MR2 rear wing - keep or lose?

[woodsmith]

Cheers Blue,
The car is a Japanese import so it has all the underbody panels.

I am doing an electric conversion on it so engine and radiator airflow won't be needed, I just need to keep the controller and the motor cool.

I will block off the holes in the nose cone and see what I can do with the area above the engine cover. If I can change teh spoiler for a smaller one then I will do that. I am on the UK MR2 owners club forum so I will see how much of the ICE and parts Ic an sell on and see if I can trade the spoiler too.

Thanks.

[MetroMPG]

Late to the party, but I also would have said "lose that aftermarket spoiler" to reduce drag.

There's a chance the OEM spoiler may have reduced both rear lift and drag compared to the "base" car that had none. It'd be useful to know if Cd figures are available for the two versions (turbo and non-turbo versions, if I'm not mistaken).

As for noticing a difference in driving once the conversion is done, I'm afraid you won't be able to conclusively / reliably say whether it helps or hurts your energy consumption in regular use - likely way too many variables to eke out the effect of a single mod (unless it's utterly massive).

You'll have to do something a little more methodical, such as repeated coast-down testing from high speed, or terminal velocity / average speed testing on a steep, long hill.

[Hermie]

Originally Posted by MadisonMPG

Who brain washed Hermie at birth?

I could ask the same of you.

Originally Posted by Christ

The MR2 will not necessarily have more weight in the rear

*I actually think it's 42/58 F/R*

Contradictory, don't you think? Especially since even a BMW front-engine, rear drive has a front/rear bias of around 52/48 F/R, and they even put the battery in the trunk to improve wieght bias and design their cars to have zero-lift aerodynamics.

The engine is the heaviest thing in the car. Obviously, unless you're doing a LOT of work to counter it, wherever the engine sits is going to be the heavier side. Common sense, dude.

[IsaacCarlson]