bjhines Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 WOW!!!! what a day... We have a lot of numbers to crunch and this will take some time. We have great video and thousands of pictures of our tests. These will be posted ASAP. We had quite a collection of nice cars there. Parts were falling out of everyone's trucks and trailers. MSA came through with everything we asked for. Roddy, Tom, and Mark fabricated an array of custom mods. I built the Pantera hatch and the rest was bolt on parts from common suppliers. We did test Vortex generators and the "Ricer" wing(this was a highly developed piece of hardware). A lot of work was put into preparation and it SHOWED!. The tunnel operator complimented us on the number of "blows" we managed to get in the first day. We managed aorund 30 blows in all. That is a lot of fevered swapping of parts on several cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalifaThugz Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 Cool! I was following the thread before I was even a member on Hybrid Z. Can't wait to see the results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A. G. Olphart Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 Hooray!!! Any quick words before settling in to organize data? Thanks to all involved- the HybridZ community at its' best (and that's pretty damned good). <> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators RTz Posted May 1, 2007 Administrators Share Posted May 1, 2007 Where's my Redenbacher's? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjhines Posted May 1, 2007 Author Share Posted May 1, 2007 The info has to be reduced to layman's terms, but there are a lot of interesting trends that we found. Opening the windows on most configurations causes air to enter every possible crevice in the back of the car. Our little telltale strings found ANY possible slit or crevice and poked right into them. Air comes from the sides and top, turns around and SLAMS into the rear vertical surfaces of the car. It even runs UNDER the rear valence and under the gas tank. Our telltales on the bottom edge of the rear valence all point down and back under the car. This would certainly explain the exhaust smell so common to the Z cars. The most effective aero combinations seemed to improve this area somewhat. One of our biggest worries was that most of the available parts wouldn't do squat. This could hurt some people's feelings(manufacturers especially), but it turns out that nearly everything we tested WORKS!!!!(except the Pantera hatch I made). It is ALL BENEFICIAL, with one caviat, It must be installed CORRECTLY or you may hurt things more than help. This is especially true for the large airdams. The Type3 airdam was initially tested by simply bolting it on. Initially there was no attempt to seal the inlet to the radiator or the sides. It performed poorly in this configuration. We were so discouraged by the initial results we almost didnt blow it again. We were surpised that adding a little bit of a shelf between the radiator crossmember and the inlet of the airdam not only improved things, It actually transformed the entire car. We blew it again with even more tape sealing off even more of the area behind the airdam and things improved again! There is not much physical difference in what we did. A simple strip of foamboard and some extra tape on the sides COMPLETELY out of view turned the airdam from a total failure into a dream come true! Another interesting effect was from the smallest modifications to the roof of the car. We added a "visor" strip to fair the top lip of the windshield moulding into the roofline. We left a lip sticking up and past the window gasket(~1/2"). Imagine a typical sun tint strip(made of aluminum) added to the OUTSIDE of the windshield overlapping the gasket and hanging past the back edge of the gasket. This leaves a sharp edge facing rearwards at an angle, sticking 1/2" up. We added Vortex generators(a dozen small ones on a strip) to the rear edge of the roof(far enough forward to open the rear hatch). These modifications made large improvements in both drag reduction and increasing the effectiveness of the rear spoiler. The Bi-wing offered some adjustability. It worked very well. We found that setting it as flat as it would go performed very well. Increasing the angle of the wing had some side effects. We think there is a happy medium setting and we feel that raising the supports up higher may further improve the Ricer wing. This thing looks good on the car. It also shows that these wings really WORK. We had some Ho hum results with several types of side skirts. They will most likely play a role in an aero package that can maximise their potential. They may be considered in part of a package of modifications. I don't recall them helping very much on thier own. ZG flares improve the airflow on the back edges of the wheel wells. We think they may contribute a fair amount, but we have to eek their effectiveness out of the data to be sure. Hood vents do what they are supposed to do. They vent air OUT! Side vents(gill vents) have a small effect but may not be enough to warrant cutting your fenders. The wiper cowl vents definitely suck air IN. In fact I have to wonder where all that air GOES! They really take up air at the base of the windshield. I bet the drain pipes have hurricanes running through them. The rear lip spoilers are all effective. Especially with the roof treatments. It seems that they really start to work well over 5" tall. They do add a fair amount of drag(we have to run the numbers). These may not be the best thing you can do(The wing could beat them on all counts). We tried some combinations and found some really GOOD packages. We will run the numbers and get some more info out of this for all of you. Thanks EVERYONE for your donations and we REALLY want to get in there AGAIN! We have SOO MANY ideas we must do this again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kennysgreen280zt Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 I assume this wasnt a whole list of all parts tested... just curious if the kaminari (sp) three port made it in? its my fav so I have to ask =) you guys rock, thankyou!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spyder Z 15 Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 Was a Xenon airdam tried out by any chance? I look forward to a full article and using a dictionary to look up really big words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjhines Posted May 1, 2007 Author Share Posted May 1, 2007 We could not test all of the parts available. I figure just testing them all in all possible configurations could take several days. We tested several ranging from a BRE "spook" to an MSA Type3 airdam. The type 3 does a lot of things the spook does not. But we could not test them all. Yes we tested the Zenon Ureflex(one of my favorites), but it was included in a package and not tested on it's own. We learned that proper installation of the airdams makes a big difference in their performance. We also learned that(obviously) the front intake area is just too big and can realize gains by blocking it off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 280ZForce Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 pics of the mods exactly about "masking off" and where you sealed things off, etc would be very benficial to us all thanks for doing this....huge in the Z world for aerodynamics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjhines Posted May 1, 2007 Author Share Posted May 1, 2007 Imagine a hockey mask where the grill and bumper are. A 2"x6" slit in the middle for the radiator inlet is really all you need at ANY SPEED. The fact is... Failure to seal the airdam inlet to the radiator crossmember may stall air in front of the radiator and dump it under the car with a great deal of uplift on the front end. This not only screws up the aerodynamics of the car worse than no airdam at all... But it will also ensure that very little air ever goes THROUGH the radiator(causing overheating at speed). This has been observed by many people in the past. Sealing the inlet so that ALL AIR that does not go around the car MUST PASS THROUGH THE RADIATOR has been shown to have an absolutely stunning effect on so many levels. I have seen radiator inlet ducting that leaves openings on either side between it and the headlight supports. This is may channel air INTO the radiator but it still allows air to pass freely through the frontal opening and under the car. The only place air should go is through the radiator(which offers significant restriction to flow), into the engine air cleaner, or into the brake ducts. The aluminum plate on top of my airdam completely seals the front intake behind the grill. I must completely seal the sides and the holes in the support bulkhead now that we have seen what a huge difference this makes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veritech-z Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 BJ, did you get to test out a whale tail? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjhines Posted May 1, 2007 Author Share Posted May 1, 2007 Yes Whale Tail was tested. We really need to look at the numbers on that one. As I recall it added an impressive amount of drag with relatively little downforce on the rear and significant uplift on the front end. I would not slam the door on the whaletail just yet. There are possibilities for both the Whaletail and the Pantera hatch on a car with wider hips(more horizontal area over the fenders). The whaletail we used was the big one. It may actually perform very well on the GTU fendered cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Globerunner513 Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 wow...this data is really awesome. especially the airdam info. i had no idea doing something like masking it off would make such a difference. Great job guys! this is epic. i really look forward to reading all the info gathered here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparks280zt Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 I just want to say meeting Mikelly the night before was the event of my life! Real cool dude! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeeboost Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 Wow, this is great, and this is just a taste of the pie! Thanks again for doing this! Did you have enough time to test the g-nose by any chance? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparks280zt Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 I heard they did a Gnose, gains were minimal at best. Correct me if I am wrong BJ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjhines Posted May 1, 2007 Author Share Posted May 1, 2007 The Gnose was a big dissapointment(for those who like the looks). No big benefit for all that $$$ weight hung off the far front end. Of course we hadn't figured out how effective sealing the radiator to the inlet was when we blew it. We might have made some improvements if we had know that then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIM73240Z Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 awsome news. thanks for all who donated and many thanks for those who put it on. thanks jimbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stony Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 pics of the mods exactly about "masking off" and where you sealed things off, etc would be very benficial to us all thanks for doing this....huge in the Z world for aerodynamics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daeron Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 Hood vents do what they are supposed to do. They vent air OUT! cowl induction hood vents as well as simple "280ZX" or later 280 style hood vents? I prefer the big risen cowl look to holes in my hood... and would imagine that dumping all that air out to a point where it gets sucked into the wiper cowl... I had to ask, but theres no need for a LONG answer; I read all these little questions and thought, "He would probably rather be writing the full article than waste time making a bunch of long posts giving us drops out of the gallons of data...":icon10: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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