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General Information => Upgrades (non engine related ) => Topic started by: hillfolk'r on March 06, 2006, 04:45:59 pm

Title: body mods
Post by: hillfolk'r on March 06, 2006, 04:45:59 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??

Title: body mods
Post by: hillfolk'r on March 18, 2006, 04:15:03 pm

whats the problem,,everyone scared???

Title: body mod
Post by: fatmobile on March 19, 2006, 01:42:23 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.

Title: body mods
Post by: hillfolk'r on March 19, 2006, 09:35:38 am

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,,,,

Title: body mods
Post by: tadleyjane on May 02, 2006, 02:02:29 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.

Title: body mods
Post by: hillfolk'r on May 02, 2006, 03:42:42 pm

sweet!! pics will be nice to visualize :D

Title: body mods
Post by: BlackTieTD on May 02, 2006, 05:16:20 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.

Title: body mods
Post by: hillfolk'r on May 02, 2006, 08:57:38 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:

Title: body mods
Post by: BlackTieTD on May 02, 2006, 09:00:34 pm

im all for the crap look!  :lol:

my fairings were about $70 canadian from the dealer :)

Title: body mods
Post by: tadleyjane on May 03, 2006, 06:36:34 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

Title: Rain Gutter Delete
Post by: ODwyerPW on May 22, 2006, 07:04:14 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.

Title: body mods
Post by: 745 turbogreasel on May 23, 2006, 02:48:02 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.

Title: body mods
Post by: macsdub on May 25, 2006, 09:34:37 am

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

Title: body mods
Post by: knowtwodrugs on August 15, 2006, 06:18:37 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.

Title: body mods
Post by: RabbitJockey on August 15, 2006, 07:00:58 pm

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