Airdam thoughts

[hat_man]

As many of you know, I am no aero genius like so many of the regulars here. I don't understand the specifics of laminar flow and such, just the bare basics of trying to move air efficiently around a vehicle. That being said, I had an idea while driving home the other day and thought I'd see what you all thought. This is just an idea mind you, not something I am planning on unless it were to prove to be effective. You will also see that I am obviously no Picaso when it comes to Paint.

I know adding an airdam under the bumper is the easiest way to go. Probably the least expensive too. But I was imagining melding an airdam and side skirts into one flowing piece. Something like these really bad pictures. Any thoughts?

[Joris]

From what I've seen, I would suggest the black outerline of the car to have the best shape, with rounded edges maybe.

[ksa8907]

I am also no aerodynamic expert, but I am fairly certain you would be better off to have the air dam in front of the wheels and incorporate wheel spats. The degree of roundedness is not of chief importance, but rather keep air from slamming into the wheel openings and creating turbulence under the vehicle.

[mcrews]

First, shooting past the front wheels is not a good idea on any of the three.

the chevy corvette has a dam that sits way back. But that is for clearance of the very low nose.

do a belly pan....it's a LOT MORE fun!!!!!!!

Check out the link in my signature.....

[2000mc]

Originally Posted by ksa8907

I am also no aerodynamic expert, but I am fairly certain you would be better off to have the air dam in front of the wheels and incorporate wheel spats. The degree of roundedness is not of chief importance, but rather keep air from slamming into the wheel openings and creating turbulence under the vehicle.

Or think of it backwards. figure out how to make front wheel spats first, and then see if you can make an airdam work with them

[aerohead]

If the air dam is for the Ranger,I'm giving you a link to the NASCAR Truck Series.
The race cars are below Cd 0.29 and the trucks only suffer from the bed vorticity and turbulence.
The noses are essentially 'ideal' although we must allow for approach clearance with driveway ramps etc..
Your air dam should move the air around and over,never under if you can avoid it.
If the air dam must be underneath,it still must get the air directed to in front of the tires.
http://www.jayski.com/schemes/2013/t...emleftside.jpg

[hat_man]

Thanks to everyone. I know I can come up with some crazy ideas sometimes.

Aerohead....I wish I could make the grille area of my Ranger look like that NASCAR truck but mines pretty straight up and down. I had a 100% upper grill block that seemed to help but I had to remove it when the fan clutch went to heck. Until I get the E-fan done it's back to open upper grille. I relocated the license plate to cover the center portion of the lower grille. Between the two they seemed to help quite a bit. What is the purpose of the white horizontally flat part of the front bumper arrangement? It looks like it extends forward of the bumper and is attached by some sort of "turnbuckle" piece. Is it an aero feature or just to keep debris from under the truck?

I have some heavy duty rubberized conveyor belt that I have wanted to use to make the side skirts from. I had thought that I could make them lower and they would flex over speed bumps and such but I am afraid they will distort when 60 MPH air hits them.

My aerocap has hit a major snag and I have to do some re-designing. The shape will remain the same but the "skeleton" wasn't able to hold the "skin" very well. It sagged horribly. Back to the drawing board for that project. Oh well. I'm not giving up on it.

[Gasoline Fumes]

Originally Posted by hat_man

What is the purpose of the white horizontally flat part of the front bumper arrangement? It looks like it extends forward of the bumper and is attached by some sort of "turnbuckle" piece. Is it an aero feature or just to keep debris from under the truck?

That's a splitter. Creates downforce and also sends air around versus under. I have one on my car.

[hat_man]

Wouldn't the added down force somewhat hurt FE or are there enough gains to offset the losses?

Another idea I have seen is a front bumper shaped something like this one. Is there a purpose to it being angled back towards the front in the lower half or is it just someone's idea of an interesting design? Would it have a somewhat "splitter-like" effect?

The reason I ask is that I had thought about removing the plastic vertical "air dam" below the front bumper valance and replacing it with a second valance. I would invert it and bolt it together using the existing mounting holes. It's shape would resemble the V shape of the one in the picture but not to the same extremes. It also wouldn't cost $250. I can get a lower valance for about $20 from the pick-n-pull. I saw a picture of the same idea on a red Honda CRX once, but I have no clue where it was.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by hat_man

Wouldn't the added down force somewhat hurt FE or are there enough gains to offset the losses?

Another idea I have seen is a front bumper shaped something like this one. Is there a purpose to it being angled back towards the front in the lower half or is it just someone's idea of an interesting design? Would it have a somewhat "splitter-like" effect?

The reason I ask is that I had thought about removing the plastic vertical "air dam" below the front bumper valance and replacing it with a second valance. I would invert it and bolt it together using the existing mounting holes. It's shape would resemble the V shape of the one in the picture but not to the same extremes. It also wouldn't cost $250. I can get a lower valance for about $20 from the pick-n-pull. I saw a picture of the same idea on a red Honda CRX once, but I have no clue where it was.

On the racing trucks,the low dam and splitter help with high speed stability.It also helps their fuel economy in the race.
The jutting splitter helps approximate the jutting nose of a proper half-body as you see in the following image.Anything like it is beneficial as long as its got enough ground clearance for real world driving