Duct Tape No More!!

[CO ZX2]

Finally got rid of all the duct tape on the sides of 'Old Reliable'. Nothing against duct tape, just glad it's gone. Great stuff for testing.

Had cleared my front skirts of tape a week or so ago. I felt so good about getting that done that I got started on my rear skirts. Finished those yesterday. Still received the spray can paint job.

I am showing the ugliest pic I have of my first rear skirts. I got rid of the cardboard a long time ago and used plastic but were still taped on. Has been that way for 9 months.

Cut them out to fit inside the wheel opening. Used some hard plastic tubing fastened inside the lip of the opening to accept the screws holding the skirt. They fit flush with the body now and no duct tape. Same for the front.

I am getting a little closer to painting both front and rear skirts body color of the car. They should blend in quite a bit better. I will do this as soon as I decide how to get rid of the tape on my grille block.

Which do you like?

#1

#2

[MnFocus]

Originally Posted by CO ZX2

I am getting a little closer to painting both front and rear skirts body color of the car. They should blend in quite a bit better. I will do this as soon as I decide how to get rid of the tape on my grille block.

Which do you like?:D

That's a loaded question CO ! All hypermilers love the rough-n-rowdy look of tape and cardboard LOL but yeah the sleek and refined is a mighty huge improvement ! As far as the grille block ? Have any way to attach tabs to the back of the block panel ? then use some flat metal strapping with more zip ties to make a bumper cover sandwich . Or use small all thread with acorn nuts.

[Hockey4mnhs]

looks great i just wish ya had more picks in your garage so i could go off of um

[CO ZX2]

Originally Posted by MnFocus

That's a loaded question CO ! All hypermilers love the rough-n-rowdy look of tape and cardboard LOL but yeah the sleek and refined is a mighty huge improvement ! As far as the grille block ? Have any way to attach tabs to the back of the block panel ? then use some flat metal strapping with more zip ties to make a bumper cover sandwich . Or use small all thread with acorn nuts.

Mn, my concern has been to come up with a way to assure sealing of my grille block. Even a small amount of leakage is detrimental.

Thanks for the suggestions. This may be what I will do: Cut my grille block to a shape that more closely follows the outline of the grille, which is oval. Then have maybe 3 strips of aluminum vertically behind the grille and use the same type screws used for the skirts. I have thought of using soft non-hardening strip caulking (about 1/8 in. dia.) to seal. I think this would work even if the panel needed to be taken off and back on with the same sealer. This is what I have decided on for sealer for my skirts when I am ready. Any opinions?

[MnFocus]

Originally Posted by CO ZX2

Mn, my concern has been to come up with a way to assure sealing of my grille block. Even a small amount of leakage is detrimental.

Thanks for the suggestions. This may be what I will do: Cut my grille block to a shape that more closely follows the outline of the grille, which is oval. Then have maybe 3 strips of aluminum vertically behind the grille and use the same type screws used for the skirts. I have thought of using soft non-hardening strip caulking (about 1/8 in. dia.) to seal. I think this would work even if the panel needed to be taken off and back on with the same sealer. This is what I have decided on for sealer for my skirts when I am ready. Any opinions?

Are you also wanting no-seams ? Make it one piece with fiberglas matting.
If not :
How about the *foam* rubber seal that has tape on one side .Sandwich that between body and panel in the method you described above? It would be like a door/window insulation draft stopper stuff . Can be had in 1/8" up to 1/2" thicknesses x 20' rolls and pretty inexpensive. The roll caulking would work too but I think could possibly get messy (gooey )with higher temps .

[cfg83]

Hockey4mnhs -

Originally Posted by Hockey4mnhs

looks great i just wish ya had more picks in your garage so i could go off of um

I second that. CO ZX2's "Used some hard plastic tubing fastened inside the lip" statement sounds like a good detail pic.

CarloSW2

[skewbe]

CO You are an inspiration. I was looking at your car and was thinking about that big sheet o' plastic from home depot and wanted to suggest something I was thinking about doing myself.

Take a big rectangle of that plastic and wrap it around the nose pretty much flat against the bumper face and follow the curves around the sides. Put some blocks under it on the ground for however much clearance you want and Cut it off level(ish) with the top of the bumper. Then get out your pan head screws. Might want to add a (plastic) bulkhead coming out from below your bumper to firm things up and maybe make it slant out a little.

[CO ZX2]

Originally Posted by skewbe

CO You are an inspiration. I was looking at your car and was thinking about that big sheet o' plastic from home depot and wanted to suggest something I was thinking about doing myself.

Take a big rectangle of that plastic and wrap it around the nose pretty much flat against the bumper face and follow the curves around the sides. Put some blocks under it on the ground for however much clearance you want and Cut it off level(ish) with the top of the bumper. Then get out your pan head screws. Might want to add a (plastic) bulkhead coming out from below your bumper to firm things up and maybe make it slant out a little.

Skewbe, that's pretty much exactly what I did.

First front cover I ever had was similar to pic below made of a big chunk of cardboard. That would have been Sept. 2006. Couldn't keep the cardboard dry long enough to use it much. I renewed the cardboard once and it got wet and soggy before I even drove it. I had it down as far as the lowest parts of the undercarriage, which placed the cardboard 5 inches from the ground.

I replaced the cardboard with plastic after a bit and placed the bottom 2 1/2 inches off the ground. I had definite gains with each of these, but the first drive with the plastic, I scrubbed it on dips in a city street, broke it across almost the whole front. I thought the plastic would be flexible and tough enough to take it. It was not. The screws you see in the pic are not to hold it on, but show where I patched the break with a strip of 1/8th in. plywood behind. The tape held it on just fine.

That's when I realized I needed something extremely flexible to drag the ground with. That is when the Home Depot edging came about. The edging fastened to the bottom of the front placed it 5 in. from the ground. I have no support for the dam below where it is screwed to the bumper. The curve around the sides give enough stiffness that it don't cave in. That had lasted for months without busting it up. Then I found a piece of edging at a junk store and added that to my dam. I am now less than 2 in. off the ground. I had a post somewhere when I did a coast test afterwards, a sizable improvement. I now scrub the ground regularly with no real evident consequences. I am now considering adding more.

November 2006. v



As I have air dam now, 7/2007 v



Soon I will pull off a rear skirt and take a pic of the tubing the skirt screws to. This is really stiff and thick wall tubing made for in-floor heating. Some years ago a neighbor had found a full roll alongside the road. He gave me about a hundred feet of it. Does this job well.

Tubing in wheel opening. Screws for skirts go into tubing.

[skewbe]

Nice work CO, good to know that plastic isn't as forgiving as one might expect.