Author Topic: body mods (Read 6089 times)

hillfolk'r · « **on:** March 06, 2006, 07:45:59 pm »

heyanyone ever shave the raingutters?im talkin rabbit,,,,,iwas thinkin a little better aero,,because theymake those " a" pillar fairings,,, iheard they cut down on wind noise,,,,why not cut off the gutter,and it would probably achieve the same effect as the fairings,besides a little custom look,iwas thinkin of trying some testing withsome duct tape or somethin,,,,anyone else cuttin on their bunny??

hillfolk'r · « **Reply #1 on:** March 18, 2006, 07:15:03 pm »

whats the problem,,everyone scared???

fatmobile · « **Reply #2 on:** March 19, 2006, 04:42:23 am »

I haven't heard of anyone even suggesting this before.
First thing I thought of was the picture of the things they put on the hood.
Someone posted a picture of them, I think it was on this forum.
They ran along both sides of the hood, stood up about 1 1/2".
They were supposed to trap air on the hood and push the car downward.
...so first thing I thought when you mentioned this was the rain gutters probably trap air on the top of the car and might push the car downward.

hillfolk'r · « **Reply #3 on:** March 19, 2006, 12:35:38 pm »

naw thats ok,,i probably wasnt tooclear in my explination,,brain fade,,,,for the a1 cars they have these " a pillar covers",,they say theyhelp the aerodynamics around the windshield,cause of the little gutter lip causes turbulance,and wind noise,even a slight mileage improvement,not much,like .5mpg,,but the faster you go,,the more drag,,im almost tempted to try some "testing" with some duct tape or thin sheetmetal or somethin,,,,,iwas wondering if anyone has tried this,,i saw a few pics onvortex,,,,a few people said the doors may leakwater though,,,,,,then i was thinkin to shave the gutter in the windshield area,and leave it on the roofline,the fox isaw on vortexlooked pretty cool,,,,

tadleyjane · « **Reply #4 on:** May 02, 2006, 05:02:29 pm »

you will like what i have to tell ya... i just "installed" a 1997 neon sport front bumper/airdam on the front of my 81 caddy i will try to post a pic tonight when in get home it is good for 1-2mpg increase when driving 65-70mph! and it doesnt look too bad either.

hillfolk'r · « **Reply #5 on:** May 02, 2006, 06:42:42 pm »

sweet!! pics will be nice to visualize

BlackTieTD · « **Reply #6 on:** May 02, 2006, 08:16:20 pm »

some people have gone about this by cutting out a ~1" section and welding as they go to avoid cutting up the works and rewelding. seems a lot of work for minimal gain, if any. i have the a-pillar fairings but have yet to install them, so no report on effects.

hillfolk'r · « **Reply #7 on:** May 02, 2006, 11:57:38 pm »

Quote from: BlackTieTD

some people have gone about this by cutting out a ~1" section and welding as they go to avoid cutting up the works and rewelding. seems a lot of work for minimal gain, if any. i have the a-pillar fairings but have yet to install them, so no report on effects.

i cant justify 120$ for a piece of plastic,,iused duct tape at the drag strip :roll: ,not as pretty as the real apillar fairings though,,but it adds a touch of "chrome" if you are going for the old school look :roll: ,or a crap look :shock:

BlackTieTD · « **Reply #8 on:** May 03, 2006, 12:00:34 am »

im all for the crap look! :lol:

my fairings were about $70 canadian from the dealer

tadleyjane · « **Reply #9 on:** May 03, 2006, 09:36:34 pm »

the donor airdam was free from a ditch where a neon had wrecked the night before somewhere along my commute to work. didnt know it was from a neon til i saw another one still mounted on a car. here is a link to the pics of what will become the "aerocaddy" or aerobunny- not sure yet what to nickname it. regards, tad
http://community.webshots.com/myphotos?action=viewAllPhotos&albumID=550065444&security=UcgVro

ODwyerPW · « **Reply #10 on:** May 22, 2006, 10:04:14 pm »

Hillrfolk,
I was thinking the same thing. Used to own a couple of 84 GTIs. I had 3 thoughts regarding the noise:

1. This thing could really use a 6th gear.
2. These vent windows make allot of windnoise
3. I bet things would quite down if I grinded off those rain gutters too.

Because of issues 1 & 2, I found my GTIs to less pleasurable to drive than my Diesels with respect to noise.

My next A1 will be a GTD. I will use the non bonded windshield so that I can incorporate those A pillar shields to cut down on noise. I won't have door vent windows. I will have an extremely tall 5th gear and final drive.

745 turbogreasel · « **Reply #11 on:** May 23, 2006, 05:48:02 pm »

This might be on the spendy side, but...
fill the guttters with minimum expanding foam, let it dry.
shave foam flush wth a breadknife and sand it down a tiny bit.
skim a coat of bondo over the foam for a nice sculpted look and spraypaint.

macsdub · « **Reply #12 on:** May 25, 2006, 12:34:37 pm »

spendy?heehee i like it,,i did try duct tape at the drags,seems ok(hillfolkr)

knowtwodrugs · « **Reply #13 on:** August 15, 2006, 09:18:37 am »

I've never seen an mk1 with the rain gutters grinded off. Anyone ever done this? I don't like those things anyway. Interesting idea. Would probably make everything look a lot smoother too.

RabbitJockey · « **Reply #14 on:** August 15, 2006, 10:00:58 pm »

be careful if you ditch the gutter, i am fairly certain that is where the seam exists for the roof

Author Topic: body mods (Read 6089 times)

745 turbogreasel