Killing off some frontal area?

[Chris D.]

Does anyone think doing any of these mods would help with the areodynamics or resistance?

I will be removing my front bugdeflector soon as well, its been on there for 3.8 years and I'm not sure If I'll like what i see under there

I'm not good with editing photos, but does this give anyone an idea of what I'm thinking about doing?

Orignal


After



thoughts?

heres a strait on shot, but its when the grill surround was chrome


a friend of mine modded it, but I'm thinking I mite be able to get away with sealing up the bottom valance alltogether.. Thoughts?


These are mods that aren't out of my hands,
I fiddle around with plastic, metal and fiberglass.

any ideas?
thanks

[Peakster]

I don't think there's any need to remove/cover the fog lamps.

You'll probably get more results from removing the bug-deflector compared to filling some of the radiator inlet.

[Chris D.]

Originally Posted by Peakster

I don't think there's any need to remove/cover the fog lamps.

You'll probably get more results from removing the bug-deflector compared to filling some of the radiator inlet.

turnsignals.. relocated into the corner lights..

But yeah, I can definatly see what your saying..

[Daox]

Just want to clarify something. By doing this, your not reducing frontal area. In the picture below everything that is inside the green outline is what your frontal area is. So, if you take off your mirrors you have reduced frontal area. Or, if you chopped a few inches off the top of your cab you reduce frontal area.

What you are doing is taking the area you have, and making it more aerodynamic. This is what most of us focus on since reducing frontal area requires major body work and is usually impractical. IMO you could definitly close up the little slots between the headlights without even thinking about it. However, this is not going to get you far either. They aren't that big, so the improvment is going to be small. I would agree with Peakster about the fog lights, they're already flush with the bumper so you won't see much of a gain there. What you really could see a gain from is blocking the large grill up front, and the slot below the grill. Now, you'll definitly need to a keep an eye on the coolant temps and radiator fan useage, but I bet you could block off a LOT of area before you start seeing the fan kicking in a lot more often. Your truck was designed to have enough cooling capacity while towing/hauling, and normal driving needs a fraction of that capacity. Power is somewhat proportional to heat generation, so if your not using that power for towing you can get away with a much smaller open grill and thus better aero.

[Chris D.]

This stuff is all new to me..
Glad ya set me straight on this tho.. Thanks a bunch!
I'll be fabricating some wheel well skirts for the rear soon..

If I can pull 30mpg in this thing, I'd be impressed..

[MetroMPG]

I'm with Daox: I'd go for grille blocking - probably before doing the rear skirts, if I were prioritizing.

The bug shield removal is in the class of deletes that will help a little bit, but not likely enough to easily notice.

[diesel_john]

Chris D. nice looking truck. I did a double take when I saw it. IMHO, the license plate is forcing a little air under the truck. Not the best. It would do better blocking some of the upper part of the upper grill. I know, it looks like pooy. but i like to block starting at the top because air you block up there can go over the top. The bottom opening looks pretty well engineered and probably cools the power steering and oil. The quotation marks could go because once you deflect the air you want to get rid of it not try to change it again and put it into a little hole. Air dams work good down to the lowest part underneath. i am a firm believer in a splitter on the bottom of the dam. see ugly pic (the snow is telling me the edge on that hood is too sharp)

[brucepick]

Yup, I'm with diesel_john in that it's best to block the grill to whatever extent possible, and leave the lower opening to let air in. For exactly the reasons he mentioned.

Unfortunately the truck's front end is shaped a lot like a battering ram, as is my car's original front. Even so, whatever air you keep out of the grill will go off to the sides or over the hood, which is far better than having it bang around inside the engine compartment.

Good going and good luck!

[DifferentPointofView]

When your doing a grille block, wouldn't you wanna do it from the outside of the grille? on the inside, wouldn't it create an air pocket of drag where the "pocket" is from the block to the front of the grille? creating a drag problem because the air can't get out from the pocket?

[diesel_john]

Yes, ideally we don't want to trap or speed up the air. we want to guide it around the top and sides as smoothly as possible without accelerating it much. And if we have to displace it, we only want to hit it once and be shed of it. but We need air thur the radiator, so the trick is getting the most out the air that we duct thur, rather than using a huge amount of air inefficiently. So we try to use the air that has to be displaced the most anyway. And the air in the center under that bumper looks like good air to put thur the rad. Also we want the air to exit in a low pressure area. Which hopefully we can create under the truck with a dam. The mfg's try to design these grills so they slick over(stall) at higher speeds and bypass the air. Maybe someone could design a rad. that is long and narrow for min CdA. Like the skin of the car. ouch