Any East Coast folks know what this is?

Any East Coast folks know what this is? (Re-bodied rear engined TDI)

Spotted and photographed by a user over at ecomodder.com; see thread at http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/what-spotted-rear-engine-tdi-custom-aero-body-26074.html.



A rear shot reveals a TDI badge and a New York license plate (see the Ecomodder thread; since the number is still visible, I didn't want to post it here). Might get better than 40mpg?

It has a sooty bumper.

From "pulse & glide" probably...

Or from bad aerodynamics at the back, it doesn't look right.

Also cool was the post below that. A corvette with a diesel v8 getting 40mpg. It would be really awkward pulling up next to it and hearing a diesel instead of the normal sound you'd expect.

MikeMars said:

Or from bad aerodynamics at the back, it doesn't look right.

Click to expand...

Ya, the slope is pretty steep from rear tire to tail lights... much steeper than the ideal 10 - 12%, I think...

Pretty cool looking, whether or not it's perfectly aero-engineered. I'd be interested in more details.

I was under the impression that a rear slope of around 7-10 degrees was optimal. Granted, that could be done without too much work, most likely...

Would be interesting to see if the owner is on the club and could share details. Based on the soot, I'm guessing 1Z/AHU or ALH.

I think someone needs to track this guy down and figure out what's up! Calling all New Yorkers!

bhtooefr said:

I was under the impression that a rear slope of around 7-10 degrees was optimal. Granted, that could be done without too much work, most likely...

Click to expand...

Yep, I was off... For the rear slope up from the under-body, a much shallower slope would be better... more like around 3° ...


From Kohri I., Numata N., Effects of rear end configuration of vehicles on aerodynamic drag, JSAE Review, December 1985.

Oh, I was off, too.

Interesting how things change as the body shape changes. It also illustrates quite nicely why a sedan will get better mileage than a hatch (at least a Golf) or wagon (well, at least half of the problem).

... tongue in cheekiness ...

Some sort of 74 mpg car that was designed and fabricated in 1987......

That is quite a nice build, 87homebuilttdi! Do you have any more details about the build itself? Finally discovered your pics in the gallery

Wheel toe check today...MPG increase

Checked the toe on front and back today because I had a nagging feeling that it "settled" into a slightly different position than I had set it (zero) and I was right. Fixed that and did three mileage runs at 60 mph, the new MPG is 84-85.
The toe moved due to the clearance in many bolt holes and the fasteners slowly moving to their hole edges because of vehicle forces. Now it's "pre-loaded and should stay correct. The toe-in was approximately 0.100" per wheel, 0.200" total. The test was at 60 mph on cruise control. Mileage is getting better but still looking for more...

Would love to see this thing at TDIFest this year.