Everyday objects~Anyone using any for aero?

[DRW]

Originally Posted by RoadWarrior

...how have they held up?

Just fine. They've been on the car a little more than a year. I've scaped them against the curb a few times and the only damage has been some light scuffing. The material is tough and flexible. Plus I only attached them with two bolts, which lets the fairing move more freely. If they were rigidly mounted at several points I'm sure something would've cracked when I parked against the curb.

They seem to collect dirt and gravel inside since the back edge is open to the wheel well, so I drilled a small hole in the bottom so dirt has a chance to fall out.

I had to take them off a few weeks ago, so when I put them back on (and this is a mod I wanted to keep) I refined the design based on what I've learned on this site over the year. I'll try to get some pics.

[lunarhighway]

i once sawed up a plastic fridge tray/bin/drawer thingy i found while clearing out some place. it's a bit hard to explane the shape but basically i could see some air deflectors in theare to go in front of my tires... they looked great but ultimately the shape wasn't really right so i took them off and i've got coroplast ones on there now wich seem to work better.

i'm also thinking about useing an old vacuum cleaner hose as a CAI duct but that's on the do "think it trough again" list

[DRW]

For fabbing CAI or WAI or brake cooling ducts take a look at dryer exhaust ducting. It's available in 3" and 4" diameters, perhaps other diameters too. It's flexible and all metal so it won't melt if it comes close to exhaust components.

[cfg83]

DRW -

Originally Posted by DRW

For fabbing CAI or WAI or brake cooling ducts take a look at dryer exhaust ducting. It's available in 3" and 4" diameters, perhaps other diameters too. It's flexible and all metal so it won't melt if it comes close to exhaust components.

That is egg-zactly what I used for my HAI, along with black plumbing PVC to route it into the hole that used to lead to the resonator box :

Attachment 1222

CarloSW2

[DRW]

I didn't want to hijack this thread, so I posted a pic of the new fairings in the original thread, along with some comments. See the single post here; http://www.gassavers.org/showpost.ph...8&postcount=14

Or view the whole thread; www.gassavers.org/showthread.php?t=2381

[Hateful]

Yes; Coke bottles have a good rounded shape and flexible. Aluminum cans are also easily shaped or folded. Both are light weight.

[cfg83]

Hello -

How about emulating a Rear Diffuser ...

Rear Diffusers $500-$800
http://www.aprperformance.com/index....d=69&Itemid=47

Diffusers work in conjunction with other aerodynamic components of a car to help produce downforce. Because a car displaces air as it moves forward, the air molecules in the rear of the car get disrupted causing a vacuum of low pressure air.

To help channel the high speed air flow coming from underneath the car, diffusers redirects the high speed air flow to transition smoothly transition into the low pressure vacuum in the rear. This encourages a smoother flowing air flow underneath the car and allows better performance from other aerodynamic components such as aerodynamic wings.

... With multiple kitchen drainage pans :

Evolution Drainboard, Small Cashmere - $11.50 * (2 or 3)
http://housewares.hardwarestore.com/...rd-600539.aspx

Used to direct water into the sink and keep water off your counter with steeper angle and raised lip directs. Use with dish drainers to keep counter dry.

Ha ha, it's even an "EVO", !!!

CarloSW2

[GasSavers_RoadWarrior]

Interesting idea, I was thinking I'd be beating/pressing that sheet flashing over a wooden form if I got round to making a diffuser. Heh "Vacuum formed for quality fitment" I thought vac forming was the cheapass way of doing stuff....

I found myself wandering Walmart today, I had an hour to kill, they have some good rubbermaid garbage cans in there, $5.47 each, black or beige that have an improved looking profile over that one I was eyeballing in the washroom. Looked like they could be cut for 2 fairings each...

Also went down the camping aisle and the tent pegs jumped out at me, T section plastic, 6 for 2.47 or something like that, saw the ends off them for airtabs/turbulators, would probably be big enough for most personal vehicles, possibly undersized for big RVs, boxy trailers etc. You could probably get up to 3 out of each peg if you wanna take the time cutting and sanding. I'll have to go through my camping pegs, I know I knocked the hook off quite a few last time I went (hard ground) and I probably just threw them back in the bag. Dunno if I'll find more than a couple that are too mashed, scarred and bent to use or not, but it's worth a look before I go buying extras. Also can get 4 T section ones for a buck at the dollar store when they get their summer stock in, so likely to buy them there. Just need a good double sided tape or liquid nails or something to fix them on with.

Walmart got boring, so sauntered over to Home Depot, was hoping to see a nice grille material, all they had in that line was the diamond expanded lath stuff really. They had a louvred fence system that might be interesting for making a grille shutter system http://flexfence.com/hw.html also thinking about it for the house, would love to be able to control solar gain on a couple of the walls. Found some interesting stuff in the carpet edging rubber strip area, stuff called "dry back" a rubbery moulding for using for bathroom and kitchen skirting boards/baseboards I guess. Looked useable for airdam bottoms. Kind of a bit disappointed in home depot though, was thinking I'd find some more useful stuff in there. Was investigating the plastic mouldings for use as spoiler/deflector strips but they all seemed a bit floppy.

[s2man]

I can attest to the marginal usefulness of the rubber molding/trim I found at HD. You can see a piece I used on the front of the hood in the garage. It looks a little wavy there, but not bad. But when I attached some to the back end of the hood, for wiper cowling, the curve of the hood really put some waves in it. Attaching it to a straight edge would be okay. But compound curves are too much for it.

It doesn't look great, but at least it has the wiper arms out of the wind. And looking across the parking lot at work, I see wipers and arms in full view on everything, even the Prius. All I can see on Porthos is two little bumps sticking up above the cowling.

http://themillers.us/images/cavalier/cowling1.jpg

I'm hoping I can force some better shape to it when we have a hot sunny day (soon! soon! please!) Or perhaps I'll build a rigid one some day, like Autospeed.com's.

[8307c4]

Not sure if this is helpful but the plastic from a 1-gallon used bottle of antifreeze or oil is fairly rigid... The color scheme might not match thou, but the semi-curve of a cut-out just might be the perfect fit for some application.

If not for the vehicle, I usually cut one open if I need a flat pan with edges for use as a 'parts' tray