VOTE! Modification of the Year - 2010
 

Well, its time to vote! The nominations have been made so its time to put in your vote to see who had the best modification in 2010. There are lots of great projects, so choose wisely. :)

Here are links to the nominees projects in case you need a refresher:

• Ben Nelson's DIY hybrid conversion

• Dave Cloud's Geo Metro based "Dolphin" - super streamlined radical EV conversion (he's a member!)

• 3-Wheeler's 1st generation Honda Insight boat tail

• Weather Spotter's Full boat tail on a Matrix

• BamZipPow's T-100 Underbelly Pan

• ZeroHour's Subaru skirts and grill block

• Wonderboy's CRXFi build (CRX with Metro xfi engine)

• Demd's 6 speed transmission swap on his Golf TDI

• Mike Dabrowski 2000's affordable, universal hybrid grid charger based on off-the-shelf power supplies (link?)

The poll will close in 1 week. May the best mod win!

Darned hard decision. Too many good projects, and I can only vote for one! I'll have to go through the threads once more...

I was torn between Dave's Dolphin and 3-wheeler's Insight boattail.

In the end, I've voted for Jim's mod, as it is impressive, yet more realistic - the "I could do that too !"- factor.
While the Dolphin is a stunningly impressive piece of work, I'd say it's beyond most people to carry it out.

I'm also going with the boat tail, for reasons stated above.

It's not even painted and it looks amazing. (:

Only 12 votes? C'mon guys.

Put it on the front page or something. It's easy to miss a single thread.

+1!

I'll vote twice for money.......

Voting closes on Tuesday!

I haven't decided which project to vote for yet.

But I have decided I'm going to vote for an "active" forum member. That rules out Dave Cloud's Dolphin & Mike Dabrowski's charger from my options.

I feel the same. I think the Dolphin is very cool, but I couldn't give him my vote. I had to go for a regular.

Mike

I am honored to have my project in the running!

But does my boat tail even count? The build spans late December but my first test run was the first week in December. It is true I did all of the planning and most of the work in 2010.

Thoughts?

I voted for BamZipPow's T-100 Underbelly Pan.

For some crazy reason I luv me some of them thar truck aeromods:D and his are pretty dang awesome!!

Like the "Notice" to draw attention to this thread! Hope it helps...

3-Wheeler's Insight Boattail has my vote. It's extremely well done and cleanly executed. The only thing that would make it better is color matching paint. Other than the color difference, it looks like a factory option.

I voted for the Insight boat tail. As impressive as the DIY hybrid metro and the dolphin are, neither car would work in my world, and my world is the only one that matters. :D

I decided to vote on something 'real world' so the boat tails were out. So were anything I regard as pointless (flame war!) like modifying trucks and other 4WDs. That left a couple hybrids, Wonderboy's engine swap and my eventual vote, the gearbox change. Possibly the simplest and highest ratio cost/gain mod from my shortlist.

How is a boat tail not "real world"?

I wonder if Jim's Insight with tail is not much longer than your Golf Estate.

PS - I still haven't voted. Waffling.

I don't mean any offense to that statement (unlike my one about trucks and 4WDs!), it's just not possible for anyone, or everyone, to mod themselves. Plus, it's not to everyone's taste and not very practical either.

True, it dramatically reduces your drag, but makes your car impractical to use without adapting the tail to open for luggage, etc. Like I said, no offense to those that have - in fact a big 'well done' for being so enthusiastic - but not practical for everyday family use in my opinion.

I would have to disagree. My tail has added cargo room. I now can fit 12' lumber in my car (with out I could only get 8'). I think that most cars can add a tail and make it work.

I voted but I did not vote for my project (others feel free :) ). I had to go with Jim's tail as it was my inspiration to do my project.

Last day to vote!

I like weatherspotters idea. Cheap enough that he actually might recover the investment.

Voting is closed!

Thanks to everyone for their 2 cents.

And...

Congrats to Jim for inspiring the most votes with the quality of planning, detail, aesthetics and workmanship of his gen. 1 Insight boat tail.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1293910565

And while Dave Cloud's car is astounding on multiple levels, I'm glad we chose to recognize the project of an active EcoModder member.

Congrats, Jim!
You worked hard to win, and so did everyone else.
I admit that I voted for a different project, not because I didn't want Jim to win (amazing craftmanship), but because others also deserve credit for what they did.

Thank you to everyone here who put their time and effort into making the ecomodding community what it is:thumbup:

Awesome work on the Insight boat tail... congratulations!

Probably time to take the notice down... or change the wording... :)

Whoops - I have meant to do that for 2 days in a row now. I'm so easily distra...

SQUIRREL!!!

It may be possible to alter the Insight tail mounting system, to make a cargo area back there!

So the tail extension could be used for good air flow and for storage.

That would make it much more practical.

Jim.

Thanks Weather!!

And the inspiration for my tail is.... MetroMPG.

Also we can't forget Mike from aerocivic fame.

Both of those were inspirations for the Insight tail.

Jim.

I have to agree 100%.

It's nice to see all the progress going on with the various projects here.

Notice how the gas prices are creeping up again.

I predict there will much more traffic here as a result.

Jim.

I want to say a big "thank you" to everyone who voted, and those that voted for the Insight Tail Extension Project.

Thanks to BicycleBob for being the first to point out this site to me during a conversation on motorcycle aerodynamics.

Thanks to Mike from Aerocivic for posting an unbelievable transformation to his car to get higher mileage than factory cars.

AeroHead for the inspiration of how to make aerodynamics work for all of us!

A big thanks to MetroMPG for the exciting tail extension project in 2009. I know I've mentioned this before, but the hard-mounted video-cam idea was so clever in it's simplicity!

And finally, and big thanks to all who have contributed to this forum with your creativity and positive energy in all your varying projects.

Thanks to each and everyone of you for your contributions! The Insight Tail came about because of all your inputs!

Jim.

Geez, just like Emmy/Grammy/Nobel speeches. Jim, are you training for one of those? http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-pi...2566-tease.gif

Perhaps we could all contribute to its success - spread the good word a bit?
Create a bit of ad revenue at least?