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Old 10-20-2011, 07:11 PM   #225 (permalink)
aerohead
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gaps

Quote:
Originally Posted by jimepting View Post
A question Phil,

Do you think it is worthwhile to use silicon, cut level and to shape, to fill the front end gaps around the headlights, bumper, etc. ? I don't recall finding anything in Hucho on the subject.
Jim,I think Hucho dodges this one 'cause he seems to dwell more with production than modding.
GM taped every gap,except the driver door on the EV-1 for their LSR runs at Ft.Stockton,so you can gather that they weren't leaving anything on the table.
Fiat taped all body seams on a Ritmo for a wind tunnel study in the 1980s and dropped the drag around 30% ( I'd have to dig out the article to say for certain).
I think its fruit we can pluck.Any perturbation of the airfield around the car is absorbing energy from the engine so the small details make sense to go after.
I think Mike has addressed this some with respect to his AeroCivic.
If I can ever get to Bonneville on time I'll be sweating out all these details myself!
The guys (and gals ) use '200-mph tape' on everything out there.
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