Calibra good enough ?

[chipX]

Hey again all.
Have now set my sights on another project car ( instead than the triumph ).
A calibra 2.0 8v!! Stock cd = 0.26 , so pretty effecient.
However, would there be any mods i could do to improve this much ? The car comes with undertray etc.
Do you think i would get any decent gains ? Or would i be wasting time on this car as its allready at a " clean " state of tune ,aerodynamically speaking
-regards - Mark

[chipX]

Any ideas ?
Ideas So far =
Better wheels
Thinner tires
1 Front wiper delete
1 mirror delete
rear wiper delete
antenna delete
lower ( to reduce frontal are + fill wheel arches more )
silicone any panel gaps.
fill door handles.
bottom grille block
.
Do you think this would help much?
Like get the cd to 0.24 ?

[MetroMPG]

Generally, it's harder to improve on a car with a lower Cd, because the low hanging fruit has already been picked.

FYI: Info & video - Opel Calibra - Cd 0.26

Despite that, there's probably still some improvement to be made:

- remove a side mirror or two
- potentially further grille blocking (though the 8v Calibra already has a reduced grille area)
- rear wheel skirts

... Have a look here for anything else that may apply from the List of aero mods you can do to your vehicle.

[MetroMPG]

To me, those wheels look pretty optimised already.

I think it's reasonable to expect at least .24 with a mirror & rear wiper delete, plus further grille blocking (upper opening).

Also, I wonder just how much of an undertray there is. I bet it could be improved on.

[lunarhighway]

nice car!

i just bought a vectra a hatchback...on wich the calibra was based...it's "only" got a 0.29Cd...and a far less exiting, (but possibly more economic 1.6i engine) but i'm planning so mods like an undertray...

this video has an interesing fact about the calibra around 3:15

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB2P_WOeqyg

aparently the 16v versions had a much higher Cd... up to 0.29 because the upper grill was open....and it has wider tires, so blocking the grill would have a rather large effect...

also if the upper grill is already blocked you might want to fair over the opening at the outside, that will smooth things out further.

do you have a picture of the undertray? i've been looking all over the internet but i just can't find a single picture of the thing. i wonder if it would fit on my vec, or at least find out how it attaches so i could build something similar.

[MetroMPG]

Hi, lunarhighway. Welcome to the site

[Lazarus]

Does any one have EPA numbers for it?

Welcome to the site Lunarhighway.

[lunarhighway]

oops just noticed the video had already been posted... stupid me.

i just remembered another thing i might do to the vec. perhaps the calibra setup is better but the vectra only has small airdam extentions in front of the wheels and the suspention at the front of the bumper... perhaps adding these little flaps directly in front of the wheels that are quite common now would help. i started to notice them a few years ago and now they're everywhere. maybe at the time of the calibra and the vectra they haden't been invented, at least not in that form.... pretty easy retrofit so that might do some good