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Old 07-09-2008, 01:49 PM   #11 (permalink)
texanidiot25
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Cypress, TX
Posts: 331

Formula - '96 Firebird Formula/Trans-Am
90 day: 19.31 mpg (US)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by twentysixtwo View Post
Very cool. What you are seeing with the are dams just in front of the tires is what are know in the industry as "Tire Kickers" which push the air down around the tires. The front air dam does a lot of the same so that you don't have air flow over the underbody which has a lot of anti-aero crap (suspension and exhaust bits)

If you have a belly pan, the lower air dam would get a lot smaller.
The main goal for the airdam on this car is for the radiator at speed, and of course like you said keeping air off the chassis.



Here's the underbody shot showing the radator and the air dam. Looking for something to replace the "tire kicker" on the passenger side. I did a good bit of work yesterday fixing all the stuff on that bumper. The two covers next to the radiator opening were hanging down some (jsut missing screws) and the driver's side tirekicker was damaged where it mounts to the bumper, scrap-age lol.. So fixed all that and screwed the panesl back up.



I'll need a heat gun to soften the plastic and shape it flat again..



I'll dig around and see if I can find some lexan to cover the broken fog light lenses.
Aerohead, in one of his installment threads he had said that the rear wing was tested to help smooth the air flow off the back. Was on the 84 T/A if I recall right, and the 84 has the same wing as this Firebird.

But never-the-less, it wasn't so gas hungry yesterday. I'll have to ask my dad what the mileage as yesterday, but drove over to his work and we fixed the a/c (now I can keep the windows up, TX heat is crazy), and it was roughly a 35-40 mile round trip. I was fully expecting to waste over an 1/8th a tank on it. Kept driving habits in check and it managed to only suck a bit over 1/16 of a tank, 10 minutes of stop-n-go traffic included.

Not too bad, typically a 30 mile trip cost me 1/8th a tank

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Lets see how far it can go

"All I know about music is that not many people ever really hear it. [...] But the man who creates the music is hearing something else, is dealing with the roar rising from the void and imposing order on it as it hits the air. What is evoked in him, then, is of another order, more terrible because it has no words, and triumphant, too, for the same reason. And his triumph, when he triumphs, is ours." -Sonny's Blues

Last edited by texanidiot25; 07-09-2008 at 07:03 PM..
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