Where to go next?

[99LeCouch]

Should I continue to mod the front of my car, or the rear? I have enough Coroplast left over to do a bellypan underneath the engine, or to enclose the rear bumper.

The exhaust hangs a bit low, so diverting air away from it with a bellypan would be great. But, the rear bumper curves down back underneath the car, with the muffler blocking a significant portion of it.

I already have some basic front aero with my grille block and some under-chin pieces diverting air away from the front tires.

Here's a shot of the front of the car looking back. You can't see the aero I've added, only the factory deflector.

[SVOboy]

I would start with a belly pan on the front before I did the back

[QuickLTD]

I hope you dont mind me posting these here for reference to your project.
SVOBoy, His skin is bifferent but all that dirty stuff you see on my car he already has coverd up is exactly the same. Is it possible to make a big improvement on what he has?


Here is how the rear bumper is open to the underside of the car. The opening goes up almost a foot.

[Daox]

If flow isn't attached on the front end, it likely isn't going to be attached on the rear end. Always start with the front and work your way back.

[wagonman76]

99LeCouch, your car looks quite clean on the bottom, at least to me. Looks like a belly pan would be pretty easy to do.

Don't have any pics, but mine is such a mess underneath that when I tried a partial bellypan, it made things worse. I got about a 2 mpg gain just from making an airdam to keep the air away from the bottom of the car to start with.

[99LeCouch]

How far away from hot things do I keep the Coroplast? I searched, and the consensus was that it does have a melting point, but as long as you keep it an unspecified distance away from whatever hot things you have you're fine.

[99LeCouch]

After looking at the underside of my car some, a small lip continuing down off the factory piece to deflect air away from the engine bay looks to be the easiest way to further aero-mod the front of my car. The underside of my car is remarkably clean, with the only obstruction being the exhaust that hangs down.

What do you all think of this lip idea?

[Daox]

Lips seem to work pretty good, but a belly pan would be better. Its really up to you. A lip is quick and relatively easy to install where as a belly pan is more difficult.

[anthonye81]

Mr LeCouch

I wouldn't put choroplast anywhere near the exhaust pipes or silencers, those things get very hot and would probably melt the plastic before the car is up to operating temperature. Even if you mount the choroplast so it is fixed at a distance from the exhaust system, there's nothing to say airflow under the car wouldn't push the plastic around and make contact with the exhaust. It wouldn't cause a fire, but it would melt and make a mess and waste a sheet of material.

[99LeCouch]

I extended the factory underbody tray 3-4" with the Coroplast I had on hand. Looking at the underside of my engine bay, I saw that making any sort of tray would involve a lot more work and Coroplast than I was willing to put into the project. As it ended up, it's a crude-looking extension that blocks the oil and transmission pans, and is away from anything remotely warm.

Here's hoping for a measurable gain! I'm only 40 miles into my current tank, so I might see a gain. I'll have to see if it's measurable in the city, or on the brief stretches of highway I'm seeing at the moment.

Pictures will be up when I get my camera down there.