Ground Effects & gas mileage
 

This may have already been answered in another thread(s). Is there a difference in mileage with ground effects? Can one make their own?

If a car is lowered, then in theory, it should reduce the drag.

With the price of gas going up, I am looking for ways to squeeze out as much gas as I can.

The goal right now, is to go from 25(average)-27mpg.

All feedback welcome
Joel

Lowering will help FE...smaller frontal area. Driving different will make the biggest difference and the other stuff just makes it better and better.

with the year of the car you can't use a scangauge.

you can inflate your tires more and do a grill block. the problem with the grill block is that you are going to want to monitor your engine temps if you do it and the analog gauge in the car doesn't react very fast. you can also do a warm air intake (same thing with monitoring temps though).

one idea that I have been playing around with is side skirts. I don't care what people think about my car but I do care what it looks like so I was thinking about plexi-glass. it isn't actually plexi-glass but an acrylic sheeting that you can buy from lowes. I used it on my grill for the block and it worked well. also if you use a heat gun then it will bend. I haven't played with it a lot so I am not sure of its limitations but it was an idea that I had. they also have a high impact acrylic. also it is only about an eighth of an inch thick.

I have plenty of ground effects on my car; wheel spoilers in front of both front and back wheels, double side skirts between the front and rear wheels, and a mini-boattail behind each rear wheel. Also a smooth underbody panel, but no air dam (don't need an air dam when I have a smooth underside). I built all of them myself and they have made a difference in my mileage.

Since the car is a 91, would be unsure of scanguage. Have considered it though. My car has a digital dash. Probably use cardboard to do things first.

How low is too low? On the front bumper it is 7 /34 inches off of the ground. On the back, it is 11 inch. I am sure they designed the car that way for a reason.

on the scangauge issue, it uses a OBD2 connector, on a 91 youre out of luck. however i think there are other types/brands of feedback devices that my still work.

cardboard may work fine for mocking up alot of things, but for front ground affects or air dams it will likely need alot of reinforcement, might think about a stronger material.

how low is too low, from what ive heard, typicly the ideal height is to make it just as low as the lowest thing hanging out under your car. the other limitation might be where you drive, and if youre going to catch it on curbs and entering parking lots and the such.

as for the back, i think any type of ground affects would be hrting you, be like a lil parachute.

I wonder if anybody sells any type of mileage indicator for earlier cars? Remember seeing them advertised in the late '70s. One came built-in to my '83 Eldorado and both my '80s Lincolns.

As for how low is too low? When it is so low that it gets scraped going into and out of driveways. Hmmm....what if someone devised an electric air dam that could be raised and lowered...maybe with a sensor to detect how much clearance was needed...

Curbs would be a concern for me. Especially when getting into work parking lot. Otherwise mainly highway, some steeper parts, nothing that cannot be handled.

"as for the back, i think any type of ground affects would be hrting you, be like a lil parachute" How so? An electric one would be good. As for material(s). Cardboard to mock first. Get someone to make the templates out of metal.

I've been thinking about a speed reactive air dam. Below 40 mph it retracts or folds up, above it sits about 1-1.5" from the ground. The retraction feature would have to be quick enough for sudden brake applications.

After looking today for materials, have decided to use wood. It is simple and cheap. Will need to water proof it. Looking forward to this.