secion.

Without any mods I am getting 38 mpgs on my Automatic 2006 Scion xA. I have applied the Grill block mod now and I hope to go beyond 40mpgs.
I have ordered moon eyes caps and soon get a bluetooth OBD scanner so I can use my phone to do some monitoring. Scangauge is too expensive for me in this economy.

But still million thanks from me. Keep up the good work and keep us posted.

[harshalsk]

Reat Spoiler:

I do not have rear spoiler on my Scion xA. Should I get it? Does it really help to get more MPGs?

Can I make something like that myself?

[NeilBlanchard]

You're very welcome! I was averaging ~37mpg before doing any mods, and my high was ~42mpg on one tank. I just realized I have a new version of my grill block, using aluminum roll flashing, that i should photograph and post.

I don't think the spoiler is all that helpful; and if you were to make your own, slightly larger (a mini-Kamm back) that curved/angled down more than the stock one, you would do better. The method they use to fasten it is a good thing to use to attach one.

[harshalsk]

Thanks Neil.

I am definitely looking forward to do the under belly pan and would like to use Aluminum for that.

Found a good article on Kammback on metro mpg website here.

metrompg.com/posts/boat-tail-prototype.htm

Did Moon eyes hub caps helped you anything at all?