Aero RV Belly Pan(s)

[orbywan]

Originally Posted by aerohead

The commercial rigs were $1,100 in 1990.And I don't know if they'd produce the volume to fill the wake.
Shell makes an oil called something like 'Ondina',it's used in smoke generators,non-toxic.Just needs to be heated while soaked into some sort of matrix like steel wool.
Smoke bombs or smoke grenades would work.Not getting arrested would be the challenge,unless you could quench them on demand.
If you ever got rain,someone could film you from long distance as you pass in front of a dark,high-contrast background ( like a row of trees ).It really shows the water entrained within the wake.I get to see 18-wheeler wakes this way when its wet.

I'll look around, I bet I can find something that will work without breaking the bank. I just want to reproduce something similar to the photo of the smoke stream in front of the Calibra in Huchos book on page 183. That would take a huge amount of guesswork on so many of these shapes.

At this point I'm interested in figuring out the shape of the front and rear wheel fairings, and just seeing how it flows under the RV with the pans in place, especially around the rear axle housing.

I like the smoke bomb idea also. Put one in place under the hood, figure out how to set it off from the driver's seat, set if off when you get up to highway speeds, and film the bellypan area with my camera system to see where it comes out and in what volume. I could hook up four cameras to a quad mobile DVR, that would be awesome.

I think I've just become an aero nerd. Hmmm, maybe that will be the next action figures - Aero Nerd! OK, maybe not.

[orbywan]

Pan 7 is in, will need some trimming but it’s done for now. Decided to take the easy way out and just bring it up to the differential for now. The articulated cover will have to wait. My patience is wearing thin and things are really busy work-wise. The last photo is what’s up next.

After that I just have to make a transition so the air coming off the differential flows into pan #9 at the rear as well as possible. I'm seeing a glow at the end of the tunnel. Can't wait to test this out and see if all this work was worth it.

[bikin' Ed]

First off, I love your work. I hope it nets you more mpg than you'd hoped for.

Here's my cracy two cents. It's probablly time to change fluid in the rear end anyway..... so when reinstalling the cover intall a few studs instead of the stock bolts and fashion a boat tail from the diff back up to the bellypan. It sounds great in my head.

[orbywan]

Originally Posted by bikin' Ed

First off, I love your work. I hope it nets you more mpg than you'd hoped for.

Here's my cracy two cents. It's probablly time to change fluid in the rear end anyway..... so when reinstalling the cover intall a few studs instead of the stock bolts and fashion a boat tail from the diff back up to the bellypan. It sounds great in my head.

I think that's an excellent suggestion ED, thanks. Attaching things to that housing is a problem, that method would be pretty easy. I just changed the oil a few months back but I can still take out a couple of bolts and replace them with studs.

My only regret so far is that I didn't take this thing somewhere before I started on this and have the undercarriage steam cleaned. I didn't realize how much grime was under this thing until I got half way finished.

[orbywan]

I just found a Chauvet stage fogger that puts out 23,000 cfm of smoke for $100 on line. If my inverter can handle a 12 amp draw I think this will work.

[KamperBob]

Originally Posted by orbywan

I just found a Chauvet stage fogger that puts out 23,000 cfm of smoke for $100 on line. If my inverter can handle a 12 amp draw I think this will work.

That is an interesting idea.

[orbywan]

Originally Posted by KamperBob

That is an interesting idea.

The only thing about this is these are water foggers, not oil smokers, and I don't know if the fog will be dense enough for our purposes, but for $100 I'm going to give it a shot. Maybe I can add something to the mix to make it heavier, who knows.

If it works and I can get some video of whatever area I'm trying to improve, I think that would make for some interesting video. OK, for an ecomodder dweeb. Especially if I can hook up a radio control arm (or just a string) that will slowly move the fog source side to side as it's going down the road. Yehaa.

[wyatt]

Originally Posted by orbywan

The only thing about this is these are water foggers, not oil smokers, and I don't know if the fog will be dense enough for our purposes, but for $100 I'm going to give it a shot. Maybe I can add something to the mix to make it heavier, who knows.

If it works and I can get some video of whatever area I'm trying to improve, I think that would make for some interesting video. OK, for an ecomodder dweeb. Especially if I can hook up a radio control arm (or just a string) that will slowly move the fog source side to side as it's going down the road. Yehaa.

Dry ice will make fog when dropped in a bucket of water... maybe enough to suit your needs, or to boost the fogger's capabilities.

Great work on the belly pan by the way! I am interested to see what kind of results you will get, considering the sorry looking underbody you had before!

[orbywan]

Originally Posted by wyatt

Dry ice will make fog when dropped in a bucket of water... maybe enough to suit your needs, or to boost the fogger's capabilities.

Great work on the belly pan by the way! I am interested to see what kind of results you will get, considering the sorry looking underbody you had before!

Thanks, yeah it was pretty ugly. If you could get mpg gains from improving the looks I'd be way ahead at this point. I think the air will like it much better but that brings up my new aero saying - you never know till you go.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by orbywan

The only thing about this is these are water foggers, not oil smokers, and I don't know if the fog will be dense enough for our purposes, but for $100 I'm going to give it a shot. Maybe I can add something to the mix to make it heavier, who knows.

If it works and I can get some video of whatever area I'm trying to improve, I think that would make for some interesting video. OK, for an ecomodder dweeb. Especially if I can hook up a radio control arm (or just a string) that will slowly move the fog source side to side as it's going down the road. Yehaa.

How about Vanna White,she'd be a natural!