Belly Pan slowing me down

[QuickLTD]

The only case of actual intake/inlet thrust I have ever heard of is on the SR71 Blackbird. It has a movable cone in each of its two inlets.

"AT MACH 2.2 THE INLET PRODUCES 13% OF THE OVERALL
THRUST, THE ENGINE AND EJECTOR ACCOUNTING FOR 73%
AND 14% RESPECTIVELY"

Source: Page 15 of this PDF
http://www.enginehistory.org/Convent...ropulsion2.pdf

[LeanBurninating]

p51 just flew over my house... sounds so good. So back on topic, how has your belly pan been performing after your changes?

[wdb]

Originally Posted by wildfire8

Been busy.
I made an exhaust port on the belly pan. Check the pics.
[...]
I took that off bumper block on just drove home on the streets 43mph and saw my MPG numbers go quite high and the load go lower then usual. And that was with no bumper/grill block and just the exhaust port. I don't feel the parachute effect any more.

Nice job on the engine compartment exhaust port.

I have an aftermarket front underpanel on my Honda Fit (see this thread) and it has a little downward lip bent into its trailing edge. The installation hardware is such that there is about a 1/2" gap between the car and the panel at that trailing edge.

Have you noticed any other effects from the underpanel other than fuel economy? Less buffeting at highway speeds, better control of the car during cornering, anything like that?

[wildfire8]

Originally Posted by sepp

just a question, you say that the front blocks made your temps go up. i suppose thats from reading your scangauge? but im interested to know if you also notice that your standard car temp needle or whatever is higher than usual? i would be interested to know that, as i have blocked my entire front and my temp needle stays at the verry same position as where it used to be before. but i don't have a scangauge to doublecheck.

Withe the cars temp needle it stays about the same position even if the temp have gone up on my scan gauge. It stays just under half temp and that is 182-184f and when I look at my scan gauge it says 193f and it is still at that same spot. Anything above that and the needle starts to go up. So I would recommend getting a Scan Gauge it has helped me a lot. I like to use the feature that tells your max temp for the current trip and that is when I get a little worried. I have seen my temps hit 220f and that was with the needle hitting red.

Originally Posted by LeanBurninating

p51 just flew over my house... sounds so good. So back on topic, how has your belly pan been performing after your changes?

Once I made the exhaust port my numbers came up. It feels a lot better. I have made a grill block and am not absolutely sure how much it is helping so far. My temps did go up a little but only to 193f and it stays at 182-184f most of the time.

Originally Posted by wdb

Nice job on the engine compartment exhaust port.

I have an aftermarket front underpanel on my Honda Fit (see this thread) and it has a little downward lip bent into its trailing edge. The installation hardware is such that there is about a 1/2" gap between the car and the panel at that trailing edge.

Have you noticed any other effects from the underpanel other than fuel economy? Less buffeting at highway speeds, better control of the car during cornering, anything like that?

What do you mean by buffeting at highway speeds? My coast down has gone up slightly. Lets me coast a little bit longer with out losing to much speed. Cornering I have not noticed cuz my car has some body role and I am not always cornering hard. I do when I am getting off the freeway and it a right turn where I don't have to stop. I try and time my coast down so that I hit the corners at about 35mph and am able to still coast to the first light where I end up turning and needing to use brakes or stop but try not too. I do corner hard on some slower streets so I don't have to use my brakes.

Here are some pics of my brill block. I was having a hard time making it. I made 4-6 different paper temples before I got the right size. The opening at the top by the hood helps me get in the engine. I had to cuz it in half to get it to go with the curve of the grill. It kept popping up when I hadn't. I am using some double sided tape I got from harbor frate. It says in the uses for sticking car body panels back together.

The last picture is of me trying a new bumper bock. I got the idea form an ecomodder's Scion XB with the lower part of the bumper blocked off. Temps got to hot with that idea 202f. I have 1 more idea for a bumper block I will try.

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi,

I think that if you sealed up the gap at the front of the hood (at the headlights and the grill), you would see a bigger benefit from the upper grill block.

[wildfire8]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

Hi,

I think that if you sealed up the gap at the front of the hood (at the headlights and the grill), you would see a bigger benefit from the upper grill block.

I just need to find some tape that won't leave residue on my car. I thought I should close the gap but have yet. Will try later. I have been using blue panters tape. But when it get soaked it started coming up.

[cfg83]

wildfire8 -

Originally Posted by wildfire8

I just need to find some tape that won't leave residue on my car. I thought I should close the gap but have yet. Will try later. I have been using blue panters tape. But when it get soaked it started coming up.

You could also put spongy window insulation stuff on the underside of the hood to help close/limit the gap.

CarloSW2

[winkosmosis]

Originally Posted by wildfire8

I just need to find some tape that won't leave residue on my car. I thought I should close the gap but have yet. Will try later. I have been using blue panters tape. But when it get soaked it started coming up.

Gaffer tape won't leave residue. There are some waterproof ones.

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi,

Yes, I should have said that I would recommend a foam gasket that sticks to the inside surfaces, and it lets you open the hood w/o having to redo it every time.

[wildfire8]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

Hi,

Yes, I should have said that I would recommend a foam gasket that sticks to the inside surfaces, and it lets you open the hood w/o having to redo it every time.

Where would I buy that?

I had been meening to cut some of the extra pan in the back it was just lose and probably flopping in the air. I finaly got to it today I took some pics.

pic 1 left side the beam is where its atatched and there is the rest just lose.
pic 2 left side pulling it down
pic 3 right side after cut
pic 4 the 2 pices I cut off
pic 5 left side after cut