Im hotroddr and Im a mpg-aholic
 

Im fairly new to this site, I bookmarked it a while ago after I accidently stumbled upon it while researching aerodynamics and just recently revisited it. I have been lurking and posting here and there, but now its time for an official introduction.
My Name is Dennis, Im a mechanical engineering student in my 4rth year at asu in phoenix. I started experimenting with aerodynamics on my cavalier and found drastic improvements. I started at 27 mpg highway and got it all the way to 37 mpg at 80mph and 45-50 when I slowed down a little and drove more carefully. For aerodynamics I made a grill block off plate, extended the air dam, removed the windshield wipers, replaced the clunky stock mirrors with low profile sleek motorcycle ones, Lowered the car a few inches, removed the antennae, removed the rear bumper extension, removed some plastic panels to help air exit the engine compartment and taped various parts of the car to smooth airflow. Heres a few pictures of it.https://memimage.cardomain.net/member...96_35_full.jpg
https://memimage.cardomain.net/member...96_32_full.jpg
https://memimage.cardomain.net/member...96_28_full.jpg
The mirrors are off of a yamaha R6 or R1. My reasoning was that they have a low profile stalk which is streamlined and the body is more streamlined as well as being farther from the body of the car, they cut down on wind noise but I was unable to get an accurate test of how much they improved gas mileage.
I am selling the car to help pay tuition and now I have an 84 vw rabbit diesel that I am starting to modify for efficiency. I plan to do a whole lot more than I did with the cavalier.

Bottom line, Im an engineering nerd and I cant stop thinking about cars, aerodynamics and efficiency so I will be adding what I can to discussions here and learning a lot from you all.

Every gallon of fuel we save is a gallon less we pay the middle east for so not only are we saving money and the environment, we are helping our nation in the fight on terror.

-Dennis

Amen brother.

...oh and welcome

Welcome
 

Welcome to GS Dennis - :thumbup:

I think you'll find yourself in similar company -- many of us here (including myself) come from formal or informal racing backgrounds.

Your front grille block is definitely a work of form and function. I look forward to your engineering input and creativity :)

RH77

Wecome Dennis -

From your earlier pictures I got mixed up and thought you owned a civic coupe. The Cavalier looks sweet.

I have a question. What did you use to cover the side view mirror "triangle hole" in the door? I have motorcycle mirrors on my Todo list and I was thinking of cutting up cheap black plastic mudflaps as the triangular base because I know they won't deterioriate.

CarloSW2

I made them out of thin steel sheetmetal, and sealed them to the car with foam strips. I will try to get pictures of them soon, plastic might be better because its lighter and cant rust.

Nive Jbody. Are those scion tc rims? The grill block looks great btw.

Welcome to the site! Your car looks really nice (especially the grill block). Could you give a link to your cardomain page?

Nice work!

Welcome to the site. Always happy to see another aero-modder on board.

Hey man. Those are some impressive improvements to fuel efficiency you have posted. Did you do anything besides aeromods to attain them?

This is a project I am interested in reading about.
I knew a couple of people that had these and no matter what they did the little diesel Rabbit just wouldn't die.
I am in the process now of trying to find a cheap school car. I am just having trouble deciding on a good inexpensive starting platform.

I am going to school for Mechanical Engineering, with plans to get a Masters in Automotive Engineering, does that make me a nerd?