considering rear turbulence management
 

I currently have a brace of vortex generators on the back of my wagon. I haven't seen any change in my mean FE since adding them so I am thinking about an experimental deflector. It would be placed slightly behind the hatch seam and sit at about a 15* (from level) angle downwards. I am also planning to add some side skirt extenders that start at the pinch weld and flare out at the rear wheels( borrowing ideas from LMP cars of old).

Can you take pictures of the vortex generators to see how they are placed, how far from the edge, angle, etc.

They might be a tad bit off but not sure. Some pics will help.

here you go placement across the car

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...2b234d9ab9.jpg


and this is the placement from the back of the car.

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...a8eec27e39.jpg

I also think that underneath the car could use some touching up. The area between the rear suspension and back bumper especially.
https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...77cb9e2cab.jpg
https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...7b948f7653.jpg


I am also planning to add functional side skirts. Here is the bracket I added to flare them out in front of the rear wheels.

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...c5b9fa4ccb.jpg

more to come

the rear could use A LOT of touching up. Get some plexiglass from Lowes (shouldnt be more than $15 for all the panels) and just screw them on there.

As far as the vg's, the roof rack could (and probably is) causing a lot of turbulence in that area so the effect of the vg's there is going to be far less (since they need laminar flow aka smooth flow of air). However, i think they still help but just very little.

Do the underside of the rear, that is going to have a big impact.

I called a local sign shop and am getting a 4 x 8 foot sheet of coroplast for $20 and plan to smoothe out the underside of my car some. my Bday is coming up. that is going to be her (my wife's) presant to me ( I know, cheap). I plan to use the interior panel plastic snap pieces to hold the panels on with. that way if they fall off, they won't mess any tires up like sheet metal screws.

I try to watch out for the other guy even though he isn't watching out for me.

hmm, when was the last time u had an alignment? sure looks like a lot of camber there.

the car was aligned last month. yes there is some camber and no I can't do anything about it just yet. I am hunting for the adjustable lower control arms but so far nothing. I am however defying logic and getting FANTASTIC MILAGE!!!

I would guess that the camber wouldn't hurt your mileage, but it is a warning sign that things may be out of wack... so good catch 95slowone.

philip1, I am glad to see you are on top of it. I wonder how many people out here are are doing relatively extreme things to improve mileage and then have thier alignment out of wack so they are loosing most of it.

-Mr_C

rear Air resistance
 

Has anyone tried the chemical coating one can put on teh rear of a vehicle to reduce air resistance?

https://www.slipstreamfs.com/

Here is a good site with lots of things to try.
https://peswiki.com/index.php/Directo...ency_Retrofits

I usually don't click links posted by new users since they're almost always spam, but you seem to have posted some other more normal messages. However, that site appears to completely lack even any marketing claims, let alone any science. All it says is that it helps, it doesn't even say how much it helps, let alone HOW it helps. It says stuff about being based on NASA's boattail research...which is total nonsense for anything applied as a liquid, unless it's a magic paint that shapes itself as a boattail and includes hinges and a latch so you can still access the vehicle's rear end...

I'm always skeptical of products that are not shown or explained.

Yeah well I did read about the slipstream product some where else that is how I came to the link. It appratently works best for vans and vehicles that have larger back ends. looks to me its just a wax or something that makes the surface extra slick. I certainly was not spamming as I have no connection with the outfit. I was planning on trying it on my car at some point in the future and just wondered if anyone had tried it. I think I got the link off the page that had to do with the vortex airfoil somewhere I can't find anymore, that they were putting on top of vans at the back and getting pretty good improvement in mileage. It uses the rear turbulence to push the car forward.

https://pesn.com/2005/03/08/6900067_RamWingUpdate/

Well I certainly am not a spammer. I moderate a few groups myself and am intolerant of people that join just to spam also. So I can see your concern.
I did a search in google on the term "slipstream coating" and only thing I found was a PDF file where they did some tests on semi trucks with the stuff and that was years ago. If it was valid testing then they did get some results. I don't think the stuff is sold to the regular consumer much. I was just one of those odd things I ran across in my daily hours of sercrhing the net.

I could just wash the car after all 1/8 inch of crud can't help aero

I had to remove the skirts and airdam due to damage. I noticed a clever thing the engine transmission and crossmember form one smooth panel. So I'm going to see if having no airdam or skirts is any different than having them. I have a hunch it will be worse but we will see.

no air dam or side skirts makes a huge difference. I apparently was not improving my aero by having a large airdam. my milage in town driving has been in the mid to high 20s before but now I'm seeing low to mid 30s in town. I can't wait to see what highway will be like.

Does that car really only weigh 3000lbs? That's cool.

yep it's a huge beast and having just a 2.2 to haul it around it's a wonder it gets the milage it's currently getting.

Fun car with the 3.0L - great highway motor - horrible on maintenence :thumbdown:

Yah the 3.0 is stronger but ugh the oil cooler causes so many premature deaths. I have the 2.2 Ecotec a bunch anemic if you time them but feels OK. I've souped mine up to about V6 level but it makes them noisy.

here's a video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUqYCsjWE-s

I don't think the additional HP hurt milage too much if you look at my logs

Yup, gotta love those orings failing on the oil coolers. Ever try to change plugs on the 3.0L? I'll pass.

The Eco's a helluva motor man, don't be so quick to knock it ;)

not knocking it I actually love it. I think it'll hit 40mpg with some more aero help

You might try;
sealing the sides of the roof rack.
removing said rack.
moving the vortex generators to the tailgate.

hmmm well I don't want to mess with the roof mounted airbags so removing the rack is out. I might fill the holes but it gets narrower at the back so it might add unwanted frontal area I think I'll leave that alone. the vortex generators are actually in the best location after many days of testing in the rain. I had as friend chase and she watched the water come off the roof. When they were attached at the current location the vortices angled down at the desired 15*. I am concentrating more of my effort on making the front and bottom more aerodynamic. The top is pretty much done.

OK I decided to start all over from scratch so I went to Lowes and bought a small sheet of lexan and some more lawn edging.

New just like the old one airdam
new more stealthy upper and lower grill block the grille will get a fresh coat of paint.....someday
and not least by any means a decent HAI.

I took it out on the freeway for a 70 mile A-B-A test and I see 40mpg coming very easy
water temp 204*f air temp 130*f TPS 11 @ 65 on level ground and instant MPG showing 53 for most of the trip. WOO HOO!!!!!!!
https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3137/...613889.jpg?v=0
https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3209/...6d87dc.jpg?v=0
https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3204/...0ff648.jpg?v=0
https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3189/...760ecd.jpg?v=0
it actually sucks air from under the mani between it and the block
https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3172/...9b8489.jpg?v=0
https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3099/...ecd372.jpg?v=0

pics ?????? :(

Hmm I knew I posted some oh well try again

here are the pics I cut 4x 2inch holes in the upper grille block.

I think I broke Photobucket.

getting red X's here

pics fixed used Flickr instead of Photobucket

I applaud your results, but personally I really liked the look of your previous upper grille block better. That was really sharp looking.

-Jay

I had temps go to 230 twice with the other block on 80*f days it was 90* today and I had a stable temp at 204*.

milage for today 34.8 mpg. I think all this stuff works......

Ran a 67.8mile A-B-A test temp mid 70's humidity 80% test type Freeway
Intake temp 141*f Coolant temp 204*f throttle 10-19% speed About 65mph
results 39.13 south 33.80 north for an average of 36.4 mpg US.