KAMM-BACK Festiva! WHAT?

[Darlo]

So I finally did it! I went over to Mike's (sasquatch) to have him fix my muffler, but it turned out we didnt have the right equipment for the job.....So Mike said "why dont we do that Kamm-back you are always talking about?", and so we went to the Home-Depot and bought a 4x8 sheet of Coroplast and a roll of heavy duty duct tape, and we went to work, in the middle of the Home-Depot parking lot!

Here are the results!

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad94/heydarlo/Festiva/August14FestivaKamm021.jpg

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad94/heydarlo/Festiva/August14FestivaKamm022.jpg

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad94/heydarlo/Festiva/August14FestivaKamm023.jpg

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad94/heydarlo/Festiva/August14FestivaKamm025.jpg

I hope to see about a 3% increase in mpg from this "little" modification.

[GenevaDirt]

pics were too big...edited...but interesting look to say the least.

Waiting for results...

[Grey Vw]

Very cool.

[jamesmc]

Haha that's so cool. I'm more interested in the results.

[perucho]

I hope you get at least 10 mpg out of that setup to justify the looks

[Aaronbrook37]

Great one! Inspired by the MetroGuy on ecomodder no doubt. I would far rather have a plexiglass one I think though... the reduction in daytime visibility would be tough for me to reconcile with the extra fuel economy. Next should be a full front block I think!

[SuperDaveGulvak]

Nice a lot smaller than most I've seen & not near as oddly shaped. Do you plan to use this just as a mock up for a more perm material?


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=39.005756,-84.613750

[M3NTAL]

Are you guys serious ?^^

Ill apologize If I'm out of line here but that thing is FUgLy!!!!

[Basement_Modder]

Lol I would never do that just because of looks.

Thats right, this would make my rust-wagon ugly.

Good luck, though.

[kumalaba]

r u serious?

[Pu241]

Great Job!
I see I'm not the only one looking forward to data!

Next air dam and 1/2 grill block then full grill block for winter.

[Pu241]

Lol I would never do that just because of looks.
Thats right, this would make my rust-wagon ugly.
Good luck, though.

No, even this is not as ugly as that!

Depend on whats important to you looks or pushing the envelope on MPG!

[festivaWES]

Why stop with the kamm-back. Full boat tail that thing!!

I'm eventually gonna narrow my s-10's rear end move to a 342 or 373 gear setup and skirt the rear wheel wells, and go for a full aluminum belly pan.

Also have plans in deleting my alternator and going solar power with a couple of agm or deep cycle batteries mounted in the back.

I have hit 35.2mpg best tank ever.

[Safety Guy]

I'd trim the rear "kamm" a bit for better rear visibility, unless you can find some clearer material to use.

I'd also expect better than a 3% improvement. I'd hope for around 5% or better with your kamm and skirts. Then close your grille off at top, leaving the undergrille open (or block off the whole right side to funnel air into the radiator and block the rest).

Karl

[Darlo]

Wow! So many responses!

GenevaDirt - FIXED (The pics are now 480x640, as per the rules)

Aaronbrook37 - You are mostly correct.....I read a lot of different threads on ecomodder.com, but I dont specifically recall MetroGuy (is he the one with the black metro?)

SuperDaveGulvak - You are correct, this is meant as a cheap mock up for something more perm in the future (this cost a mere $30, $20 for the Coroplast and $10 for the extra strength duct tape)

Pu241 - I still have half of the 4x8 sheet of Coroplast for the air dam/grill block. My car never reaches temperature in the winter (not even close) so I feel comfortable with totally blocking the grill.

festivaWES - I also would love to go Alt-less, and just rely on Batteries, although most of time around here solar is not very useful, so I would simply plug in the 3-4 deep-cycles at night. I also may go full boat tail, but theoretically the Kamm should get me at least 50% of the savings, and is a lot easier, lol.

Safety Guy - Despite how it looks, I am still able to see quite well out the back! I also have some parabolic mirrors strategically placed to improve this (as I have no exterior mirrors either).....If you were to sit in mine with the extra mirrors, and then sit in a stock festiva, mine would have less blind spots! I would not feel comfortable/safe if I could not see well.

Too all - I will hopefully be filling the car on Wednesday night, so I hope to see an increase right away, but if the increase is small I may need to wait a few weeks and compare to my existing average.

Too all the people who think it is ugly.......:blah5:.......Think of it as an experiment....In the same way that some may try to shave off fractions of a second in the 1/4 mile, I am trying to increase my mpg in the same way......who cares if it is ugly, I dont need a "cool" car to feel good about myself, haha.....