Question for the Aero guys

[TheEnemy]

Aerohead: do you have a link to any pictures I could look at?

Lunar: I have been looking at any newer SUV I came across, it looks like the best option (for this one) is a sloped front skidplate going from the bumper to just in front of the front axlethat pushes the air down below the front axle, then smooth skid plates underneath. Still looking at the fender extentions, they should be pretty easy to do and still look relatively normal.

[lunarhighway]

just a few more loose thoughts... moon discs... just any round plate that could seal of the rims basically... if they help on normal cars where the wheels look fairly aero friendly they should do something on these big wheels... than again they'd have to be strong for off road stuff.

next, perhaps a bridge to far, but not impossible is just make a whole new roof/windshield. it's involving, but given the fact the windshield will just unbolt (right?) and the vehicle doesn't have a fixed roof, means it won't involve gutting the original vehicle.... a plexiglass bubble would be cool (but like i said, probably not really practical)

on a more modest basis perhaps you could redesign the windshield to have more curved sides.... maby it's possible to saw the whole windshield assembly including the a pillars from a wrecked car and fix that? a saab 900 (don't gut a good one please) would be an interesting candidate, but a crashed metro might be nice too.

another idea is to install two lengthwise rollbars that from the A pillars and curve back all the way.. a fabric cover over these would also form a nice aero shape...

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by TheEnemy

Aerohead: do you have a link to any pictures I could look at?

Lunar: I have been looking at any newer SUV I came across, it looks like the best option (for this one) is a sloped front skidplate going from the bumper to just in front of the front axlethat pushes the air down below the front axle, then smooth skid plates underneath. Still looking at the fender extentions, they should be pretty easy to do and still look relatively normal.

TheEnemy,sorry,I saw it on micofilm in the patent section at Dallas Public Library long ago and did not think to print it.
No doubt,you could probably see it online now if you new the correct search field.
If you can envision a life-preserver from the Titanic,only rectangular,you've got it!

[TheEnemy]

Thanks Aero, I have tried looking for it but without any luck, I think I understand what you are talking about now.

We had some good winds on Friday gusts 25-30mph, so I took it out to an open area and used a stick with a plastic streamer on the end of it to do some "wind tunnel" testing. Saturday was better, gusts 50-60mph but I didn't get a chance.

The air going over the hood was pretty stable, up until it got close to the windshield, then it kind of stalled, or bounced arround (left right or up).

The air over the top of the windshield was only deflected up by about 6 inches and had huge amounts of turbulance. Edit to add: A bug deflector would probably have to be huge to be effective, and ruin the flow over the hood.

I don't remember what it did on the sides of the windshield.

At the doors the airflow was slightly down.

In front of the rear tires the air flowed up at about a 45deg angle, then into the back seat and forwards between the front seats.

Airflow on the back/behind the rear tires was pretty unsteady, but what there was looked turbulent.

There appeard to be lots of flow going into the radiator, makes me wonder why it runs hot.

[donee]

Hi All,

Here is a link that will bring up MacCready's surface vehicle aero aid patent:

United States Patent: 4057280

If you have a TIF viewer add-in in your browser, just click on Images, and then each page in succession....