air dam material???
 

what is the cheapest/best air dam material to experiment with? Looking to build a secondary air dam to offset some of the losses from the lift (2005 Ram diesel 4x4)

A few people on here talk about "lawn edging". I've never tried it myself, but it seems like a reasonable idea if your project will be staying within it's limits.

Conveyor belt is good too. It's very tough. I've dragged mine on the road plenty of times with no damage.

The lawn edging wouldnt be wide enough. Would the conveyor belt be stiff enough??? Havent measured it yet but i think it would need to be about 8-12" wide and about 4' long

What im thinking is a 2 piece setup, 1 piece mounted permanantly and the 2nd piece would bolt to it allowing me to play with height and shape. Wondering what would be strong enough to hold its shape under there

Why don't you try a metal rod already. The 2 piece setup/idea is great. On the other hand conveyor belt seems pretty handy in the situation. I guess trying both the methods or even hybridizing them may get the job done.

Just don't increase your frontal area too much
 

Many more people smarter than I (aerohead, etc.), have always said there is a sweet spot in air dam sizing, too much does more harm than good, or is of neutral value.

Great thread here:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post252900

I referenced figure A and B when deciding to just do a dam in front of my tires for now, leaving the center open, and maybe do a belly pan in the spring. YMMV of course, the tough part is, there are some general rules of thumb that get quickly complicated because each vehicle is so different underneath.

I like the double section, hinging idea. I was thinking about hinging even for a single section one, but decided on my spats / airdams in front of tires just for now:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post333461

You can see the 6" deep lawn edging material I used, a link is in my signature below.

After several Michigan winters it's starting to crack along the top bead. It's been on since March 2009, hope to make to 4-years next spring.

I've mended a tear in it when I spun and hit a snow/ice pile with some 2-part epoxy glue and a lawn edge patch on the back side.

I went over a curb while backing up when I cut my wheels to early, need to repair that now.

The guys on the race track use conveyor belt material for a reason, it can take a beating (but costs and weighs more).

Yeah I saw that thread of yours with the S10. I could probably find a way to make that work by making the brackets extend down lower. I will go have a look. Thanks guys!

I use 3/8" ripstop conveyor belting.

My air dam is about 24" wide and is partially supported by a couple of aluminum plates.

Expensive. Hard to work. Nearly indestructible. Impervious to heat, cold, gasoline, road kill, curbs, etc. Had mine on the truck for five years now.

When I have to replace it (who knows when? - it looks A-OK) next time I'll make a paper pattern, pay the shop rate and have it sheared and punched by a pro.

Grade clearance is an issue I'm afraid only a wind tunnel can give you an optimum answer. For a while I had full-width 3" ground clearance. Looked dorky and ground everytime I stopped but gave the best MPG. Now I have 6" grade clearance in front of the tires and 10" between (just covers the steering. Looks better, never grinds and doesn't give as good MPG.

Where do you buy the conveyor belt material?

A few years ago a chain store started moving into SE Michigan, they sell it there.

Tractor Supply Company - Home

I'm sure you can find it on-line somewhere, be careful to include shipping cost into your budget, it weighs a bit.

Does anyone know if you can poke holes though it with a soldering iron?

Are you supposed to drill through it?

Clamp on to it with bindings or toothed pressure bars?

OK, just got back from a couple of hardware stores and as recommended, the garden strip should work. I found 3 different types, 1 fiberglass, 1 some sort of composite recycled whatchamacallits which is available in 5" width however it is too thick, and the traditional 4" stuff everyone has been using. I took some measurements and realized there is a great opportunity up there and really need 5" width. Brackets to hold it in place should be no problem.

So after lunch and job seeking stuff (really gets in the way hahaha) I am going to head over to a well stocked nursery the wife visits and se what they have. If I can find what I'm after, I should be able to have this done at the end of the day. (boy am I optimistic hahaha)

Maybe not as durable, but perhaps a couple of pieces of sandwiched corrugated plastic coroplast from a sign shop would be cheap and stiff to let you mount and design how you see fit, and rigid enough for the short to medium term to see how it works. But finding the widest lawn edging to meet meets would be best.

This way you can make it as wide as you need, or go the big Dave way and go with it lower in front of tires and not as low in middle.

trucks a 4x4 and lifted 3"... there is a whole lotta crap hanging down below the oem air dam

Just got back from the material search.... found a 5" wide landscape border that should work fine. It is brown however so I will have to paint it if it stays. It is also not smooth so I may have to do something with that. It is thin enough to be able to mold it to the shape I want, will probably have to get a heat gun to help shape some of it.

on a side note... during the drive today (city mostly) I decided to block the air intake from the front of the truck and force it to draw air in from the engine compartment. Tossed up the obdII monitor to watch IAT's and observed that the motor felt (no really, butt dyno verified hahaha) noticeably stronger on the bottom end. Its been my contention that the motor runs best with ambient temps in the 80~90*f range. Today temps are colder than what it has been in the past few days and with the IAT's up 10~15* from yesterday...two thumbs up..

In case anyone is wondering I have a goal to get a consistent 20 mpg out of my truck without removing the lift. I have already given the truck a partial makeover in the form of lighter wheels, taller, narrower tires and ditched the boat anchor tonneau cover I had on there. I have been able to squeeze out a 21.5 mpg over 150 mile trip from Sacramento to Fresno so I know I'm heading in the right direction. Once I have it dialed in with the air dam & 2 other mods I want to do I will switch over to writing a mpg tune for the motor. Should be able to improve it over what its doing now.

Tonneau should have helped some.

Get rid of the lift.

not getting rid of the lift at this point in time... Already near the goal so no point if I can squeeze out another mpg thru the remaining mods. If my truck were a pavement queen the lift would be pointless. Since it is not, lift stays.

Sounds like too many extra things to contend with in my opinion.

My local ACE True-value Hardware store carries the black 6-inch lawn edging. Maybe the wrong time of year to go looking for such stuff.

sandpaper & a can of paint? Well good thing they are all cheap and I have nothing to do most of the day.

1st version installed... probably will change it up some though. It extends approx 75% across and is mounted to the swaybar mounts and drops approx 3" below the OEM spoiler.. I think it could be better by extending all the way over to the inside of the OEM lower lip. I took before & after shots however I hadnt painted it yet so its brown. Hard to tell its there without looking for it. Total cost under $30 bux (no paint since I had some).

anyways, time will tell on mpg changes.

I was going to say cardboard and duct tape, which is what I am attempting for mine. I will post it when finished.

Wont hold up, the wind will bend it pretty quick plus, 1st rain & its done.

On my thread concerning my underbelly pan, I have several comments and pics on the effect of the air/wind on moving cars.
DONOT underestimate the ability of the air to rip something off.
It peeled back gorilla tape.........:eek:

must have pics!!!!

Must???:p took a before & after yesterday however it was before I painted it. I also believe it is too flexible and will need a reinforcement bar behind it. Going to work on that before putting it back on. Then I'll get a fresh after pic.

Maybe you can give me some feedback on the width of this thing... had thoughts of getting out to the front fenderwell or more coverage but realized it would need more supporting framing behind it and bailed on that for this version. If there is any mpg improvement from this then I may revise it and go wider.

edit: Oh yeah, forgot to mention... it is not obvious it is there unless you poke your head under there. It sits far enough back so it does not look odd in anyway and should not impact approach angles while off road.

Pics found here... http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post345533