The headlight chrome rings are a poor fit, not very tight. Interesting idea to foam them, and along the hood gap.
I'm heading towards the bigger-bang-for-a-buck changes first, and will see how much is gained there.
I will be pulling the body back off this winter to finish & paint it. At that point, I will probably angle the windshield back a bit too.
I completely agree about test, test, test. The data tells all :-)
Putting a dome shape on to the grill block makes a lot of sense, but I'm not so sure how I would fabricate that shape and make it look decent. Already started measuring a flat one. The material cost is low, so I will start with flat. If I can manage a domed one, then it will be interesting to see the resulting numbers compared to flat.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Galane
Full belly pan. Grille block that's flush with the front of the opening, slightly domed would do a better job than flat. Seal up the insides of the wheel wells as much as you can.
Something for going to extremes would be a filler or gasket around the headlamps to seal the gap between them and the trim rings. Might find some sort of smooth skinned foam weatherstripping that's the perfect thing. Glue it around the inside of the trim ring so it fits snugly to the edge of the bulb retaining ring. Turn an air collection spot into an air deflection spot.
Examine how the sealing at the front edge of the hood on the 1996 and up 3rd generation Taurus and Sable was done. Weather stripping to smooth out the gaps at the front and rear of the hood will help a bit. Would have to do before and after tuft testing to see what, if any effect it'd have.
Air going around the relatively smooth exterior will make less drag than air going through the rough and tumble of the mechanical bits inside the car.
Lots of little details combined to squeeze out more efficiency.
Look at the current motorhomes. They still have all sorts of greeblies stuck here and there, but many of the bits and pieces have been getting individual "slick" redesigns. Looks smoother but do they all together reduce drag any?
Can only tell by testing, same as with attempting to reduce the drag on a body style like the Cobra.
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