Side mirror drag & effect on fuel economy - quantified

[COcyclist]

Orby, the Saturn looks great with the mirrorless, smoothed treatment. Nice clean camera install too. Will you post a how-to thread for the cameras?

[orbywan]

My digital camera was in the repair shop when I did the camera install, but when I get it back next week I'll take some more photos and post them.

The side cameras were about as easy as it gets on this vehicle, pop the inside plastic pieces off, which exposes the three 10 mm bolts on either side, remove the mirrors, install the cameras in the old base of the mirrors.

The roof mounted tail cam was the hardest but not a big deal. A wide angle type of rear view mirror would serve the same purpose, but I'm a camera guy and I had four inputs to my monitor so what the hell.

The hardest part for most people will be figuring out a place to mount the monitor. I took out the factory CD player since it doesn't work and put it there for now. When I figure out what I want to replace the stereo with I'll relocate the monitor.

I used a 7 inch quad input monitor because it has two split screens on it. I put the upper and lower tailcams on one screen, and the two side cams on the second split screen, which is great for traffic. When I hit the turn signals the monitor goes full screen to whichever side I'm changing lanes to.

Now I just have to make the time to do the belly pan. I'm thinking about 4 wheel covers and fender skirts for the back but I'm not sure the increase would be worth the time and effort spent. That's the problem, you never know till you try. I'm shocked at what a difference the grille block, headlight covers and mirror delete made so I guess I just need to try it and stop biotching.

[Joenavy85]

Originally Posted by COcyclist

Orby, the Saturn looks great with the mirrorless, smoothed treatment. Nice clean camera install too. Will you post a how-to thread for the cameras?

agreed, very clean install. could you take a couple pictures inside showing what you see while driving, to get an idea of the interior setup?

[euromodder]

Almost looks like one of those aerodynamic concept cars

I'm looking forward to see what your mpg improvement will be.

[orbywan]

I'll be happy to post more photos of the interior/monitor setup as soon as I get my camera back.

[NeilBlanchard]

Please include the info on the cameras you used, and the screens, etc.

[Big Dave]

Do you have any problems with the cameras at night?

[orbywan]

I should have my camera back by Wednesday or so, I'll take more photos of the interior layout and provide some more info on the cameras and monitor. I own a company that specializes in camera systems for vehicles and am currently trying to decide whether to offer a kit for the average aero-minded driver.

I've gotten pretty comfortable with the side cameras, but driving at night in heavy traffic is a concern. The problem with current generation small cameras suitable for this application is at night headlights look like big fireballs coming at you. This makes it hard to determine how far back the approaching vehicle is, and thus determine if it is safe to change lanes.

[Christ]

A shoulder check will generally let you make that decision.

[Joenavy85]

don't forget that most cameras will adjust the exposure when exposed to a bright light, which will in turn reduce and usually eliminate any detail, and sometimes merge both headlights into an ob-longed dot.