Quote:
Originally Posted by winkosmosis
Wow, that's a huge improvement. I wonder how much of the improvement is from the boattail, and how much from the belly pan
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My hand is still gimped up from the Mesquite puncture wound so will try and be productive on internet today.----- I brought my paper on the VW project.This is what I can share:*the standard baseline tank - mpg over 3668 miles of testing was 23.795 mpg,at a steady 55-mph( the Federal National Speed Limit).--------------------------------------------------------------------- With addition of all-season steel radial tires and bellypan,and after 981 test miles,the tank mileage was 26.136 mpg(a 9.83% increase).---------------------------------------------------------------- With addition of boattail and cardboard rear wheel skirts and 589.4 test miles,the tank mileage was 30.187 mpg ave..According to A.J.Scibor-Rylski,total shielding of the rear wheels would allow a maximum 1% drag reduction( 1/2% mpg improvement).Since the boattail and wheel skirts added 15.5% mpg,deducting the half percent for the wheel skirts leaves 15%,as the contribution from the boattail,or,just over 4-mpg from the boattail.---------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: the testing was conducted between Lubbock,Texas and Ruidoso,N.M.,along the path through Roswell,N.M.and included mountain driving on significant grades.The highest mileage (35.6 mpg) was attained on the level portions of West Texas and Eastern New Mexico.