T-100 side skirts and belly pan...

[ECONORAM]

Got a couple of pictures snapped today of my right side skirt.

Yes, I run mudflaps. I try to keep my paint in good shape. My truck is now 10 years old with 100k miles and still runs like a champ.

I positioned the side skirt to use the front mudflap to block air entering the side skirt. The intent was to get close to the tire width (275mm) and keep that continuous to the rear tire.

The picture with the bent white plastic under the bolt head is taken from the underside of the truck. The white plastic is just to keep the bolt from pulling through the corroplast. I have 3 of the before mentioned "L" channel pieces bolted to the truck that I fasten the inside of the side skirt to. Couldn't keep it from falling down otherwise. (I tried) I also painted the pieces white to keep me from gashing my head on them when the panels are removed. (safety second, after the first gash...)
Didn't have to worry about bolts pulling through on the outside, as the plastic trim fasteners have the wide built in washer. They push into 2" long pieces of the "L" channel that are bolted to the nerf bar mounts. I mount the inside bolts and nutserts first, then fasten the outside push fasteners.

The distance between the wheel wells is about 8' 5", so I had to cobble a small piece onto the end since I only had 8' sheets of corroplast. Not worried about water intrusion, 'cuz that happens no matter what. And don't mind the red RTV on the inside. I think I was trying to seal the seam or cover the wires post-install. I'm using the wire to hold the box form. Each dimension is 4", except for the bottom which is 8" across.
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That's roughly the shape as you look at the front end of the side skirt.

What do they do for MPG? Haven't tested ABA style. I completely destroyed my last speed sensor (can't find all the pieces either), so having to redesign it to get full MPGuino functionality again.

[BamZipPow]

Finally rebuilt the left rear wheel skirt from some leftover ducting. Built out the expanded section of the side skirts, too!


I removed the wood strips and used some leftover aluminum angle to build some attachment brackets. The wheels skirts are bolted in place with 1/4" bolts now. They ain't going nowhere anytime soon!

[freebeard]

Less wood, more aluminum.

[aerohead]

Me likey mucho!
The air doesn't have a chance!
You wicked,wicked man!

[BamZipPow]

Both rear wheel skirts have been rebuilt except the right one is still Coroplast. I reused the rear belly pan and had to cover up the holes with Tyvek tape. I ziptied the shelf brackets and Corplast together so it should hold up until I git another ducting tube to cut the rear wheel skirt from. The right side has been converted from wood to aluminum angle brackets. Fasteners have been upgraded to 1/4" bolts on the shelving brackets. The left rear wheel skirt is pop riveted along the shelving brackets. We'll see how well they hold up on this coming road trip.

A quick shakedown run on I-45 in the rain was rather exciting. Nothing fell off or got ripped off. Whew!

People were chasing me down to git looks and piccies. Glad they didin't bother me.

[slowmover]

Chasing you down, huh? Time for a latex face mask. And shades. Ha!

[Merlyn2220]

I built up my sideskirts on the E150 with 1" thick pink styrofoam from Lowes, skinned them with the $35 fiberglass shower panels, and then glassed around the edges. The fiberglass panels are kind of brittle, because they are made with short strand for a nice surface finish. I plan to do a rear wheel panel like yours, but haven't decided how to build it yet. I think I'm going to do a sandwich construction with a thin aluminum sheet (0.050" from Alro) and a surface panel of the fiberglass shower panel for a nice smooth surface. The big tubes of Loctite Premium 3x work well on aluminum, paint, styrofoam and fiberglass. I'm not sure if it sticks to coroplast, I haven't tried it yet. But the big tube is a good value, only very slightly more expensive than the little 10oz tubes.

How tough is the wheelwell sheet you made? I was going for something that is "self-supporting" with the sandwich construction, but I'm not opposed to putting an aluminum c-channel inside to give it some strength.

[freebeard]

1" thick pink styrofoam
$35 fiberglass shower panels

vs

thin aluminum sheet (0.050" from Alro)
fiberglass shower panel
big tubes of Loctite Premium 3x

What is your cost per square foot?



Polymetal is $125 for a 4x8 sheet at full retail, $100 'if you know somebody' (round numbers). That's like $3/sq ft. It is stiff as 5/8" plywood and it is prefinished.

[Merlyn2220]

Good question. The 1" foamular is $20 for a 4x8, if I were making just one layer it would be about $55 total for a 4x8 or $1.72/sqft plus tax. I'm using the foam glued together in layers to build up to the surface I'm trying to make. Part of that is because I don't really know what I want it to look like until it's on, part is using the foam as sound damping at the same time. It's *really* effective at cutting down on road rumble. And it's easy to form it with a 10" surform tool, and to get radii with the little curved surform. I use the fiberglass to go around the edges, and it sticks really well to the fiberglass panels, of course. If I screw up I just take out the angle grinder and cut it back, then surface with bondo, glass over the top, then bondo to finish the surface. The pic attached is partway through the rear wheelwell, showing the layers built up to get my final surfaces.

[California98Civic]

Great work. Looks really solid and clean.