"Tiny" Side View Mirror

[redneck]

Originally Posted by cfg83

redneck -

Great job! I used to have a tiny bicycle one (bottom mirror) :

It would shake a lot because the arm wasn't designed for car speeds. When I was commuting I switched to a motorcycle mirror for the sake of my passenger's nerves and kept it.

Soooooo, I chose the middle way.

CarloSW2

Your mirrors look good...

As far as shaking or vibration at high speeds, this mirror is rock solid.

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[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by christofoo

For example, look at these shapes:

(Source: Wikipedia on Drag Coefficient.)

0.42 is still quite high. I wonder if there's a way to increase frontal area for the same mirror size but decrease the drag coefficient enough to offset it. Say maybe, a quick but short transition to the maximal 23 degree or whatever slope accompanied with vortex generators?

[Patrick]

Originally Posted by serialk11r

0.42 is still quite high. I wonder if there's a way to increase frontal area for the same mirror size but decrease the drag coefficient enough to offset it. Say maybe, a quick but short transition to the maximal 23 degree or whatever slope accompanied with vortex generators?

There's another thread on that in here somewhere.

[cfg83]

redneck -

Originally Posted by redneck

Your mirrors look good...

As far as shaking or vibration at high speeds, this mirror is rock solid.

Excellent! I can see that you picked a mirror with a closer/stronger/more stable base than I did.

CarloSW2

[Otto]

eBay has some fairly streamlined motorcycle mirrors, pretty cheap. Could mod the mounting stalk to make it an airfoil shape.

[cowmeat]

I ended up with these on Ron Burgundy:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post476929

I'm coupling them with a panoramic rear view mirror, which turned out to be awesome. Since the mirrors are like the least aerodynamic part of the Insight, I ended up modding this first.

The OEM mirrors are the equivalent of shoving two catcher's mitts out into the air stream. These, not so much!

[redneck]

Originally Posted by cowmeat

I ended up with these on Ron Burgundy:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post476929

I'm coupling them with a panoramic rear view mirror

Those mirrors look great...





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[aerohead]

I spent two days scouring the PATE Swap Meet at the Texas Motor Speedway.
I picked up six side-view mirrors to mess around with.
Four are mid-1970s GM aero units which were on Corvette,Trans Am, GTO,etc.. They're about 1/3rd the frontal area of the OEM Toyota mirrors.
Two are from SCCA racing cars,long stems and very small frontal areas (maybe 1/4th frontal area ), with fairly deep enclosures.
Costs varied from $1,to $10 (USA).
All will require modification to use on the T-100,but will get me in Cd 0.25 or below territory according to the DARKO testing.
Things are very busy lately but it's nice to have something in hand for when the time is right.

[aerohead]

I had some unscheduled 'dry' time before dark yesterday evening and after an hour and a half,I had the side-view mirrors converted over to the little Vitaloni sports car mirrors.
I left the OEM mirror stalks in place (rather than remove both door panels and everything else) and simply un-bolted the 'tops.'
I used whatever was laying around to cobble the lilliputians onto the ball-socket stalks.
The mirrors have roughly 1/3rd the frontal area of the original units,and sit far from the door,out in slower air.
I'll drive with them for awhile 'n see if I can tolerate them.If I think I can live with the smaller view,then I'll invest the energy into a more thoughtful execution.
The truck measured Cd 0.251 with folded mirrors and I think these smaller units,further from the body should allow for a little improvement over that number.
The mirror caps, stalks,and base will receive streamlining if I choose to use them long term.
The effort so far doesn't merit a photograph.

[freebeard]

The Vitalonis are the swap meet items? Do they normally mount with two screws in the sheet metal?

Gerrelt has a story on his website on grafting Vitalonis onto the stock VW mount. That's been on my to-do-someday list so I'd be interested in your impressions.