Subaru STI project: high speed low drag

[trapper]

How's it going everyone ? this is my first post on these forums!
So a little bit about my car and whats done to it as well as what is to come.
Looking to get better gas mileage on my STI hatchback.
Right now I've installed underbody aero panels along the under side of the car which basically run down the sides of the underbody hugging the exhaust.
Also I have a rear diffuser that I plan to dismantle and remake the center portion to reach all the way up to my rear diff where the underbody panels end to make the whole back end flat and smooth as it transitions into the fins of the diffuser.
Also I have a front lip for my car i have not yet installed but will be doing soon along with making a front splitter to reach all the way back to where the underbody panels start on the front side.

Eventually ill be getting more aerodynamic side mirrors because i refuse to do some sort of janky contraption to further decrease drag.

with that being said I'm happy to have found this forum and look forward to hearing back anything constructive or possible ideas to decrease drag and get a few mpg's
going to keep this thread as my project thread to keep track of things done.

[trapper]

[trapper]

reserved

[trapper]

reserved for future posts

[elhigh]

"reserved for future posts?" I can't imagine why you would need to reserve the spaces, but whatevs, it's the internet.

RE: mirrors. I remember reading it mentioned elsewhere in these pages that that location is a high velocity zone, as air shoved to the side by the windshield is trying to merge with the flow already there at the sides of the car.

If you dig back into the past you can find lots of Japanese cars that had their rearview mirrors further forward, on the fenders. That's is a relatively low-velocity zone that is already experiencing cleaner flow than what is right there at the A-pillar. If your goal is to reduce drag for high speed driving, there's a few joules' waste you can avoid right there.

Additionally, pushing the mirrors further forward like that, while providing you with a smaller image to look at, also requires that you move your head and eyes less to take in that image. It's almost in your field of view already.

Thusly (though I think this was a result of a restomod)

[V6MustangFTW]

Those old Japanese cars are works of art. Underdrive pulleys will help, or if you're crazy you can just disable your power steering air conditioning. If you're good at fabrication you could probably make a grill block that doesn't look janky. This guy made a nice one if I remember correctly. http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...log-26612.html

[trapper]

ive seen his post before on here yeah . going a different route with my underbody aero and different route with my side mirrors. found some on ralitek that are much small and carbon fiber and still mount up in the stock location but are much more aerodynamic due to a smaller size.

[elhigh]

Smaller works.

For a while I had some ginormous mirrors on my truck. Not the big West Coast style trucker mirrors, but the biggest car mirrors I could find that would still hook up to the factory mounting points. I liked the extra viewing area but the noise generated by those big paddles shoving through the air was tremendous - I thought the truck was just noisy, but when I swapped them back it felt like the noise in the cab at speed dropped by about a quarter.

The hard part is you're doing this with an STI. They're big fun but thrifty they ain't. My son recently made a run to Nashville and back and whistled up a little over 30mpg, I couldn't believe my ears, and that's just with a non-turbo Forester.

I reckon the hardest part is keeping your foot out of the boost zone. When that flat four burble winds up, it's a hoot.

[trapper]

i think i have enough posts under my belt to show a link
APR Carbon Fiber Mirrors Formula GT3 Black Base - WRX & STI 2008-2014 - RalliTEK Subaru

[freebeard]

reserved for future posts

I was expecting a picture.

$335 for mirrors that have short round arms? I think you can do better.

aerohead advocates for just making the arms longer (and airfoiled) to move them straight out. Myself, I like peep mirrors. They are closer to you eyes, at the top of the door window. I'd have to cut my own doors to fit them, but they are more like $15.00. ...unless you get the ones with a built in turn signal repeater.