2010 Silverado Hybrid

[ksa8907]

Originally Posted by Waspswatter

Where do you get the chip?

Range AFM Disabler, amazon has them or you can probably find them 2nd hand. Just be careful which version you get, some are for afm disable and some are for stop/start disable. Check their website

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary

Regen is better than friction braking, but not as efficient as coasting to a stop.

I usually compare regen to those auxiliary exhaust-brakes more often featured on heavy-duty trucks and buses. Relying on regen as an extra safety measure, or to improve control while driving downhill for instance, is quite similar to how the exhaust-brakes are meant to operate.

[Waspswatter]

Purchased a (fixer upper) house shortly after my last post on this thread, but now I’m almost ready to continue my project!

The aero bed topper plan is fully underway with a design that opens in the center when needing to haul larger cargo. However, more reading on this site has raised more questions.

I now have the stock air dam. Would side skirts help? What about rear diffusers? All I’ve read so far seems to be about already mostly efficient cars with much lower ride heights. I can add material to lower the air dam, and what about splitters? Is trial and error the only way to know what will actually help on my vehicle?

[freebeard]

However, more reading on this site has raised more questions.

Questions about the aero topper, or the rest?

Lower vehicles benefit from less frontal area of the tires, and less air subject to turbulence in the underbody plenum.

More air underneath isn't a problem if it doesn't interact with the underbody, i. e., with a bellypan. The stagnation point [height] determines how much air goes underneath. An aggressive splitter puts it right at the bottom. (But a splitter at the top of the hood would induce lift) Those solar racers that run across Australia Have a lot of clearance with airfoil pants around the wheels.

As for side skirts, Aerocivic had double wall skirts to channel air around both wheels. What with break-over angles, look to P. K. Knox's Aerodynamic Template, or the VW XL-1. [links on request]

'm going to make an aero bed topper customized to the work I'll be doing out of the truck, but I'd like to hear suggestions and input about favorable designs!
[later]
The aero bed topper plan is fully underway with a design that opens in the center when needing to haul larger cargo.

Hinge line lateral or longitudinal?

[aerohead]

When you get a chance, take a look at General Motor's 2013, Holden Commodore VT Ute.
It's kind of like the El Camino and Ford Ranchero of the past; passenger car-based 'trucks'.
The VT is Cd 0.309, the lowest drag of ANY 'truck'
Anything they did would be fair game for the Silverado, except the tonneau cover. Your aeroshell will have a drag advantage over the tonneau.
* You may be able to block off some of the radiator inlet.
* A full-sweep, wrap-around airdam, as low as the lowest part of the belly, excepting the differential's pumpkin, all the way to the front wheels dates to 1974.
* Rocker panel extensions to matching depth.
* Electric cooling fan if it doesn't already have it.
* Any belly pan you can stand. Begin at the front and work rearwards.
* There may be better side mirrors available since 2010.
* I've got rear skirts, and they've never been 'in the way.'( as low as the belly/ rocker panels )
* A rear diffuser typically requires a full belly pan ahead of it ( one race car website offered a countervailing viewpoint ).
* Low-porosity wheel covers which allow for brake cooling.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If the aeroshell were to become a PITA as far as 'hauling' goes, a half-tonneau, plus cab-wing extension offers more bed access, and only about a 2% drag penalty, comparatively.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you and your's ever go in the truck on a longer road trip to 'grandmother's' on holiday, or such, a receiver-hitch mounted boat-tail extension can add another 4-mpg.
https://fastcars.com.au/products/hol...re-2013-vf-ute

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Waspswatter

Would side skirts help?

Usually they help.

What about rear diffusers?

I see them mostly on sporty cars, but it may eventually be also implemented to a truck, as long as other aero mods are also fitted. Otherwise it would most likely be ineffective.

[Waspswatter]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Hinge line lateral or longitudinal?

Laterally, similar to Bondo's and JRMichler's designs.

[freebeard]

I've always wondered (not being a truck owner) why if job boxes at the front of the bed butterfly open, why not an entire aerocap?

Of course, were I to have a truck the reach-over height wouldn't be much more than the tire height. My son has a Silverado, I can barely see over the bed.

A good starting point would be a spoiler/half tonneau like this



Maybe chamfered on the ends for tumblehome.

[redpoint5]

[Waspswatter]

I was unable to upload the image with the template so I took some screenshots instead…