In the recent Modified Magazine (July, 2010; "Rotary Evolution, Pt 2; pp 88) Jim Mederer suggested that adding a "spoiler" made of ABS plastic under the car, right at the front crossmember, generates a greater pressure differential between the engine compartment and the underside of the car. This increases the flow of air through the engine compartment (entering via the radiator), increasing cooling and decreasing temperatures.

I am pretty sure that the little "spoilers" in front of each front tire do a similar job in helping air flow through the wheel wells, hence cooling, the brakes.

I am sorely tempted to try this, but am wondering if such a system has been discussed or tried.

P.S. I miss SCC.

 

Any pics?

 

that is what S2 Rx-8 did.

 

Their Part 1 article is on-line: http://www.modified.com/tech/modp-10...ion/index.html
I guess we will have to wait for Part 2.

 

too bad only Rotary enthusiast would read it.

cuz other people. especially those Civic guys, when talk about the Rotary the first thing they say is "Rotary sucks and it blows up every 60K" without knowing why or is it even true. hell most people dont even know how Rotary works in detail. even they keep talking **** about it.

 

No pics. It was written that Jim said to look under a C6 'vette for an example.

 

^thanks.

I believe this is what the article is talking about.

 

Stuff like that used to be on a lot of cars, for the reason above. at speed, there is low pressure behind the spoiler. That sucks the air out of the engine compartment. This was actually what I was looking at next, but the fans on low mod did the trick. Biggest drawback is that car has to be moving for much benefit, what I do not know is how fast. I guess worst case it would keep hot engine compartment air from spilling forward in traffic and trying to go through the radiator again...

Then again, that is a pretty cool picture....

 

So, where is that lip relative to the car (on the 'vette.) It looks like it is in front of the wheels? Is there any side on shots of that? Might have to take a trip to the 'vette dealer up the street at lunch.

 

Any guesses how fast you need to be going to see any benefit from this setup? I'm thinking that at lower speeds the pressure difference will be minimal and you won't see much of an improvement. But on the highway or straights at the track, that pressure difference could have a big impact on cooling.

 

^^ I am not going to speculate on what I don't know (specifically, at what speed would a benefit occur, e.g., a drop in coolant temp,) but I absolutely know that aero effects similar to this can be generated at speeds even as low as 20mph.


Well, I am officially going to try this out. My buddy has some thick plastic (that he used as a bash guard on his FJ; better than steel!!!) that we can heat bend and bolt to the cross member. He is a mechanic and has worked on XLRs and 'vetts and knows exactly what I was talking about. I will try to get some temps before and after.

Any advice on the appropriate positive and negative controls, and even experimental design, would be appreciated.

 

are you still boosted Carbon ? Unfortunately the only real test of a cooling mod is at the track . A long uphill slog might work as well - you need to log before and after - just watching a guage may not tell you a lot .

 

he is boosted.

and temp benefits aside, this spoiler will also reduce aerodynamic drag.