Vents

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by fusion210

Have hood vents ever helped? From what I've seen that's a positive pressure area all around.

Yes,Hucho spoke of reducing the cooling system drag,from say 12% of overall drag,down to 2% with 'good racing design.'
2% would require a fully-ducted,airtight, inlet and outlet design.
Since the 1978 Pininfarina CNR car is the only vehicle designed for low drag it might serve as a benchmark for low drag in a passenger car.
The inlet would be sited exactly at the forward stagnation point,and the extractors would be designed to merge the engine bay air,out into the surrounding flow at exactly the same velocity and direction.Something that cost them a $100,000 to figure out.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by hat_man

I apologize for being off topic but us that the book (Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles) that you all speak of when you reference Hucho?

Yes!
Or the original: Aerodynamiks des Kraftfahrzeugs,by Reinhard von Koenig-Fachsenfeld,1951.

[Taylor95]

That's all very interesting. The idea of a ducted cooling system intrigues me. I will have to do a lot of thinking about all this.

Yeah I get your point about the wheel wells. Perhaps I'll just cover the ugly parts with sheet metal to make it less un aerodynamic

I may end up doing a lot more body work than I originally intended... I could angle the back a bit by chopping the back part off and using steel tubing as framework for all that (doubles as a roll cage).

Fyi I am in the process of moving now and it may be a while before I can implement these ideas.

[hat_man]

Thanks Aerohead. I found a used copy online an hour or so ago and ordered it. Not that I'm going to understand much if it, but the price was right. I'm always willing to try and learn.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled program (thread).

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by hat_man

Thanks Aerohead. I found a used copy online an hour or so ago and ordered it. Not that I'm going to understand much if it, but the price was right. I'm always willing to try and learn.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled program (thread).

You'll get it!
I've read mine at least a dozen times and I keep 'seeing' things.And it's not the Kool-Aid!

[Taylor95]

Not to diverge too far from the topic but since this doesn't warrant it's own thread... What do you guys think about stinger bumpers? Conventional wisdom says it would hurt FE, but one person here claimed it helped by "breaking up the air before it reaches the vehicle".

Also would this book be worth getting? It sounds interesting.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by Taylor95

Not to diverge too far from the topic but since this doesn't warrant it's own thread... What do you guys think about stinger bumpers? Conventional wisdom says it would hurt FE, but one person here claimed it helped by "breaking up the air before it reaches the vehicle".

Also would this book be worth getting? It sounds interesting.

Scam!

[Taylor95]

Haha I'll make the assumption you're not talking about the book

[freebeard]

Not even it it were boxed in solid. The most it will do is add turbulence to the air entering the radiator.

The book would increase your knowledge, but it's kind of the long way around to a solution to your specific situation. Do some aero mods and work on 'the nut behind the wheel'.

[Taylor95]

I've already done some work on my own driving. I'm sure there's some hypermiling techniques I haven't tried yet. Do you think coasting in neutral would cause extra wear on automatic transmissions?

My whole interest in gas mileage started awhile back. My own driving habits caused me to get a lovely 14 mpg mostly highway on that jeep. That was back when gas was super expensive too! But after I modified my driving habits I started to get more reasonably numbers than 14 mpg.

On a side note, I have a Jeep friend that would be very happy to get 14 mpg. He gets 10 now... So I suppose I'm lucky.