Need opinions on a potential aero mod.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by 5speed5

The lower piece looks very aerodynamically inefficient

You mean the part that curves forward ?
That's meant to split the air.
Air above the splitter is made to go around sideways.
Air below it obviously goes underneath the car.
Without the splitter, more air hitting the bumper would go underneath the truck.

There's lots of stuff sticking out underneath your truck, I'd try lowering the air dam to the lowest level of the protuding parts, and lower in front of the wheels.
If you ever put on a belly pan (a lot more work) you can still raise or remove the air dam.

Huge grille, try blocking it (at least partly).

A flat flatbed cover will help, but an angled one will help more.

[winkosmosis]

I bet aero hubcaps on a truck would look good painted black.

[5speed5]

Originally Posted by euromodder

You mean the part that curves forward ?
That's meant to split the air.
Air above the splitter is made to go around sideways.
Air below it obviously goes underneath the car.
Without the splitter, more air hitting the bumper would go underneath the truck.

There's lots of stuff sticking out underneath your truck, I'd try lowering the air dam to the lowest level of the protuding parts, and lower in front of the wheels.
If you ever put on a belly pan (a lot more work) you can still raise or remove the air dam.

Thanks. I figured it was something like that. I'll just leave it on for now.

Huge grille, try blocking it (at least partly).

That's in the works, right after the tonneau cover is completed. I'm planning
on blocking the entire section above the Chevy bowtie and the section under the bumper. I think there will still be plenty of cooling from the remaining open section.

A flat flatbed cover will help, but an angled one will help more.

Yeah, I'm going to go with the flat one for now and possibly use that as
a base for some add-ons with angles. Part of the reason for needing the cover is not for aerodynamics but because my wife always needs to get loads of mulch, soil and such, so this serves to prevent it from blowing out as she's driving (now she uses an old sheet with bricks to weigh it down).

[aerohead]

I'd keep it.When at GVW it will probably still have adequate ground clearance to be protected from a ground strike.
With respect to your tonneau cover,you might want to experiment with just the back 1/2.
GM holds a US Patent for a 1/2-tonneau and it's drag reduction is lower than for a full-tonneau.The full wind tunnel test data is included on the Patent cover sheet.Gale Banks set an LSR running this cover on an S-10 pickup ,at 211 mph.The truck had Cd 0.315,lower than a Corvette of the day.
If I haven't posted the patent,I'll do it when I get back from the West Coast.

[5speed5]

Thanks. I'd definitely be interested in seeing the half-tonneau.

[nmgolfer]

Well... you need a stretch of flat road to do coast down A B A testing and I can't t thinK of anything around LA except perhaps up at the Valle Grande. Just warm everything up good grab your stop watch and someone to record the numbers... then do several runs each way with and without. My guess is you want it on. It does not look bad areodynamically to my eyes. As for mods the obvous is an aero shaped cover for the bed but you can't make it too steep or the flow will surely separate and you'll gain nothing. Your truck looks nice and those aren't bad mpg numbers either! Have you got disk brakes on that? If so Hows the pad wear since the racing disc mod?

[nmgolfer]

Originally Posted by aerohead

I'd keep it.When at GVW it will probably still have adequate ground clearance to be protected from a ground strike.
With respect to your tonneau cover,you might want to experiment with just the back 1/2.
GM holds a US Patent for a 1/2-tonneau and it's drag reduction is lower than for a full-tonneau.The full wind tunnel test data is included on the Patent cover sheet.Gale Banks set an LSR running this cover on an S-10 pickup ,at 211 mph.The truck had Cd 0.315,lower than a Corvette of the day.
If I haven't posted the patent,I'll do it when I get back from the West Coast.

Thats muy interesting! I found that patent over at free patents online dot com number: 4573730

Who'd a thunk!

[5speed5]

Originally Posted by nmgolfer

Thats muy interesting! I found that patent over at free patents online dot com number: 4573730

Who'd a thunk!

Thanks. That is the most counter intuitive result I think I've ever seen.
I wish I could understand why.

On a side note, I didn't realize they made S-10 pickups with 8.2 ft. beds. (Mine is only 6.1 ft.) So I wonder if one can assume that the empty frontal area being ~4.1 ft long is the relevant property or is it really 50% of whatever size bed (which would be even more counter intuitive).

Originally Posted by nmgolfer

Well... you need a stretch of flat road to do coast down A B A testing and I can't t thinK of anything around LA except perhaps up at the Valle Grande. Just warm everything up good grab your stop watch and someone to record the numbers... then do several runs each way with and without. My guess is you want it on. It does not look bad areodynamically to my eyes.

Yeah, I guess not, it just reminded me a little of a bulldozer scoop which
got me wondering if it's purpose was form or function.

As for mods the obvous is an aero shaped cover for the bed but you can't make it too steep or the flow will surely separate and you'll gain nothing. Your truck looks nice and those aren't bad mpg numbers either! Have you got disk brakes on that? If so Hows the pad wear since the racing disc mod?

Thanks for the compliment. It has disks in the front. I don't know about the
pad wear. They've only been on for about 2000 miles. Haven't heard any squealing from the wear indicators. I don't really do a lot of braking in my commute. It's nearly all rural highway and with it being a manual, I use DFCO down hills.