can aerodynamics help me? -can you help me?

[novaderrik]

it's starting to look like you are building a car to go NASCAR racing.

[Bjkadron]

looking good!

[Bryce]

Looks good.

[ALLstrokedOUT]

Well, its been one step forward and two steps back the last couple of days. Ive been having some fitment issues now that all the fiberglassing is done, so ive had to re-adjust some things which set me a day behind. I probably ground about 1/4 of the fiberglass off trying to get everything smooth enough for a skim coat of bondo. So far it probably weighs less then 10lbs, well see how much bondo i need though..

[Bjkadron]

Looking good! What are you doing to reinforce the splitter?

[ALLstrokedOUT]

..I have 1/4" steel rod embedded in the fiberglass for reinforcement, the whole assembly mounts to the car at four different points..but im afraid im going to have to admit defeat on this project for now..the things in primer waiting to be sanded and have the final touches put on it, but im leaving to move into my new appartment for school noon tomorrow, gunna have to be a weekend job sometime when i come home..

[Jasons72]

Its looking good, keep it up and keep us updated.

[Bjkadron]

That is too bad. I just started my aero program... I posted a little about it in my thread but I will let you know this: the separation issue at the back window is not as bad as I was thinking it would be. it was actually quite good for the era.

[Wicked]

I think the splitter will help with downforce on the front end, but will not reduce your drag. You are using the high pressure that would have acted on your front suspension to now act on the splitter.

Race cars with similar front ends trade top end for higher downforce and corner speeds.

For a car only getting 10mpg...I would suggest fuel injection and overdrive gearing. 20+ mpg in a old classic is nothing new. Those items will give you the biggest gains. After that, smoothing the underbody will help with overall aerodynamics while also increasing downforce.

[ALLstrokedOUT]

Yea..im looking for a broken t56 to rebuild and put in over next summer..then im planning on putting a megasquirt system in after that.

I was more assuming that the air dam reduced some turbulance under the car..i need to redesign this thing anyways, it hits every speed bump i go over, so im probably taking two inches off of it, getting rid of the fiberglass 'splitters' on either side, and replacing them with aluminum so it can take the bumps a bit better. Theres definatly a learning curve with all of this stuff..

[Wicked]

Yea..im looking for a broken t56 to rebuild and put in over next summer..then im planning on putting a megasquirt system in after that.

I was more assuming that the air dam reduced some turbulance under the car..i need to redesign this thing anyways, it hits every speed bump i go over, so im probably taking two inches off of it, getting rid of the fiberglass 'splitters' on either side, and replacing them with aluminum so it can take the bumps a bit better. Theres definatly a learning curve with all of this stuff..

Sounds like you're on the right track.