Coefficient of Drag

"Tomes" <askme@here.net> wrote in message
news:9Izth.13877$pQ3.11309@newsread4.news.pas.earthlink.net...[color=blue][color=green]
>>
>> Note the words "maintain decent interior room" without increasing drag.
>> I can't see how those Prius side humps would help, except to maintain
>> forward momentum in a crosswind.
>>
>> ******
>> Tomes blew my headroom theory out the window, at least the aerodynamic
>> part should still be valid :-). The humps will not maintain forward
>> momentum in a crosswind.
>>
>> Ray O[/color]
>
> Sorry Ray.... [grin]
>[/color]
Apology accepted ;-)

I really try not to make too many car mistakes, but they sometimes slip
through. Join TeGGeR, Bruce, qslsm, MDTech, and Philip's "Caught Ray's
Mistake" club.
--

Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)

Bill Tuthill wrote:
[color=blue]
> Well, more like a teardrop than a pickup without camper shell, which
> has
> a dead area behind the cab, a wind baffle at the far back, and
> another
> dead area behind the tailgate. Anecdotal evidence says driving with
> the gate down increase fuel economy about 10%.[/color]

Any credible test I have seen shows that driving with the tailgate
down increases fuel consumption relative to driving with the tailgate
closed. The "Mythbusters" beat this one to death. In their experiments
(not perfect by any means), tailgate up beat tailgate down, but
tailgate net (OE tailgate removed) beat both. I am not sure why the
net would be better than either of the other options, but that was
their results. Lots of other tests have shown tailgate up is better
than tailgate down. It is possible no tailgate at all might be the
best. At least that way you are removing some weight. For years the
first thing my Father did when he got a new pick-up for the farm was
to remove the tailgate and store it in the barn. Always looked funny
when he traded trucks - beat up truck with a near perfect tailgate.

Ed

"Ray O" <rokigawaATtristarassociatesDOTcom> wrote in message
news:752cd$45b6f46a$47c2b532$16717@msgid.meganewsservers.com...[color=blue]
> I really try not to make too many car mistakes, but they sometimes slip
> through. Join TeGGeR, Bruce, qslsm, MDTech, and Philip's "Caught Ray's
> Mistake" club.[/color]

Whatever happened to those guys?

"Tomes" <askme@here.net> wrote in message
news:3COth.14977$yx6.1347@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net...[color=blue]
> "Ray O" <rokigawaATtristarassociatesDOTcom> wrote in message
> news:752cd$45b6f46a$47c2b532$16717@msgid.meganewsservers.com...[color=green]
>> I really try not to make too many car mistakes, but they sometimes slip
>> through. Join TeGGeR, Bruce, qslsm, MDTech, and Philip's "Caught Ray's
>> Mistake" club.[/color]
>
> Whatever happened to those guys?
>[/color]
Bruce and TeGGeR occasionally chime in here. qslm joined the U.S. Air Force
{thank you qslm for stepping up to the plate!!!}but still shows up here
occasionally. MDTech, Philip, Bruce, and TeGGeR hang out at a Toyota yahoo
group that they moderate.
--

Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)

Mark <bogusmailmark@yahoo.com> wrote:[color=blue]
>
> Good post Ed, here's some more evidence [tailgate down is worse] -
>
> [url]http://www.cartalk.com/content/columns/Archive/1997/October/05.html[/url][/color]

Interesting. Moreover, stuff doesn't fall out as much with it closed.

Anybody know whether a camper shell is better than with-tailgate closed?
I would assume that the smooth-roof camper shells would be superior
to those with a hump.

"Bill Tuthill" <ccreekin@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:45b7c01e@news.meer.net...[color=blue]
> Mark <bogusmailmark@yahoo.com> wrote:[color=green]
>>
>> Good post Ed, here's some more evidence [tailgate down is worse] -
>>
>> [url]http://www.cartalk.com/content/columns/Archive/1997/October/05.html[/url][/color]
>
> Interesting. Moreover, stuff doesn't fall out as much with it closed.
>
> Anybody know whether a camper shell is better than with-tailgate closed?
> I would assume that the smooth-roof camper shells would be superior
> to those with a hump.
>[/color]

I drove a 1967 El Camino about 300,000 miles that had a removable shell & carpeted insert.
They would improve my highway mileage 2+mpg and the weight made it handle much better.

Dan

oh ya, it was a 283ci V8

"Bill Tuthill" <ccreekin@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:45b7c01e@news.meer.net...[color=blue]
> Mark <bogusmailmark@yahoo.com> wrote:[color=green]
>>
>> Good post Ed, here's some more evidence [tailgate down is worse] -
>>
>> [url]http://www.cartalk.com/content/columns/Archive/1997/October/05.html[/url][/color]
>
> Interesting. Moreover, stuff doesn't fall out as much with it
> closed.[/color]

You would think so, but despite removing the tailgate from most of his
pick-ups, my Father never had anything fall out the rear. But he was a
careful driver. In almost 70 years of driving he never had a ticket
and he only had one collision while he was driving (he hit a deer).

My Father always had some sort of farm dog. Most loved to ride in the
rear of the truck. It always worried me that they might jump out
while truck was moving. When I asked him if the dogs ever did that, he
said, they usually only tried it once [and they learned their lesson -
I don't think one was actually injured].

One more thing, when you ride in the back of a pick-up truck you
notice that things in the bed tend to blow towards the cab, not out
the back. Even with the tailgate in place and closed, things still
tend to blow up against the front wall of the bed. This supports the
idea that there is a rotating "bubble of air" formed in the bed.

Ed