Can a saturn LW hypermill?

[Philip1]

I intentionally purchased the car sans crossbars because of the aerodynamic drawbacks of having them

[cfg83]

philip1 -

Originally Posted by philip1

I intentionally purchased the car sans crossbars because of the aerodynamic drawbacks of having them

Most excellent. Are you also looking to remove the sidebars down the line?

CarloSW2

[Philip1]

the roof rack is a problem because the side curtain airbags are located right below the mounting points. Not being an explosives expert I'm not going to risk my life taking the rack off.

[cfg83]

philip1 -

Originally Posted by philip1

the roof rack is a problem because the side curtain airbags are located right below the mounting points. Not being an explosives expert I'm not going to risk my life taking the rack off.

Ok. I would have the same trepidation. If you disconnect the battery, you could disable the mechanism, but I would be worried about putting it back together correctly, i.e. exploding after battery connecting.

I was toying with the following idea if I had a Pontiac Vibe with sidebars like yours :

BEFORE :
Attachment 1143

AFTER :
Attachment 1144

It could be a removable kamm-back. It would start at the beginning of the sidebars because it would be designed to mask the sidebars from the air-stream. Sooooo, there would be a large horizontal sheet/roof component also starting at the beginning of the sidebars. The purpose of the "sunroof wind deflector" would be to insure that wind/air doesn't get under the horizontal sheet of the kamm-back at speed and turn it into a sail :

Attachment 1145

The sunroof wind deflector could be replaced with something cheaper like duct tape (at least initially).

CarloSW2

[GasSavers_Bruce]

Originally Posted by philip1

the roof rack is a problem because the side curtain airbags are located right below the mounting points. Not being an explosives expert I'm not going to risk my life taking the rack off.

You may want to pick up a Haynes manual for the car; it should give the proper protocol for working around the airbags, and is useful for lots of other things as well.

[Philip1]

Originally Posted by Bruce

You may want to pick up a Haynes manual for the car; it should give the proper protocol for working around the airbags, and is useful for lots of other things as well.

I have one and I am still not going to mess with them. The manual has proven quite usefull in other areas.