bellypan on only half

[momorris]

Hi all.

I have a kia picanto and so far have fitted a full lower grill cover. half upper grill cover. I have tried smooth wheel covers on the rear only by taping over the hub cap holes. So far all is good and i have seen a definate increase.

my coroplast is due to arrive this week and i intend to split a sheet and make full wheel covers for front and rear. I dont know what to do with the rest however. I did originally intend to belly pan but the problem will be the exhaust (do you normally split the pan to allow the exhaust open air?) and the suspension components. Towards the rear it would be easy to fit a pan straight across the underside. Would having only the rear covered cause any problems?

Or would an air dam be a better option and if so is their a specific height from the ground for best effect.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by momorris

Hi all.

I have a kia picanto and so far have fitted a full lower grill cover. half upper grill cover. I have tried smooth wheel covers on the rear only by taping over the hub cap holes. So far all is good and i have seen a definate increase.

my coroplast is due to arrive this week and i intend to split a sheet and make full wheel covers for front and rear. I dont know what to do with the rest however. I did originally intend to belly pan but the problem will be the exhaust (do you normally split the pan to allow the exhaust open air?) and the suspension components. Towards the rear it would be easy to fit a pan straight across the underside. Would having only the rear covered cause any problems?

Or would an air dam be a better option and if so is their a specific height from the ground for best effect.

If you have the clearance,metal heat shields can be attached to either the exhaust or the upper surface of the pan.Or you can leave close quarters areas uncovered.Fiberglass exhaust header wrap can also mitigate high heat areas of low clearance.
As far as the pan itself,wind tunnel investigations have determined that one should start at the front and work back.
This morning I measured almost a 2-mpg loss due to removing the forward 1/3rd of my pan.Ouch!!!!!!!!!

[momorris]

Thanks for the reply. Better start at the front then. I already run on LPG and was getting 450 miles from a tank (85 litres) after freeing up some binding brakes I saw 600. Wheels and grill gave 760 miles from 100 litres (I had to stick an extra £10 in) with some gas left. All of this has also been combined with an ecomodder driving style so I cant say what is due to the mods exactly but as long as its moving in the right direction im happy.

Edited to add: The last time I used exhaust wrap I was putting it around a pulse tuned header, how times can change.

[mcrews]

Welcome!! way to jump in!

[brucepick]

Have a look at these threads.

Belly Pan Build with pics - '97 Civic This one's my own belly pan build, with some notes on how I dealt with the exhaust system.

Belly pan how-to

There's a ton of aero mod threads in the Project Library in the section "Project Section: Aerodynamic mods - fabrication", and more than a few discuss belly pans:EcoModder Project Library - EcoModder.com