Escort Aero
 

I just purchased an 89 escort 5 door and am becoming very intrigued by the aerodynamics of vehicles. Being am engineering student this stuff fascinates me.

I was wondering what aerodynamic mods my vehicle would benefit from, would a tail help it? Cause I thought angle looked pretty good already

this isn't my vehicle, but the best side pic I could find online

http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...0001_large.jpg

belly pan, moondisks, and grille blocks... those are always good.

I think she may have too steep of a read window, and a boat tail may be in order. There was a Ford Pinto that was eco modded in the 70s and they used a spoiler lip to compensate for the steepness.


The major issue I see with her is the front windshield is way too steep. Adjust the angle about 10 or so degrees would help dramatically.

I know what you mean about the windshield angle. How could that be modified?
And what do you mean by a spoiler lip?

Her is a better side view and it's of my rig :)
http://www.surfphotosd.com/photos/785498168_Jojg9-L.jpg

I've owned 3 escorts, and got better fuel mileage out of them completely stock than any other vehicle I've owned since. (most of which were still 4cyl)

Yours looks to be sagging a touch in the rear. I'd boost that up, or of course most people are going to suggest pulling the front down a bit. Whichever.

My tempo's arse was sagging somewhat worse than yours and just replacing the rear springs/struts ($120 total) brought me from 24 to 31mpg on the same, repeated 240 mile, 75mph round trip. Both mileage #'s are dismal mostly due to 3-speed ATX & the high speed being traveled.

jmedia -

Looks like you already have "aero-friendly" wheels :

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-cf...ser-wheels.jpg

Good 'ol 1980's-era pro-aero design subtext.

CarloSW2

A spoiler lip, or wing similar to what they use on nascar vehicles to increase downforce. In the case of the pinto it allowed the air to flow better than just dropping off. I suppose it had a minimal downforce effect, but also just enough turbulance to keep it going.

are the spoiler lips the smaller ones? Cause I've read spoilers increase drag

I think it was a small one (the lip spoiler). You could try a horizontal decklid extension too, would be safer - less likely to mess up and increase drag, like you mentioned.
That 'scort should get great MPGs; I would have bought one but like the looks and space of the newer (barely) one that I have.
Does it have a/c or power steering? If it has P/S, you could remove it to get 1-2 more mpg, as demonstrated on feoa.net by lots of people who have done it.
I think doing a bit of air dam/front belly pan work, rear wheel skirts, and deleting the passenger (and driver if you want!) mirrors would be your best place to start.
Welcome to EM!

jmedia -

I started with this image :

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-cf...emplate-01.jpg

Based on this, I (arbitratily?) chose a rearward center of roof camber :

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-cf...cort-89-01.jpg

In the above, the red vertical line is what I *think* is the center of roof camber. Maybe aerohead can chime in. Then I applied a personal rule that the spoiler should not extend past the rear bumper. That is how I defined the red box in the back. Where the red box meets the slope is where the spoiler should extend. By sheer accident, that line is the bottom of the van window behind your Escort. If I am correct in determining the "center of roof camber", then that leads me to this mock-up :

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-cf...cort-89-02.jpg

I don't really like it, but there it is.

Again, if it's correct, then what I am suggesting *might* be the inspiration for the "Sierra RS Cosworth whale tail" :

Steve's 1989 XR4Ti
http://people.arsc.edu/~munk/89/rs-c...-sierra-03.jpg

A less(?) agressive solution may be applicable from the Merkur XR4Ti :

1987 Merkur XR4Ti - 1980S - Jalopnik
http://jalopnik.com/assets/resources.../Merkur_LH.jpg
http://jalopnik.com/assets/resources...r_Spoilers.jpg

CarloSW2

Oh wow CarloSW thanks for all that. I wonder if that is why they have those whale tails. I wonder if there is a way to test that. Or even somewhere to buy one.

And gascort ya I think I'm gonna start there, rear wheel skirts, not sure about belly pan, just not sure how to do it. As for the grill blocks I'm a bit nervous cause I live in sunny ca and I don't wanna over heat.
Lastly is the vehicle hard to steer without ps?

Thaks for everything everyone