Boat Tailing a Pickup

[Snax]

While waiting around for the repair guys to fix my fridge, here's what I came up with for a likely look for such a thing:



Comments?

[BeeUU]

Thing of beauty!!

[red91sit]

now lets see you put that on your truck!

BTW do you have a stock CD number for that truck, just looking at it, I'm guessing it's gotta be up near .5 or more!

[MetroMPG]

Looks good in profile. From the rear?

Don't forget to use a large radius for the side & top transition - even one that gets larger the further you get to the end.

How are you going to make it?

[omgwtfbyobbq]

That plus a used (unless you have the extra cash) gear splitter would probably result in 30+mpg at 55mph. Do eett!

[thisisntjared]

this is very interesting. i have seen trucks with serious aero mods, but this could remain functional... hmmm...

[Silveredwings]

Looks good! I wonder if you need all that gound clearance, or mirrors that big. Just wonderin.'

[Snax]

Well my wife saw it and basically said "bleck!" Hmm . .

Regardless, I might still build it as a proof of conecpt whether she likes it or not. No doubt I could sell it to somebody else if it returns a solid 20% on fuel economy.

My other concept is more like the Hummer military fastback style, but I doubt it would return the same efficiency. Most likely somewhere in between the boat tail concept and a tonneau would be my bet.

The mirrors are definately a sore point, contributing nearly 2 full square feet to frontal area. I suspect the impact to aerodynamics isn't quite as bad as that sounds however given the vortecies they likely spoil off of the A-pillar, but I'm thinking our next long distance highway trip will be with at least one mirror folded.

I've seen unofficial drag coefficients from .45 to .53, so it can't be good either way. The .45 is for the previous body style and Ford admits to working over the engine fuel mapping to make up for the inefficiency of the new design, so I'll put a WAG as .48 for the 2WD, perhaps as much as .50 for the 4WD given the extra height.

Regardless, lowering the truck 3" would reduce frontal area by over one square foot alone, nevermind what affect it has on airflow underneath.

[zpiloto]

Here's an article Metro found awhile back not quite so "bleck". I can't tell but in the pic it looks like you have some kind of running boards put those with the mirrors if you can get in without em.

[Snax]

Yep, the Bully bars definately stick out a little. My thought is that if I can get away with lowering the truck, the bars can go. Until then, it's just too much of a step to do comfortably and difficult for the kids.