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A little update and some thoughts:
Since the last update the blue 1964 have been cut to fragments and seized to exsist as a car. The 1974 body is stripped from doors, windows etc and I have welded the 1964 "shortnose" front to it. Then came the winter...
A cold garage means lot of time to think however!
I see three ways to proceed:
1: Put the car together as a functional vehicle just to get it out in the streets with minimum effort and continue my thinking for a later modification. Since the resulting car will be much the same as my everyday 96 V4 except for the 2-stroke engine and the short nose I don't expect a sensational experience. Some of the work will also have been for nothing when I later start modifying the body.
2: Stay with the original body and later make the aeromods as pure attachments (like a hitch-ball extension).
3: Go "all out" from start, or at least do something wild. Modifications are welded directly to the body. This is the most exciting alternative but I have to make it right and efficient. The front can be left in original shape to a later modification and I will concentrate on the rear end.
I've been playing with "The Template" and if that is to be followed the car will either have a very long tail or the roof needs a long extension forward covering the entire bonnet/hood. I don't like any of these alternatives so the question is how good or bad it can get if I just stretch out the tail about 1-1½ meters (3-5ft). I then see a risk for detached flow all over the roof due to the steep windscreen and sharp bend over to the roof.
I need to play some more with the idea of moving the rear window to replace the windscreen, but it seems like a good idea because it har nicely rounded corners that I hope vill reduce turbulence and low pressure along the door windows.
I've tried to attach three images based on the "longnose" 1970's V4 body.
Two of them show how "The Template" fits (or don't fit). On the thirs image is my idea of a front splitter/spoiler that follows the same line as the flat belly of the Saab. My idea is to stir up the airflow under the belly as little as possible and have most of the air compressed by the frontal area pushed to the sides and over the roof. -Is this a good or a bad idea?
If the ground clearence is raised a lot I guess more air could be allowed to flow under the belly without increasing the drag. If the body is lowered instead, any extra air would increase air velocity and increase drag. A well designed airdam/splitter would cure this i guess, but I have no idea for how to choose the best method.
Blocking off to much airflow under the car would give a low pressure behind the air dam, causing air from the sides to be sucked in under the belly behing the front wheels. I don´t want that at all since the lower sides of a Saab 96 are realy sharp.
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