Quote:
Originally Posted by euromodder
It's a vehicle with a (nearly) horizontal roofline, so a diffuser won't help there - and by itself may make the drag even worse.
Though it's helping the belly pan to work, and eliminating the aft parachute effect which both help your mpg, the diffuser is possibly reducing some of what you gained.
Old aerodynamics research showed diffusor angles should generally be rather small for drag reduction, like 2-5°, and 0° on horizontal roof lines (old station wagon style).
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Thanks for this info - what could I do then? In my pic of the side view of the back, the bottom of the suspension is about at the bottom of the rim, whereas the bottom of the hitch bar is probably a full 6-8 inches higher. You can make out the slope of the pan I have there already...
The other thing I notice is that most of the turbulence does come from underneath. In the rain I just see water coming up, whereas it seems to go straight off the top and sides.
I pulled in the ends of my air dam! (see pics)
What I did has the added benefit of going all the way back to the edge of the wheel well too. Win.
Also pushed my rear wheel spats in about 2 inches or so.
Quote:
Originally Posted by euromodder
The position and angle of the deflectors in front of the rear wheels needs to be chosen in relation to the air that hits them.
They can be extended aft as vertical strakes on the inside of the rear wheels, separating dirty (wheel side) and clean (belly pan) air, the strakes can then be carried further aft as a diffuser side plate and/or inboard side of a rear wheel fairing.
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Could you explain what you mean by this?
Quote:
Originally Posted by euromodder
Warm air intake.
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If you see the last pic, it turns out my air intake comes from in front of my left front wheel well - so much plumbing! There are holes I see in front of the wheel where the air gets sucked up. I wonder why it's designed this way... and if this thing gets anywhere near water when off-roading, it'll just choke itself!
I would get a warm air intake just by lifting that box up that contains the filter, right?
Quote:
Originally Posted by euromodder
Buying a fuel efficient car is the best mod to start with.
I'm surprised it's still not high up on the ecomodder Mods & Tips pages  |
This is my parents' car, so no changing that!
Quote:
Originally Posted by euromodder
Doing it again I'd use zig-zag tape rather than dimpled tape.
I put dimple tape along the A-pillar, quite close to the windshield (before the air is making it around the corner to the sides) and on the mirrors.
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I had some extra time, and decided to cut my own out of electrical tape. Put it on the top half of the A-pillar, as many have said too. You think this will work?
Nno way is the hitch coming off. My family does do some heavy towing at times (notice the big trailer connector hanging off). Plus it's so rusted that the bolts will never come loose!
Tomorrow I'll try to close off the sides of the running board/belly pan transition with something black. Then maybe I'll take a run at 55mph and see what mpg I can get.
Anyone have experience with how long starter motors last?