"ecomodding" ideas for my Ford Taurus???

[Sean T.]

My tires are rated 35 psi, and they are all at 37 right now... should I go higher?

[Daox]

Its really up to you. Try out a higher pressure and see if it works for you. If you feel uncomfortable with it that high bring them back down. Personally, I would bring them up to around 45. My winter tires are rated for 35 max sidewall and I ran them at 45 or 50 (can't remember) all winter long. They still look brand new with very little wear and what wear there is is nice and even.

[MetroMPG]

Cd: I'd never seen that UC Davis aero Taurus before - thanks for posting!

[Cd]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Cd: I'd never seen that UC Davis aero Taurus before - thanks for posting!

I would have posted it before but I assumed everyone was familiar with the car.

Much to my surprise ( and discouragement ) the car only got down to like .27 .Cd despite a complete redesign of the front end, a full belly pan, camera mirrors ,side skirts, and a partially 'Kammed' tail end.

This was after a ton of work on the car.
As we have seen, .27 is an easy number to achieve. ( I'm thinking of AndrewJ here )

They must have done something wrong somewhere, because I can't imagine that car as having a .27 ish .Cd

Did you happen to read the .pdf ?

One thing that I found interesting was the idea of using a hollow cavity to pull in the wake.

One more thing : The UCDavis team is amazing. Professor Any Frank has been building hybrids for decades.
He is also a really nice guy too. I remember talking to him by phone.
Just imagine - a small group of kids in a mechanical engineering class have been doing for years what the 'big three' have always said can't be done.
I'm proud of what they have accomplished.

[Cd]

By the way, I have a model of your car. If you know someone that does CFD flow testing, it is an easy way to mock up changes to a car design.

[Sean T.]

Originally Posted by .Cd

By the way, I have a model of your car. If you know someone that does CFD flow testing, it is an easy way to mock up changes to a car design.

wow! That's pretty cool! what program is used to view something like that? Is it CAD?

[Cd]

Download Blender 3D for free. ( It's every bit as good as the 'professional' stuff.)

http://www.blender.org/download/get-blender/

PM me if you want the file.

[SuperTrooper]

Originally Posted by .Cd

Did you follow the link ( within the link ) ?

http://www.team-fate.net/technical/1997TechReport.pdf

They even did tuft testing.

After looking at the mods they made to the front I wonder if they would have been better served with an air dam on the front. It seems to me that nose is forcing a lot of air under the car, where there remains a fair amount of turbulance.

[MetroMPG]

They directed some air under the nose on purpose since that's where they relocated the radiator.

Cd: that tidbit about the cavity in the tail caught my attention too. Very interesting.

[Sean T.]

I was at another SCCA event tonight, and confirmed that changing the ride height puts me directly to the modified class, along with cars that have high levels of modification to the engine, wheels, tires, etc. So changing the ride height is a definite no.

They also confirmed that if I alter the interior for weight reduction, I will be automatically bumped up the the modified category as well. I would be able to take my rear seat out because it is easy to put back in for events, but that's about all I can do for weight reduction.

Even exterior mods are questionable... even though it is an autocross course and aerodynamics don't give an advantage, some could argue that ANY aerodynamic modifications are classified as "exterior body mods" and bump me up the the same category as the other two examples above.