Cleaning up the sides

[AeroModder]

Seeing as the sides of the car are just as important as the top and bottom for low drag, I've decided to start cleaning them up, starting with the windows.

From this picture, you can see that the window glass isn't flush with the outer edges of the doorframe.



My plan is to get some clear plastic sheet onto the door frame to smooth out the airflow and hopefully reduce the size of the wake. I'm also looking into replacing the mirrors with F1-style, low profile mirrors, once I can find the universal kind that bolts on your doors for a relatively low price. I've also started thinking about making some side skirts and shaping them into wheel fairings.

But first, I'll be cleaning up the glass. My left rear window doesn't roll down, so I'll start by sealing those up. I might figure out a way to remove a section of plastic as needed to allow the air to flow through the other windows when open, but that'll take some thinking and designing. Suggestions are more than welcome.

More images and info to come.

[aerohead]

If you can get a look at Hucho's book,I think he addresses the drag coefficient improvement from flush glass along with schematics detailing some of the designs.

[AeroModder]

Unfortunately, I don't have access to that book. Anyone know the figures in there?

Though I did find some Lexan sheets for around $15 a piece, so this should be a relatively low-cost mod.

[Bicycle Bob]

Polycarbonate (Lexan) is very tough as a structural part, but also very easy to scratch and near-impossible to re-polish, compared to Plexiglas.

[Domman56]

not tryin to be rude I just realized your mileage tyhat seems awful low for that tempo

[zoltanbod]

Looking at the profile of your car,the transition from the windshield pillar to the side windows is very abrupt.Before i would go ahead and flush your side glass i would install tufts to your side windows and visualize the area of greatest turbulence and address that zone first.The windshield pillars would probably benefit from some vortex generators to reduce the size of the wake coming off the windshield.

[jime57]

Glad to see you starting this thread. I've been thinking that the sides don't get much attention here, and they are obviously important.

The MG-A of the mid 1950's and early 1960's had two styles of fixed side curtains which might be worthwhile to consider regarding ventilation. One style split the side curtain longways and installed a long hinge to allow a flat to be folded out and up. The other style, a slight improvement split the sidecurtain top to bottom and allowed one section to slide open. The latter style worked best.

[jime57]

Zoltanbod,

I was fascinated with the pictures of the Zoleco, apparently your "project car." Do you have additional information somewhere on the web? How is it coming.

[AeroModder]

Originally Posted by zoltanbod

Looking at the profile of your car,the transition from the windshield pillar to the side windows is very abrupt.Before i would go ahead and flush your side glass i would install tufts to your side windows and visualize the area of greatest turbulence and address that zone first.The windshield pillars would probably benefit from some vortex generators to reduce the size of the wake coming off the windshield.

They are, unfortunately, and the airflow patterns from watching raindrops isn't very clean. I was also starting to think about putting some rails on the A-pillars to direct the airflow over the windsheild rather than around the pillar (provide a splitter for the lateral flow).

Another definite is to get some more aerodynamic mirrors. I'm looking into the F1-style universal mirrors that'll bolt onto the door so I can clean up the A-pillars more.

not tryin to be rude I just realized your mileage tyhat seems awful low for that tempo

Yeah, it's an automatic, and it's winter. If you take a look at my fuel log you'll see that my lowest tank was around 20 MPG on a really stormy week. I was also trying to keep up with a friend (who was leading me to his place), so I had to drive faster than I normally would, through heavy winds and rain.
I've been including every tank since I started the log, and some of them weren't pretty, so that brings the average down.

Though I did get a 26 MPG tank with some warm weather, and I've done some major work recently, so it should slowly start creeping up again.

I've also been using a K&N air filter to get a bit more power. But with my recent work, using the more restrictive Fram paper doesn't have as much of a negative affect anymore, and doesn't nearly have as much of a power loss as before. Keep an eye open and you should see it come up soon.

[AeroModder]

Insead of starting with the windows, I was inspired to work with what I have and try out some wheel skirts. I couldn't make them cover the entire wheelwell, since the bottom curves toward the underside and the tires just barely stand out, and I didn't have anything to make a bracket with (might get something, though). I haven't driven with them on yet, but I'll see how they feel tomorrow.