Planning Aero Mods
Ok so as I fine tune my driving and EOC - i thought i would begin the brainstorming on what Aero mods i think would be biggest impact.
I have some areas in front i can close up ( holes for fog lights i do not have) - as well as Upper radiator area ( big bottom area still open) I like the idea of the rear wheel skirts - and think that will integrate will with the car. Overall lowering of the car a little as well. One area i want to throw out there is the rear of the car. This is a sedan - and there are a lot of discussions on boat tail / Kammback's here... Has anyone thought through modiftying a seden to a Kammback style? fill in the area from the window to the end of the trunk? This would be the LAST item i would actually get to as this is a bit involved - but for your senior guys / advanced modders, is this something reasonable? in theory it sounds good - but in practice ( as i am very much a noob) wanted to bang on it a while. Thanks for your inputs Steve |
Just to give everyone something to look at here's a few pics of an '00 Altima.
http://dealerimages.gabriels.net/Aut...st0640_037.jpg http://images.automotive.com/reviews...ssanaltima.jpg Doesn't look like too bad of a shape, aerodynamically speaking. It just needs a little smoothing out here and there. -Lowering -Wheel skirts -Grilleblock (there sure are lotsa' openings up there) -Mirror delete (it may be the pic, but they look huge) -Airdam or bellypan -Boattail off of the trunk Rideheight would be a great place to start, plus lowering springs should be easy to find for this car. That would also take care of a lot of the extra gap in the wheel-wells. As for the boattail, I don't see that much to be gained from starting it up at the roof. The transition is already pretty good from roof to trunk. Perhaps it just needs a few VG's to help like the Mitsubishi EVO. |
Hi Doof...,
I read somewhere that there is a NO-GO range for rear glass angle on a three box vehicle. Something like less than 15 degrees (almost flat - like a Prius) and greater than some number - 55 degrees? The rear glass on that car looks to be in the high-drag zone. So, a C pillar spoiler might help. |
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some more, each car is different that's why simple tuft testing is the shorter path. glue on some yarn, have your buddy take some pictures at 60 mph see where the separation gets really pronounced, that where your panels need to start. it could be the top the windshield on a truck, it could be half way down the back on a bug.
the back window on the Altima looks to be about 25 degrees from the pic |
There is an aeromods sticky, right?
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Hey Doof. What kind of driving are you doing? If it's mostly city just go with a grill block and front undertray. The best thing, if you can swing the price, is instrumentation.
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Didn't they use this car in the old movie "Logans Run" ?:D |
I think the magic number is 11 degrees. There is to much slope from the roof line. There would be early seperation of airflow off the roof. I thing Carlos has the ridght idea with sloping the roof line in a gradual decreasing angle until you hook it up with the boat-tail at the rear of the car. Same hold true for the under belly when bringing it up past the bumper.
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Hey all -
Thanks for the thoughts. Lazarus - my driving is mostly City - atlanta traffic in the 'burbs - mostly 35 zones. there is one strech of 3 miles i get up to 55 ish. Looking at the back - it does not look to bad. I was looking at the car the other day - I know there are some other threads about wheel size - I was thinking that smaller width wheels on the rear would allow wheel skirts to be easier to install. That and cleaning up some of the front areas would be good ( fog light area - upper grill area) i also started thinking about the under side. Next weekend going to take a closer look under the car. I am off for Vacation ( week in Pennsylvania - taking the kids Tubing in the Pocconos ( Cammelback for the PA folks here) I will catch you guys later. Drive smart - and safe. Steve |
With those kinds of speeds aero is not going to help a whole lot. LLR tires, Belly pan, grill block, block heater, higher t-stat and route survey to find the best route would be a good start. Keep us posted.
Edit: Some kind of instrumentation (Scan gauge, super MID) |
I agree with Lazarus. Your not spending much time at high speeds, and your probably accelerating a lot. To add to his list I would look into weight reduction.
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I live in the ATL suburbs as well and most of my driving is between 35mph and 60mph. So far I have gotten the solid "moon disk" wheel caps (more for looks, but might help a little bit on the highway, but no tests yet) and I have planned mods to do wheel skirts, read VGs and grill blocks before I head down to Disney World around mid March for spring break.
I would have to agree with Lazarus though, most of my gains in mpg were from changing driving habits. A lot of the driving in the area that you and I live in is stop and go, however, so I have noticed substantial gains in mpg from putting a limit on how much acceleration from a light I give myself, getting into neutral whenever I have a hill to coast down (and in GA there seem to be many of those). I also, recently, have started turning off the car at lights and often while coasting (EOC) instead of just neutral and I should have the test data for that in the next week or two, whenever I need to fill up again. If you take a look at the millage on my Camry, I went from 22mpg to 28mpg this last tank just by coasting more and limiting my acceleration from lights. I expect to see between 30 - 35mpg after I start to EOC more. |
:D I have to reply here just because someone said Logan's Run!!
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Sorry to kick up the thread again but I an Altima Driver myself and seem to syuck in the 31-33 mpg area. I think the only gains I can make now are aero mods.
I was reviewing this thread and looking at: -Lowering -Wheel skirts -Grilleblock (there sure are lotsa' openings up there) -Mirror delete (it may be the pic, but they look huge) -Airdam or bellypan Does anyone have any recommendations on brands for lowering springs/shocks? I am also going to be removing the bumper and putting in the grill blocks? Based on the car above would you recommend filling in all areas? I was thinking the fog holes and top grille for sure, just not sure about the lower hole. http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...r/IMG_2683.jpg I also need to see if it is legal to do the mirror delete. Any and all advice is appreciated. |
Wow!
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Grill blocks
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if the bottom half of the upper intake was lined up well with the radiator. (A lot of the upper intake on my CRV was higher than the radiator). Then, I would hook up an SG2 see if the upper intake would do the job.. If it was okay, I would then put a smooth block across the top half of the upper intake. Take that notch out of the hood's leading edge. Make it smooth. Can someone photo shop that? The only intake would be the lower half of the upper grill. |
Quick and dirty gimping:
http://spidermouse.us/modding/car/altima.jpg |
Dang! That looks good! The bumper looks almost like an air dam and the hood
looks slick too. My guess is that intake will do the job nicely. |
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Am I going to be able to use chloroplast or am I actually going to need something fabricated? |
I would do it with tape and cardboard (unless you have some coroplas signs around) and try it out for a while..
If it was okay (no over-heating), then work on a more permanent solution. |
I actually kind of prefer the pink insulation foam you can get at home depot simply because it's cheap and very structurally sound so you don't have to worry about flapping in the wind and what not. The only down side is that, unless you stack multiple on top of each other and shave to appropriate curvature, it's going to be flat, and remain that way. The good news is, is that they come in big sheets and to cover holes you don't need much so one sheet usually does the trick.
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That's good stuff. I am also pricing out springs and struts for lower the car, 1-1.5".
Would a body kit side skirts and and rear bumper help out as well: http://us.st12.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.c...2005_941655793 http://www.autobahnmotorsports.com/a...ercomplete.jpg |
With the clean look of the smoothed out front, I'd avoid the ricey kits. Go smooth or foam up some mini-tails for the wheels and a pan for the rear if it's pretty scoopy under there.
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the foam is the lightest most easly moded way to make mods.. it shapes really easy, then if you really want it pretty bondo it and sand it down and paint it..
You can usually get sheet up to 1" thick.. remember get the pink stuff... the white stuff desolves with just paint on it |
In regards to full moon wheel covers over my existing steelies, has anyone tried any of these:
http://www.hubcapmike.com/rdc01-15.html http://www.hub-cap.com/universalhubcaps/15/RD-15.htm The bonus is they are stainless steel. I also hope they work on my existing steelies: http://ppgmedia.buysell.com/ppgphoto...34-display.jpg |
I just made a grill block for my Camry about 30 minutes ago and mounted it. Made it out of the pink insulation board ($10 for an 8'x3' sheet of half inch thick stuff). I used cardboard to make a template and then transfered it over to the foam board when I got it right. Then I just took sand paper to it to do the fine fitting part and then painted it to match my car with gloss spray paint...viola, done, 1 hour.
If I start seeing some decent FE gains from this and the belly pan I'm making, I'll be sure to put up pics and results as far as gains are concerned and I'm planning on attaching it more permanently as well. Right now it's held on with packing tape, which, oddly enough, not only is clear so it doesn't show up, but sticks to the foam better then duct tape which sorta surprised me, but I had to use it to cover some gaps that got made from a miss-cut and it stuck great, so I used it for the rest of it to hold it in place. |
My whole grill block IS clear packing tape; took my fiance almost 2 weeks to notice it :thumbup:
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Got my grill block done today:
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...r/IMG_2768.jpg This is a test one out f heavy duty cardboard and I am going to test for the next tank or so. I did a short 10 km test and no colling fan running, with a temp increase of only 6C to a running temp of 79 degrees C. The upper block is packing tape for now as well: http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...r/IMG_2771.jpg Here hoping to a consistent 35-36 mpg. Belly pan and new lowered shocks and struts to come this summer. |
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