Escort Air Dam
 

Version #3; this is the much improved version I am constructing.
Teaser photos now; I have part complete and have some details up on my blog (see signature). Will get other photos when complete and will report back on MPG / coastdown figures. Coastdown will be done next week, and MPGs will be fairly concrete after 2-3 weeks depending on weather conditions.
Enjoy / Comment / Critique! ;)
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Would love to see the mpg gains from this. I like the brackets, good job!!

Wow, that's ambitious. How are you handling cooling flow? It looks 100% blocked.

EDIT: never mind! I just noticed the ductwork.

From you, Darin, that's a pretty big compliment!!

Very impressive. My only question is why did you leave a somewhat 'flat' part (looking from overhead) instead of a nice smooth arc all the way around? I understand getting the material (whatever is used) to match the shape would be difficult, but wouldn't that lead to more ideal aero?

I'm jealous of your garage. I wish I could use the 'attached storage shed' for CAR stuff. Grr!

Jethro, thanks for the compliments on the garage; it's small but I have it packed with tools, parts, and chemicals. It's my "man space" away from the wife, lol.
I left the majority of the front flat for two reasons;
- push air up over the top of the car rather than the sides; my car's top is pretty aero'ed and has a good Kammback on it. The sides, even once I do some front wheel skirts, aren't as ideal AFAIK.
- improved crash protection; I purposefully made the brackets pretty strong and out in front of the car to absorb front impact energy, and lots of times impacts are offset - just hitting part of the front of the car - so I wanted to be protected there if someone veers across the yellow.
Drove the car quite a bit this weekend so far, have another 250 miles to get home, and have made some changes and will probably make others for cooling - I ran it hot enough to cook my engine oil the first night of driving, but I think it's going to work out!!

Finally got a couple of photos of the finished product (next post)

Overheating was a major issue even though the total area of the air inlets is equal to that of my square duct on my old air dam . Probably going to replace them with a square duct like I had before.

Coastdown + MPG are improved, although this is super unscientific because I don't have any a/b/a testing except my daily numbers on my way to work.
I was able to maintain 42 mpg at 70 mph which is where I am able to cruise in very warm temps, while usually around 38-39 mpg this winter so far on road trips in the cold.
Big news, however, is that I was able to cruise in the city (60 mph limit) and keep the car in LOC (lean on cruise) much of the time, maintaining 46+ mpg with no EOC. Slightly less load on the engine may get me to be able to push this number at 70 mph in the future, so exciting...

My commutes to work appear to be a minimum of 2.5 mpg higher with the air dam on average over the past week. I saw 45 mpg a couple days for the first time in months, and 51 mpg on a return trip from an errand, so starting with a warm engine.

I can also turn on the car's heater about a minute earlier when I have 3/4 of the air inlets blocked off, so some of my 20 minute commute mpg gains are probably from faster warmup.
Looking forward to fixing the air inlet so I don't overheat and making a remote - opening door so I can maximize my MPG improvements from warmup time.

Even with the huge questionability of methods in testing here (corellation without a good control), I am confident claiming that this mod is worth 2 mpg. Benefits are city and highway; City - warmup time + really easy coasts at 35 mph, and highway - Aero. If my methods were better, I could claim 3-4 mpg as my data suggests.

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I like it! Your neighbors must think you are crazy, especially the cobra owner :)

Did you put some lexan covers over your headlights to help them blend in? It kinda looks like it but I can't really tell.

Also looks like you could tilt back the whole arangement to make a steeper angle, it may help it blend in better by reducing the number of edges...

thats sweet

cant wait for the results