Civic hatchback aerodynamics

[basjoos]

Installed front wheel well skirts. The skirt is a made of an aluminum bar frame covered with coroplast and hinged at the top with piano hinge. There is enough tire clearance inside the skirt for normal on-road turns (lane changes, curvy roads, etc), but when I have to make a sharper turn, the tire rolls against a low profile (1/2"x6") conveyer roller that pushes the skirt out while I am making the sharp turn. Two springs at the bottom pull the skirt back in when the tire straightens out.



Front wheel well skirt


Wheels in full left turn position.


View of inside showing conveyer rollers.

[MetroMPG]

It's quite a handsome profile overall, if I do say so.

[Silveredwings]

That's ingenious.

[MetroMPG]

If ever there was someone who NEEDED a MID/SG...

It kills me that measuring the results of all this work is only as accurate as tank by tank testing. I'd love to know better controlled results. Maybe that's just me though.

[thisisntjared]

ah i understand the shape now. the fact that the hatch and tailgate are still accessable is amazing!

the front skirts are crazy!! hahaha

[SVOboy]

I'm spurred again to win the MID to give it to basjoos.

Actually. Basjoos, do you want to have mine on semi-permanent loan? I'm not really using it and I could send it to you for december to june when I won't even see my car. Please say yes.

[basjoos]

SVOboy,...yes. I'd be interested in the semi-permanent loan of your MID assuming I can figure out how to install it. I usually begin seeing summer heat and humidity by mid-May, so I should be able be see how far above 100mpg I can go in the car with the current (and additionally planned) mods installed by next spring.

[krousdb]

Basjoos,
I can help you install it. I live just south of Raliegh and work in Fayetteville NC. I'm sure that we cross paths sometimes.

[The Toecutter]

I got 68mpg from this tank dispite 120 miles of driving in the rain. Normally at these temps and with this amount of wet road driving, I would have seen mileage in the low 60's.

How low in the 60s?

68 mpg/60 mpg = 1.133

13.3% gain possible, but probably around 10%. That's not bad at all.



Those front skirts are insane. You're well on your way to a 100 mpg car. Now you need a diesel for it, and a huge tank for some freakish cruising range.

[basjoos]

[QUOTE=The Toecutter]How low in the 60s?

Would have expected about 62 to 63mpg.