Quote:
Originally Posted by lunarhighway
thanks, that would be realy nice... thus far google hasn't turned up much interesting pictures... i suppose the actual grill might not be all that shocking but if some plain pieces are set at the right angles and spaceing etc they might help aero in ways something that looks "about the same" couldn't
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lunarhighway,I located the article(s) on the grille I remembered.My memory isn't what I think it is,so here's some corrections: The original article appeared in the July 1976 issue of POPULAR SCIENCE,page 60.------------------------------- The "lamellar" grille was developed by Ford of Cologne,Germany.It appeared on an experimental Ford Capri.The grille cut drag by 12% and cut lift by 30%.-------------------------------------------------------------------- The grille is comprised of five ( 5 ) horizontal airfoil sections,layed back at a 21-degree angle,and each airfoil element is configured "nose-down",with the cord line of the highly cambered foils angled,tail-up,at 30-degrees.----------------------------------------------------------- At low speeds,there is no boundary layer effects,and the air goes through unimpeded.At an undisclosed speed above "moderate",the boundary layer thickens and stalling takes place,with the stalled region acting as a barrier to flow.----------------------------------------------------------------- The grille showed up in the 1978 Capri III,Ford Fiesta,and Ford Granada.The grille was "de-raked" and is vertical rather than angled back,and it's performance deteriorated.--------------------------------------------- On the third gen Capri,the lamellar grille,along with a front airdam is only good for a 6 % drag reduction,unlike the 12 % reduction with the original grille by itself in 1976.--------------------------------------------------------- I attempted to "join" Photobucket,so I could post the photo and it seized the computer and we had to shut-down and re-boot the computer to get rid of it.------------------------------------------------------------------ If anyone can recommend an alternate hosting site,I'll try that.In the meantime,if you'll send me a PM here at ecomodder,I'll either try and scan and email the image,or mail it to you the old way.------------------------------------------------------------------ It looks like this type of grille technology is very finicky,and might require a windtunnel to set up.