Belly Pan Installation, Honda Del Sol

[krousdb]

Began with four 2' x 8' pieces of coroplast (corrugated plastic) 4mm thick.


1. Jack up one side of car and place one sheet underneath.



2. Slide edge of coroplast between black moulding flange and floorboard. Secure with three screws through moulding flange



3. Slide forward until you have enough coroplast to attach to front lip.



4. Cut reliefs into coroplast for clearance around A-arms. Attach to front lip with screws. Duct tape not required but it helps to smooth things out.



5. Bend up and secure coroplast with screws to complete the wheelwell treatment. This helps keep turbulence from wheel well from getting between the bellypan and floorboard. Trim around exhaust system leaving at least 1" clearance between coroplast and any exhaust component.



6. Repeat steps 1-5 on the other side.



7. Install coroplast on drivers side rear. Forward end slides between front coroplast piece and floorboard. Rear attaches to rear lip. Secure with screws.



8. Install coroplast on passenger side rear. Leftward end slides between drivers side rear coroplast piece and floorboard. Rear attaches to rear lip. Secure with screws. Trim around exhaust system leaving at least 1" clearance between coroplast and any exhaust component.


Cut reliefs for suspension parts.





9. Complete passenger side rear wheel well treatment. Trim around exhaust system leaving at least 1" clearance between coroplast and any exhaust component.



10. Complete driver side rear wheel well treatment.



11. Paint all coroplast flat black. Not yet completed.



Complete! Don't forget to put your tires back on before removing lowering car. Tighten lugnuts.

Enough coroplst left over for wheel skirts and grille block. To be documented in subsequent DIY's.

[SVOboy]

Wow, you so crazy. Brave to be under there with just that jack and a jackstand, woo-ee.

Are you going to make the little lips that sit in front of the front wheels and push air out of the way?

[MetroMPG]

awesome! can't wait to see some new FE numbers. i just know you've gone out to try it - what did you learn??

and did you cut an access flap for oil changes?

instead of being lazy and sitting on my butt this afternoon, i should really get out there and keep working on my own trays.

[philmcneal]

WOW dan amazing, give us the numbers when your car goes live.

[Matt Timion]

Nice work. I was just thinking about how you have the advantage of so many hills in your area so you can coast more often than the rest of us. The funny thing is that you have more hills than I do, and I live in the freaking mountains.

Anyway, I think this will give you at LEAST a 1-2mpg boost during your commute, which is more than worth it.

[thisisntjared]

wow great work!! and i am inspired!

if you every feel like hacking at your rear bumper, removing a few inches off the bottom, then having the tray arch up for the missing few inches will help reduce the vehicles wake.

anyway, i cant wait for the results!!

[Compaq888]

I guess my car can't be called ducky anymore. My new setup is better than my old one and doesn't include any duct tape.

I can go hardcore too but then I would be getting 30mpg and you would be getting 60mpg. I'd be the only one looking stupid.

[SVOboy]

Why was it called ducky in the first place?

[krousdb]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

and did you cut an access flap for oil changes?

Nope. I run my Mobil One for 12-15k miles. I will uninstall the belly pan for my safety inspection next January. I will do the oil change at that time before I reinstall the pan. Or maybe I will have to do it what SVOBoy helps me install my tranny this summer. (Hint, Hint)

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

awesome! can't wait to see some new FE numbers. i just know you've gone out to try it - what did you learn??

Metro knows me quite well

The first thing that I noticed was, OMG, my car is soooo quiet! I think that a combination less turbulence and the insulative qualities of Coroplast made a very noticeable difference in road noise.

I took a 30 mile RT to get black spray paint and the NGK V Power plugs at Pep Boys as Autozone doesn't carry it. This course yields very similar FE to my daily commute. On one downhill section, I usually start it with engine off at 20 MPH and reach a max speed of 55MPH then coast down to 30-35 before another downhill. Normally I have to bump start to keep speed up (40 MPH zone with cars behind me) before reaching the second downhill and then engine off again. Today my max speed was 62MPH and I made it to the second hill at 35 MPH without restarting. Wooot!

The FE for the 30 mile trip was 62.1 MPG, a new personal best. My previous bersonal best was 61.4 with a 10 MPH tailwind. Whats even more impressive was that I had a 15MPH west wind and 53F. Since the route is generally N-S I never had the benefit of a tailwind and was always fighting the crosswind. I'm actually looking forward to work on Monday!

Current Tank: 91 miles, 61.0 MPG :P

Oh, I forgot to mention that at the beginning of this tank I have been using an SVOboy custom ECU with FE enhanced settings. Not sure what the impact has been since temps have been warmer also. I know, I am changing too much at once to get an idea of the impact of each mod. Later this summer when temps stabilize I will start disabling each mod, one at a time in the attempt to measure any difference.

Woooooot!

[Compaq888]

Originally Posted by SVOboy

Why was it called ducky in the first place?

Because I had a huge sheet of metal that was held by duct tape that kept falling off.

Now I use 4 screws, 8 nuts and 8 washers. The whole setup could be taken off the car in 10 min. I drilled no holes.