Our Assessment of the "Active Shutter System"

[freebeard]

Originally Posted by aerohead

look to see that the adhesive bonding between the pressed-steel superstructure underneath the hood hasn't separated from it's metal outer skin.

Seems to be straightforward. Does yours even have an inner structure? My Beetle does not.

the tech running the printed is not fluent in how to resize the print.

I certainly hope they work cheap. That happens in the slicer software.

[LostinTransit]

Welp, using a creative commons 3D printing site, the shop just contacted me saying they could have at least 2 sets of 5 of the airtabs ready for us for testing. Hopefully we'll find out more before the weekend.

[Ecky]

Give it a shot. Generally speaking, the improvements from air tabs are too small to be measured, they're tenths or hundredths of a point of drag. So, I don't expect you'll be able to quantify it. Depending on the placement, putting them in the right place will help, and putting them in the wrong place will hurt, but the upside is that you likely won't be able to tell either way.

Something like a decibel meter could be useful, and that's something that can easily be quantified.

[freebeard]

Welp, using a creative commons 3D printing site...

Did the give you a link? Thingiverse? www.thingiverse.com/thing:2827019 Cults3D? https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/various/vortex-air-tabs



The elephant's foot is suboptimal.

[LostinTransit]

Got an email from the shop this morning showing 2 of 6 airtabs they completed for us. I'm leaning towards the black ones because they have a carbon fiber appearance to them.. these tabs should make it home this evening and we'll test fit on the van just to see if they pleasantly fill in the void or stick out like a sore thumb..

[Piwoslaw]

How did active radiator shutters suddenly become 3D printed aerotabs?
Maybe the aerotab posts were meant for another thread?

[LostinTransit]

here's a surprising update about the active shutter system on a 2020 Connect. The wife and I went to Gettysburg PA this morning and before we left I remove the last 4 slats on the van. I did this to test something as I found out that our shutter motor is NOT designed like that of the Dodge Ram.. I noticed that the lower slats were not connected but the upper slats were a direct feed into the shutter motor.

Removing all the slats did not send a error code as our tech said it did. But turning on the engine and checking the system with a Innova carscan shows that there's zero shutter codes, but we're now left with a lean code. So before we left, there was about 1/4 of e85 left in the tank thus we top off with 35.00 worth of regular fuel. I was about ready to fear the worse. But the check engine light never came back on, yet with the carscanner, it shows that the lean code went from being red to yellow or a stored code which the system has to evaluate and clear it's self.

Here's what was done three days ago. We replaced the MAF, replaced the canister purge valve and several months ago replaced the EGR valve. All of these things are possible causes to getting a lean code. But turns out what Ford Told me is incorrect. They said that our van can run on 15% reg and 85% flex.. we learn without short trip to Gettysburg then this mixture should be 85% reg and 15% e85..

So again, to anyone wanting to get rid of your slats, check the system as to see if it has a limiter (unlike the van's shutter motor) whcih can spin freely without sending a code and can still be connected to the shutter system all without the slats.

We killed two birds with one stone today:

· removed all the slats leaving the shutter system motor intact all without any error code
· created a new mix of fuels going from 15% reg - 85% efuels to 15% efuels - 85% reg..

[redpoint5]

Hey everyone, here's how to draw absurd conclusions from a single anecdote and how you too can waste your time.

[Hersbird]

If you were getting those previous MPG numbers on E85, then you were doing outstanding. The EPA estimates are for ethanol free unleaded. E15 is a big hit and e85 is a huge hit to MPG.

Any air going through the radiator is hitting a bigger "brick" than sliding around the van. You only want as much airflow necessary for cooling. Unless you are towing or have added something like a roof top tent, the van should hardly be working going down the highway. If it's a 3.5 Ecoboost, they do make serious heat towing but if it's overheating and leaving the active shutters closed I would say you have a problem with the system.

[aerohead]

Here's a way to pencil-whip your reported top speed findings:
* As of December, 1986, Doctor of Engineering, Wolf-Heinrich Hucho provided us with some 'math' that could be used think about the relationship between drag reduction and top speed.
* Using nothing but aerodynamics, in order to increase the top speed of a road vehicle by ten percent ( 10% ), would require a drag reduction of roughly thirty percent ( 30% ).
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* reporting a top speed improvement, from 80-mph, to 110-mph equals 110/80 = a 37.5% top speed increase.
* If it takes a 30% drag reduction for every 10% increase in top speed, and you've increased speed by 37.5%, then 37.5/ 10.0 = 3.75 X 30%, or, 112.5% drag reduction, to achieve this result.
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* For a working number on a garden variety passenger car of Cd 0.32, by completely 'ELIMINATING' the car's cooling system, you're only looking at a 0.025 drag reduction, or, Cd 0.295. A 7.8% drag reduction.
* For you to expect us to believe that by removing slats from the cooling system of the Transit, that you accomplished a 112% drag reduction points to a fatal flaw in your measurement technique.