aftermarket wish list

[bzipitidoo]

These are some things I wish were available, ready made for economy cars.

professional Singh groove job.
super light:
alloy wheel rims that are very aerodynamic and NOT fat.
body panels (carbon fiber, most likely)
side and rear windows (plastic? lexan?)
seats
rear wheel skirt
taller gearing kit
exhaust headers
turbo (maybe)

On the body panels, 2 extra options would be:
solar panels (esp on hood and trunk),
more aerodynamic shape instead of original shape-- a trunk or hatch back lid expanded into a boat tail for instance.

But of course all that is DIY or only for popular sports cars.

[GasSavers_TomO]

Could always go with drag racing skinnies all the way around mounted with LRR tires.
EXAMPLE

But as far as the other mods, The Civic guys have all the luck, lol.

[Pyrorocketeer]

i would advise not to go with that skinny of tires all round. if you get caught in some rain, and have to stop quickly for an emergency, you might as well forget it.

[GasSavers_TomO]

If you get them in a 13" diameter and run a 155/80/13 tire on them, it's not bad at all. That width is OEM on a lot of small cars from the 80's and early 90's. I personally run that tire size in winter and rain on my cars with no worries. I believe there is another VX owner on this board that runs that size as well. I guess it all comes down to persoanl preference and what you are willing to do to get the things on that list.

[VetteOwner]

Originally Posted by TomO

If you get them in a 13" diameter and run a 155/80/13 tire on them, it's not bad at all. That width is OEM on a lot of small cars from the 80's and early 90's. I personally run that tire size in winter and rain on my cars with no worries. I believe there is another VX owner on this board that runs that size as well. I guess it all comes down to persoanl preference and what you are willing to do to get the things on that list.

yup same tires on my chevette. even with bald (down to the strips goin accross the tires) i went driving around on snow packed roads just fine.

in winter skinnier the tire the better, cuts thru the snow and hits pavement(more cars weight in a given area) when it rains also same thing, less water bettween road and tire so more traction. you only want wide tires on mud where if you sink your gonan keep sinking(no pavement to stop ya) and sand(even tho ive heard of people going on th ebeach with a chevette and not gettign stuck)

[Pyrorocketeer]

those tires look almost the size of a spare. like around 125-70R XX. 155-80 is a different story.

I never said anything about it not cutting better through the water.... I said you might as well forget emergency stopping in the rain with those bike tires.

I'd never run anything that size on the road. I don't care how much they save in gas, when you have to buy a new car, because you rear-ended another car in the rain.

[McPatrick]

Yeah, I run 155/80/13 Kumho's on my VX and I would highly recommend it/them.

[kickflipjr]

The one aftermarket part I would like to see is areo bed covers for trucks. If they would be a fairly easy way to improve highway mpg.

[oneinchsidehop]

Originally Posted by bzipitidoo

These are some things I wish were available, ready made for economy cars.

professional Singh groove job.
super light:
alloy wheel rims that are very aerodynamic and NOT fat.
body panels (carbon fiber, most likely)
side and rear windows (plastic? lexan?)
seats
rear wheel skirt
taller gearing kit
exhaust headers
turbo (maybe)

On the body panels, 2 extra options would be:
solar panels (esp on hood and trunk),
more aerodynamic shape instead of original shape-- a trunk or hatch back lid expanded into a boat tail for instance.

But of course all that is DIY or only for popular sports cars.

Some of the stuff above is available in fairly generic form for the import racer guys. Seats and Rims are available, but you always have to fit your own Bonneville-style disks. (gotta have lug nuts behind there)

Headers can be made by most muffler shops... the hard part is to get them to actually help FE. They would just have to have loooong runners and a pretty small diameter to affect torque in the 1000-2000 rpm range that I'm guessing you'd want it at. But sometimes guys in shops like that just love the challenge.

All of that stuff is available for civics, golfs, and most newer corollas. You might want to check out HCI and also Turbo magazine for some (expensive) ideas.

Most stuff for racers applies to FE too except for the engine mods it seems.

But doing anything to your Cortina would be a crime now wouldn't it. (love that car)

[rh77]

If $$$ wasn't an object:

1) Manual Transmission
2) Engine Management System
3) CNG conversion (results in an engine swap and a nearby source to fuel-up)


RH77